Blumenthal Statement on Preliminary Investigation into Fatal Amtrak Derailment

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) issued the following statement in response to a preliminary investigative report released today by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on the fatal derailment of an Amtrak train in Washington State last December. The report found that if activated, positive train control (PTC) technology would have “notified the engineer of train 501 about the speed reduction for the curve; if the engineer did not take appropriate action to control the train’s speed, PTC would have applied the train brakes to maintain compliance with the speed restriction and to stop the train.”

Definitive confirmation that PTC would have stopped the train and tragedy in Washington State proves Congress and the Administration must steadfastly stick to the fast-approaching implementation deadline,” said Blumenthal. “I await a response from Secretary Chao to the questions my colleagues and I posed to her in December – as well as her assurances that railroads’ failure to meet the deadline will be met with swift and severe penalties.”

Blumenthal and fourteen Senate Democrats wrote to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao in December calling for railroads to be held accountable for failures to implement sufficient safety measures, including PTC. Railroads are required by Congressional mandate to fully implement PTC by December 31, 2018.