SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (AP) - Sen. Charles Schumer is seeking a $33 million grant to implement a high-tech train safety system along part of upstate New York’s main passenger line.
Schumer held a news conference Wednesday with Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Sarah Feinberg to highlight the need for a “positive-train control” system between Poughkeepsie and Amsterdam.
The systems use GPS or transponders to prevent accidents by automatically slowing or stopping trains going too fast.
Schumer says the federal grant would relieve a burden from state taxpayers for a portion of the line the state leases from CSX.
Calls to speed the adoption of safety systems increased after a train traveling more than twice the speed limit on Sept. 29 crashed into the Hoboken Terminal in New Jersey, killing a woman and injuring more than 100 others.
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