THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

In the wake of the tragic Amtrak accident in Philadelphia, Republican mouthpieces in Congress have been ballyhooing their passage of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 required Positive Train Control technology on all of the nation’s rails by Dec. 15, 2015. They have been quiet as church mice about their failure to provide adequate funding to install it.

After a 2008 collision between a commuter train and a freight train in Chatsworth, California, left 25 dead, Congress moved quickly to include a safety system known as positive train control (PTC) in legislation mandating transportation upgrades. Signed into law in October of that year, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 required PTC technology on all of the nation’s rails by Dec. 15, 2015.

But the remarkable (and bipartisan) momentum seen in the wake of the Chatsworth accident proved difficult to sustain. Almost seven years after passage of the safety law, and five years since the federal transportation rules were finalized, PTC is not in place and implementation is behind schedule across large parts of the United States rail network.

Amtrak — which was created by the federal government in 1970 as a for-profit entity, but, like all major passenger railways worldwide, requires supplemental government funding — has traditionally been the target of budget hawks and anti-government crusaders. The railroad regularly faces calls for cost cutting and self-sufficiency.

And fatal passenger train accidents in 2013, 2104 and this week have so far failed to significantly alter that dynamic.

Less than a day after an Amtrak passenger train derailed in North Philadelphia, killing eight, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would cut Amtrak’s budget for capital improvements.

As reported yesterday by Al Jazeera — and later confirmed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) — Tuesday night’s accident happened on a stretch of track that still had not been outfitted with a working PTC system.

See what good boys we are, we required you to have a necessary safety feature. Just don't ask for enough money to put it in place because you ain't gonna get it.