A group of Senate Democrats who wrote to the administration demanding action on new railway safety measures was called out by the Department of Transportation for blocking the confirmation of the man tapped to head the agency tasked with railway safety.
The letter from Democrats, co-signed by Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and 14 colleagues, demanded answers from DOT secretary Elaine Chao on the implementation of positive train control (PTC) technology shortly after last month's deadly derailment in Washington. The senators asked for "vigorous" action on PTC and stressed a fast-approaching deadline to implement it.
DOT concurred with the senators on the importance of PTC implementation but slammed them for blocking the nomination of Ronald Batory, who was unanimously approved by members of the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce, and Transportation shortly after he was nominated to be federal railroad administrator last summer.
The agency wrote that "concerns about rail safety and implementation of PRC are important ones," assuring they had the "full attention" of the Federal Railroad Administration, and added that the Senate could help by ending its obstruction of Batory.
"In the meantime, we cannot overlook the disturbing fact that the Federal Railroad Administration remains without a Senate-confirmed Administrator during this very critical period," wrote a DOT official in letters delivered to each of the senators on Tuesday.
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