Trains carrying fertilizer could stop dead in their tracks if the Positive Train Control deadline isn?t extended after December 31st.
Railroad companies have until December 31st to implement positive train control for passenger trains and ones carrying hazardous waste.
Peyton Harper with The Fertilizer Institute said if this deadline is not extended. Not only Fertilizer industries but farmers could see major impacts.
?Currently if standards are not met to extend PTC after December 31st then all ammonia shipments will be stopped prior to spring application. Anyone involved in agriculture knows that would be a logistics nightmare. As far as working with our rail industry partners, we continue to work with them in conjunction to alleviate this issue and hopefully we can promote this in the most positive way possible,? Harper said.
Ed Greenberg with the Association of American Railroads said PTC is unprecedented technology and they are working as hard as they can to meet the deadline.
?It is a complex system of systems. Not off the shelf technology developed from scratch by freight railroads. It is in the process of being developed, installed, tested and validated. Our industry is moving as quickly as possible to get PTC in place in over 60,000 route miles across our country. It is a situation where we are moving as quickly as we can to get PTC in the ground and full tested and validated so it is operational,? Greenberg said.
PTC is remote control technology mandated by congress in 2008 after a deadly train collision in California.
