House introduces short-term transportation authorization

While the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has its sights set on a long-term transportation authorization for the future, the present is a bit more short-term, with an announcement today that a short-term extension has been introduced.

With current surface transportation authorization set to expire on October 29, a new short-term bill, entitled H.R. 3819, The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015, was introduced by House T&I Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA), Committee Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI).

“Last week, the Transportation Committee unanimously approved the bipartisan, multi-year Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015,” Shuster said in a statement. “We look forward to voting on that bill in the House soon and then going to conference with the Senate on their highway bill.  I am confident that we can resolve the differences between the House and Senate measures and producing a final product that’s good for our Nation’s infrastructure.  This extension will allow the highway bill process to continue moving forward without shutting down transportation programs and projects across the country.”

Should this proposed extension, which would cover October 20 to November 20m become official, it would mark the fourth extension of the current surface transportation authorization, MAP-21, and the 35th short-term extension since the last multi-year authorization expired. The current short-term extension has been intact since late July.

Also included in the legislation is an extension for Positive Train Control technology to be implemented by the end of this year. Various reports said the legislation called for a 2018 extension.

A mandate for PTC systems was included in House and Senate legislation- The Rail Safety and Improvement Act of 2008. The legislation was passed after a September 12, 2008 collision between a freight train and a commuter train in Los Angeles. PTC has received renewed attention, following a tragic Amrtak accident in the Philadelphia area earlier this year. As per the mandate, the December 31, 2015 deadline requires freight railroads to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on 40 percent of its network.

But railroads have made it clear they will not meet this deadline, and the House T&I Committee said that without an extension freight railroads have indicated shipments of various chemicals will be suspended before the end of 2015, while in some other cases it said freight railroads will suspend all shipments of commodities.