The Federal Railroad Administration gave final approval to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) application for a $967 million loan to install positive train control (PTC) technology on the Metro-North and Long Island railroad systems.

The loan funding can be used to acquire, improve, or rehabilitation intermodal or rail equipment of facilities, including track, components of track, bridges, yards, buildings and shops; refinance outstanding debt incurred for any of those purposes; and develop or establish new intermodal or railroad facilities.

By law, railroads are expected to implement PTC by Dec. 31, 2015.

The system has been pushed following the fatal crash of a Metro-North train from Poughkeepsie that derailed in the Bronx when the engineer fell asleep at the switch, killing four people.