WASHINGTON -- NJ Transit trains could be kept out of the Hudson River tunnels to New York City if the commuter railroad fails to meet a year-end deadline for installing an automatic speed control system on its tracks and in its locomotives.

Amtrak President Richard Anderson told the House railroads subcommittee Thursday that commuter lines without positive train control, or PTC, could not use its tracks after the deadline, and Rep. Albio Sires, a member of the panel, said he was "very concerned" that NJ Transit would not be ready in time.

"Where they are at this stage won't allow them to make the deadline," said Sires, D-8th Dist., a member of the railroads subcommittee.

A Federal Railroad Administration progress report showed that as of Dec. 31, 2017, just 8 percent of NJ Transit's locomotives and none of its tracks were equipped with positive train control, a system designed to automatically slow down or stop trains to avoid collisions.

Positive train control is one of the National Transportation Safety Board's most wanted safety improvements.

The board said the lack of a speed control system on the tracks at Hoboken Terminal contributed to the September 2016 fatal train crash there, and the absence of PTC contributed to the May 2015 derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia that killed eight people.

"We continue to see more accidents, injuries and fatalities that could be prevented by a fully functioning PTC system," NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at the subcommittee hearing.

Under federal law extending the original deadline by three years from Dec. 31, 2015, railroads can request an additional two-year extension to finish the work, but only if they can show progress being made.

"New Jersey hasn't even started," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the full House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "They won't qualify under any conditions even with the most lax administrator in history to meet the minimum requirements to get an extension beyond 2018."

NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder attributed much of the delay to problems with the software and said the contractor installing the speed control system is accelerating efforts to fix the problem and install the necessary equipment with a goal of finishing the work by the end of the year.

"NJ Transit continues to do everything within our power to meet the federal PTC implementation deadline," Snyder said.

FRA Chief Counsel Juan D. Reyes III said the agency has met NJ Transit officials, who said they expected to finish the work in time.

"We're going to keep working with them," he said.

And acting state Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said that the FRA has given NJ Transit permission to start testing positive train control on a six mile track in Morris County.

"Our goal is to make the December deadline," she said. "We are working with the FRA every day to put a plan in place."

The railroad administration announced Thursday that it would provide $73 million in grants to help pay for installing positive train control or other safety improvements.

In his testimony, Anderson said that railroads without positive train control couldn't use Amtrak tracks after Dec. 31 and that "we will be working closely with our partners and the FRA to determine the best way to address this situation."

DeFazio said in an interview after the hearing that railroads like NJ Transit, which have made little progress if that, could face a shut down.

"For someone who has done nothing, I would say they're going dark," he said.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.