Following three days of debate, during which more than 100 amendments were considered, the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 5, 2015 “overwhelmingly” approved the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763), “a bipartisan, multi-year surface transportation bill to reauthorize and reform federal highway, transit, and highway safety programs.”
The rail industry’s frenzied push to extend the Congressionally imposed deadline for implementing Positive Train Control—one of the largest unfunded mandates ever foisted upon a U.S. industry—finally came to fruition on Oct. 29, 2015.
House Republican leaders on Friday, Oct. 23, 2015 unveiled a stopgap bill, H.R. 3819, the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015, which would extend federal transportation funding through Nov. 20 in order to prevent a Highway Trust Fund shutdown. H.R. 3819 includes language for a PTC deadline extension identical to that in H.R. 3763, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015, passed Oct. 22 by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Oct. 22, 2015 unanimously approved the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763). Among the STRR Act’s numerous provisions is a minimum three-year extension of the looming PTC deadline.
