A portable PTC unit could be easily adapted to a steam engine, with the proper system architecture and communications protocols, the hardware and communcitations for these systems is modular. And, we need to assure that this capability is included in system design needs. FRA should get comments on this, and I'll identify this need to some of my colleagues working on ITS design and communications arhcitectures.

Thanks for the two man studies comments, I had heard that they found no effective difference in safety, overall. And, I personally seen the worst case where the accident happened because everybody was bull-s###ing, or everybody thought the other guys were watching, or nobody would talk to each other, or somebody didn't have the cajones to stand up to an intimidating hoghead and take action. And, I have been alone many times with no one to assist me and managed to do the right thing, anyhow.

And yellow dog? Mouse droppings...... No BART, NWP, or SMART trains to bash?

It looked to me like Boxer was waylaid by this reporter, who's a notorious sensation seeker and has appeared to be generally fairly ignorant in his knowledge of the subject. And, given her propensity to believe what JP Jones-UTU tells her, she probably believes that more crew are a good thing. The best transportation beat reporter the Times had, Steve Hymon, was laid off, earlier this year, and the quality of transportation reporting at the Times has not recovered.

I will also note that Boxer also got us the first round of serious funding to update our railroad safety control systems to a level that Europe has had for years. These modern integrated operational systems will improve safety, speed, capacity, and allow for bettter interoperability between freight and passenger systems. So at least she tries to deliver on what she and the vast majority of Congress (this rail safety act passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support, and was signed by President Bush???) has mandated.

All politicians react to public concerns, some better than others, some with knowledge (or good staff with knowledge), some by what they've been told, much of which is often wrong. Many public concerns our elected leaders react to are generated by perceptions, and magnified by our obviously highly competent and learned media. Sanchez, through his actions at Chatsworth, just made sure that we in the profession were all perceived to be unprofessional, amateur, immature, unsafe idiots. So until people reverse that perception, and begin to ascribe to a higher standard of personal and professional behavior in matters of safety, this level of scrutiny will continue. Because a lot of people died needlessly.............