The recent extensive train collision in Connecticut reinforces the need to see new laws put into place that would be able to slow down or stop trains before an accident takes place. Called positive train control (PTC), this is exactly the kind of technology which can prevent damage or injuries on railroad lines.

It was not present in the Metro North Commuter Railroad collision though, which took place on Friday and left over 70 people injured. The accident then led to disruption of Metro-North and Amtrak train service on the busy railroad corridor. Service is expected to resume on Wednesday.

Also, the National Transportation Safety Board located a fractured section of railroad tracks which is “of interest to investigators,” news reports said. No foul play was suspected.

Meanwhile, Metro-North will be rebuilding 2,000 feet of train track, overhead wires and signal systems due to the damage caused by the accident.

“The damage is absolutely staggering,” U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, (D-Conn.) told the media after viewing the accident scene. “The sides of cars are torn away like ribbons of cloth. Tons of metal tossed around like toy things. The insides of the cars are shattered.”

In addition, PTC when used properly can prevent “train-to-train collisions, derailments caused by excessive speed, unauthorized incursions by trains onto sections of track where repairs are being made and movement of a train through a track switch left in the wrong position,” according to a recent statement from the  Association of American Railroads.

Railroads were asked to implement the technology by the end of 2015 on train lines that carry passengers or those that carry toxic-by-inhalation (TIH) materials. PTC technology will be installed on 63,000 miles of U.S. freight rail lines, the organization adds.

“This will involve the installation of PTC capability on thousands of locomotives; a large, new wireless communications network and tens of thousands of track-side devices connected to signals, switches and other wayside devices,” the AAR said.

The AAR doesn’t want the industry forced to pay “unnecessary costs” and also be provided with “funding assistance” to deploy the technology. Yet, railroads still want to see an extension to the 2015 deadline, news reports said.

The requirement to install the technology came after a deadly railroad crash in Los Angeles in 2008. It involved a Union Pacific Corp. freight train and a Los Angeles Metrolink commuter train. 25 people were killed in that head-on crash.