UPDATE 2-U.S. House introduces legislation to extend rail safety deadline to 2018

(Adds quotes from Thune, industry group)
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers, under
pressure from the railroad industry, announced bipartisan
legislation on Wednesday to extend a year-end deadline for
costly new safety technology for at least another three years.
The bill, introduced by lawmakers on the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, could avert a
threatened service suspension by major railroads that cannot
meet the current Dec. 31 deadline, which Congress imposed in
2008, for implementing positive train control (PTC) technology.
PTC is a complex communications system that can
automatically slow or stop a train to avoid derailments and
major crashes. Federal safety officials say it would have
prevented the May 12 derailment of an Amtrak train in
Philadelphia that killed eight people and injured more than 200
others. ID:nL1N0Y70O0
But railroads, including freight and passenger services, say
implementation efforts have been snarled by high costs,
bureaucratic delays and technical hurdles.
The proposed legislation would extend this year's deadline
to Dec. 31, 2018, and allow the U.S. Department of
Transportation to grant further extensions of up two additional
years on a case-by-case basis. An extension has strong backing
from both Republicans and Democrats, suggesting the bill could
pass easily.
"Extending the deadline is essential to preventing
significant disruptions of both passenger and freight rail
service," said House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Chairman Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican.
U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon, the House
panel's leading Democrat, said the PTC extension was necessary
but expressed disappointment that the change would not be part
of a larger bill that could have included other rail safety
enhancements.
There was no immediate word on when the House might vote on
the new legislation.
In the Senate, Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, a
South Dakota Republican, welcomed the House bill and said he was
"committed to securing enactment of an extension that meets the
needs of railroad passengers, railroads and freight customers."
Railroads have been pressing lawmakers to act on an
extension by the end of October, saying they could be forced to
suspend service or face liabilities for operating outside the
law after Jan. 1. A suspension would require rail operators to
notify customers well before the current Dec. 31 deadline.
"We look forward to working with both the House and Senate
bipartisan leadership to quickly get the PTC extension across
the finish line," said Edward Hamberger, president and chief
executive of the Association of American Railroads, an industry
lobbying group.