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[quote user="Deggesty"]I may be wrong, but I expect that those people on the ICC who asked for this order were somewhat familiar with actual operating conditions on railroads, what had already been done in the way of the protection, and what needed yet to be done in in the way of protection-- unlike most of the people who agreed to demand that PTC be put into service by a certain date.[/quote] Johnny, I think that you make a very pertinent point that the PTC mandate differs from the previous big mandates.  Unlike those previous mandates, the PTC mandate orders not only implementation of technology, but also it orders the development of practical application that does not yet exist.  So part of the mandate orders research and development, which by its very nature is impossible to deliver on a schedule, or deliver at a predicable cost.    On the contrary, the air brake and automatic couplers were fully developed for practical application when mandated.  So the mandates simply pushed to get the job done faster.    ontheBNSF, I understand your point that property rights give people the right to sue for damages.  And that is the economic incentive for railroads to spend money developing measures to prevent accidents and the resulting damage claims.
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