A Senate panel weighing the confirmation of Sarah Feinberg, President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Federal Railroad Administration, had one primary line of questioning in a recent meeting. They want to know whether America's railroad industry will be able to meet a year-end deadline to install positive train control, new safety technology designed to help keep trains from derailing, and if not, what the contingency plan will be.

Over the nine months that Feinberg has served as the FRA's acting administrator, multiple trains have derailed in part due to excessive speeds - most notably an Amtrak passenger train that jumped the tracks in Philadelphia in May, killing eight people and injuring 200.

Throughout questinoing, Feinberg assured lawmkers that she would enforce the December 31 deadline for installation of the technology and noted that the agency would work with rail companies facing financial and technical challenges meeting the deadline.

Citing a report and recommendation by the Government Accountability Office, multiple members of Congress have proposed a deadline extension and a Senate bill passed in July would push it back to 2018. that report reveals that not a single railroad nationwide is expected to be able to fully install the technology by year's end. A number of railroad operators say they will refuse to carry crude oil or hazardous chemicals after the turn of the new year if an extension isn't granted. But safety advocates are calling foul, arguing that the industry has had adequate time to plan for and implement the technology well in advance of the deadline.

A recent spike in domestic oil production has pushed an increase in the amount of crude oil traveling by rail, particularly a highly volatile and flamable type of crude oil harvested from North Dakota's Bakken region. Resulting safety concerns propted Feinberg, a former Facebook executive, to issue a crude-by-rail rule that imposes new safety requirments on CBR (crude by rail) trains. She also initiated a partnership with Google to integrate the FRA's grade crossing data into its mapping software and send audio and visual alerts about railroad crossings to nearby users.

We here at Rail Justice are following the issue closely and will continue to report on Feinberg's pending confirmation and the railroad industry's progress toward full implementation of positive train control and other safety initiatives.