A Year After the Amtrak Crash, Casey Calls for More Money for Train Safety

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey speaks at 30th Street Station Friday morning, flanked by Amtrak’s Chris Jagodzinski (right) and SEPTA GM Jeff Knueppel. | Photo by Dan McQuade

Flanked by officials from Amtrak and SEPTA, Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey today called for more money for safety measures on train lines across the country. Earlier, he had been briefed on progress implementing positive train control, a measure that most likely would have prevented the derailment of Amtrak 188 a year ago.

“We need to invest more in safety,” Casey said under the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial angel statue. “So that Amtrak and any other rail system has the resources they need … the technology allows a measure of safety that we didn’t have a few years ago.”

SEPTA GM Jeff Knueppel says that, while Congress delayed the deadline for implementing positive train control, SEPTA is proceeding on the same schedule as before. He says PTC has already been installed on the Warminster line, and it will be rolled out to other lines through the summer.

“Even though there was an extension granted,” Knueppel said, “SEPTA has really ignored that, and by the end of the summer, we hope to have our entire system [of PTC] up and running.” Amtrak’s Chris Jagodzinski says Amtrak is working on having PTC installed throughout the Northeast Corridor before expanding it to the rest of the system.

Casey is a regular Amtrak rider between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia (“I take the stairs from the platform because it gives me a little exercise,” he said). He said he supports the $1.9 billion in Amtrak funding for fiscal year 2017 proposed by President Barack Obama. He said the Senate Appropriations Committee wants about $1.5 billion for Amtrak — a total he says is not enough.

“Any system cannot ensure that nothing will ever happen,” Casey said. “What we’re tying to do is implement a system that will reduce the likelihood of an accident. … None of us should ever put a transportation system… in the position of having to choose between implementing a new safety feature and repairing crumbling infrastructure. And to a large extent, that is what the federal government has done.”

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