As U.S. federal investigators continue to determine what happened before a New Jersey commuter train barrelled through Hoboken Station, killing one woman and injuring 100, some are wondering whether safety technology called “positive train control” could have helped prevent the deadly accident.
READ MORE: 1 dead, 108 injured after train smashes into Hoboken station in New Jersey
Positive train control (PTC) technology is designed to “automatically stop a train before certain accidents caused by human error occur,” according to the Association of American Railroads. This includes train-to-train collisions, unauthorized entry onto sections of track that are under maintenance, but most notably derailments caused by excessive speed.
The technology relies on GPS, wireless radio and computers to monitor train positions and automatically slow or stop trains that encounter danger.
While the cause of the crash is unknown, officials said they are working to determine whether the crash was caused by equipment or human error.
WATCH: ‘It sounded gruesome’ says New Jersey train crash witness
But New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it’s clear the train was moving far too fast when it entered the station and crashed through a concrete-and-steel bumper. Investigators have not yet commented on how fast the train was travelling, but the speed limit heading into the station is just 16 kilometres per hour.
The crash has reignited the debate surrounding the anti-collision system.
“Although reason for crash in Hoboken isn’t totally clear, likely that PTC could have stopped accident if caused by speed or human error,” New York congressman Sean Patrick Maloney tweeted Thursday.
According to a report by New Jersey Transit – issued to the Federal Railroad Administration in September – PTC has not been installed on any of the trains on its 326-mile network.
However, New Jersey Transit ranked second in the U.S. for the most train accidents on commuter railroads from January 2007 to June 2016, behind Amtrak. New Jersey Transit reported 271 accidents during that time period, according to data from the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis.
READ MORE: Hoboken train crash victim identified as Fabiola Bittar de Kroon
In 2008, U.S. congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act, which mandated that PTC be installed in trains that carry passengers or “dangerous materials” across the U.S. by 2015. That deadline was extended to 2018 after some companies expressed concerns about implementing and testing the system in time.
Transport Canada does not require rail companies to implement the technology; however, those with networks in the U.S. must comply with the Rail Safety Improvement Act.
Canadian Pacific was one of the rail companies that asked for the deadline to be extended for its U.S. networks, citing a variety of factors including “regulatory delays.”
WATCH: Timelapse video shows first responders dealing with Hoboken Station accident
The systems are also costly to install. According to the Globe and Mail, the Canadian National Railway Co. plans to spend $550 million to install PTC technology on 6,100 km of U.S.rail line. CP has estimated it will cost $328 million.
Even without positive train control, there are still safeguards in place in New Jersey.
NJ Transit trains include a system designed to alert engineers and stop locomotives when they go over 30 km per hour, according to an NJ Transit engineer who spoke on condition of anonymity. The trains are also equipped with a system that sounds a loud alarm and eventually stops the train if the engineer goes 15 to 20 seconds without touching the controls. It’s unclear whether those mechanisms kicked.
– With files from The Associated Press
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