NJ Transit ranks near the bottom of U.S. railroads required to install positive train control by the end of next year, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

While the agency continues to say it expects to install the crash-avoidance system by Dec. 31, 2018, it lags far behind its regional peers, including Metro-North, Long Island Rail Road and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's PATH rail system.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority tops the list of 41 railroads, having completed installation of 100 percent of its hardware and training for nearly 1,200 employees. SEPTA operates commuter rail service in the Philadelphia region, including Delaware and New Jersey.

Only five railroads have made less progress than NJ Transit, including commuter lines in South Florida, Dallas-Fort Worth and Nashville, Tennessee.

The positive train control requirement regained urgency this week after an Amtrak Cascades train jumped the tracks onto Interstate 5 in Pierce County, Washington, on Monday. Three passengers were killed.

According to preliminary data released by the National Transportation Safety Board, the train was traveling 80 mph into a curve restricted to 30 mph.

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Positive train control is intended to forestall such over speed events. Here are examples of others in recent years:

In September 2016, an NJ Transit commuter train crashed through a bumping post and into Hoboken Terminal. One person was killed. The train was going 21 mph as it approached the end of the track, more than twice the permitted speed.

In May 2015, Amtrak 188 jumped the tracks in North Philadelphia, killing eight passengers. The train was traveling 106 mph into a curve restricted to 50 mph.

In December 2013, a Metro-North commuter train jumped the tracks in the Bronx, killing four passengers. The train was traveling 82 mph into a curve restricted to 30 mph.

Congress required positive train control in 2008, and the original deadline for its completion was December 2015. The rail industry lobbied lawmakers for a three-year extension, and they received it without members even taking a recorded vote.

However, the extension included a provision that railroads could be granted another two years to complete positive train control if they met certain requirements by the 2018 deadline.

The Federal Railroad Administration's list shows the progress of the 41 railroads toward qualifying for an extension to 2020. While NJ Transit and many other railroads are far from getting to that point, the agency's former chief repeated her call Thursday that 2018 should be the deadline.

"Is @USDOTFRA moving the goalposts?" tweeted Sarah Feinberg, who led the agency in the Obama administration. "This graphic suggests that getting an extension to 2020 is the goal. It shouldn’t be — implementation ASAP — 2018 at the latest - should be the goal."

Also Thursday, New Jersey's U.S. senators signed a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao asking that railroads be held to the 2018 deadline.

"It is imperative that railroads complete implementation before the deadline," said the letter, signed by Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, along with their four Senate colleagues from New York and Connecticut. "They must clearly understand that the consequences of failure will be stringent and prompt."