By David Morgan
WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. watchdog office urged
Congress on Wednesday to empower regulators to extend a Dec. 31
deadline for freight and passenger railroads to adopt new safety
technology that could prevent major derailments and other deadly
crashes.
A new report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability
Office found about two-thirds of railroads, including the
largest freight carriers, will need another one to five years to
implement the technology known as positive train control, or
PTC. Safety experts say it would have prevented a May 12 Amtrak
derailment that killed eight and injured more than 200 others.
The report surfaced a week after major freight railroads
stepped up pressure on Congress to extend the deadline by
warning of crippling disruptions to the national rail system if
the Dec. 31 target date remains in place. .