The Department of Transportation says only 4 of the nation’s 41 rail systems required to implement safety technology to prevent accidents met Monday’s deadline.
The rail systems that did not make the deadline, including Amtrak, have either applied for or been granted extensions.
The safety technology, called positive train control, involves installing equipment on locomotives and tracks that communicates information about a train’s speed, position and track switches.
In 2008, Congress set a 2015 deadline for implementing the technology. Then, extended it until 2018 with the requirement that federal regulators need approve extensions until 2020 for railroads that demonstrate progress toward implementing it.
