South Dakota Senator John Thune heard about challenges facing the nations short line railroads during a hearing on freight rail transportation before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Thune, chair of the committee invited Genesee and Wyoming Chief Operating Officer David Brown to speak. G and W owns the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad on the former Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern line across South Dakota. Brown says short lines like the R-C-P and E are an important part of the nation’s freight rail system…
Brown says federal mandates requiring implementation of P-T-C or the Positive Train Controller system, haven’t taken smaller short line railroads into account…
Brown says P-T-C will require ongoing investments for smaller railroads…
The P-T-C system is a communications system that tracks the movements of rail traffic in an effort to keep trains safely away from one another. P-T-C is one of 15 safety rules approved by the Rail Safety Act of 2008 with many being mandated to be in place by the end of 2015.