Feds: Railroads slow to make progress on train technology

Federal regulators say railroads across the country are making slow, uneven progress in installing sophisticated train-control technology that's seen as an antidote to crashes involving speeding and other human factors.

Federal Railroad Administration data released Monday showed passenger railroads had installed positive-train control on 23 percent of their tracks as of Sept. 30, compared to 22 percent in the previous quarter.

West coast commuter railroads showed the most progress in the quarterly data, while many railroads on the east coast are lagging behind. Metrolink, in the Los Angeles area, has PTC operational on 246 of its 249 miles of track.

The Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North and NJ Transit don't have PTC installed on any tracks.

The deadline to install PTC is December 2018.

Regulators say freight railroads had PTC active on 12 percent of their tracks as of Sept. 30, up from 9 percent last quarter.