Search
Office Locations
-
Office Locations
Washington D.C. Office
2264 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515Cullman District Office
205 Fourth Ave. NE, Ste 104
Cullman, AL 35055Serving Cullman, Blount, Morgan and Marshall (City of Arab) Counties
Decatur District Office
Morgan County Courthouse
Post Office Box 668
Decatur, AL 35602Serving Morgan County
Gadsden District Office
107 Federal Building
600 Broad Street
Gadsden, AL 35901Serving Etowah, DeKalb, Marshall (Excluding Arab) and St. Clair Counties
Jasper District Office
247 Carl Elliott Building
1710 Alabama Avenue
Jasper, AL 35501Serving Walker, Winston, Fayette, Lamar, Marion, Pickens and Franklin Counties
Progressive Railroading | Congressman Seek More Federal Funding for PTC Research, Emergency Response Training
April 4, 2012
Congressman Seek More Federal Funding for PTC Research, Emergency Response Training
Progressive Railroading | April 4, 2012
Reps. Scott Tipton (D-Colo.) and Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) recently sent a joint letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies voicing support for the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) research and development efforts regarding communications-based train control (CBTC) and vital positive train control (VPTC). The letter addressed to subcommittee Chairman Tom Latham (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member John Olver (D-Mass.) also encourages more federal funding for the FRA’s R&D work in those areas.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee members believe CBTC and VPTC “have tremendous future potential” to improve rail safety and address rail capacity constraints, Tipton and Lipinski wrote.
“However, the previously funded VPTC R&D projects also show there remains a number of technological challenges in various areas, such as braking algorithms, broken rail and obstacle detection, train integrity failure detection and digital track warrants,” they wrote. “It is critical that the FRA continues to dedicate resources towards addressing those key issues. Project elements should include important components, such as moving block technologies utilizing inertial navigation sensors.”
Tipton also sent a letter to House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) urging the allocation of adequate federal funding in fiscal-year 2013 for surface transportation emergency response training, such as the training programs offered at the Transportation Technology Center Inc. in Pueblo, Colo.
“While much attention has been paid to preparing for biological, chemical or nuclear events, I remain concerned that insufficient notice has been given to the training needs for events that could occur on the nation’s transportation system,” Tipton wrote. “These include scenarios not only affecting the movement of critical commerce and chemicals vital to the nation’s water supply, but also the movement of large numbers of passengers and commuters by rail.”
If you would like to view this article online, click here.