electronically controlled pneumatic brakes

USDOT repeals ECP brake rule

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Dec. 4 repealed a 2015 Federal Railroad Administration rulemaking requiring freight railroads to employ electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes on certain trains hauling hazardous flammable commodities such as ethanol and crude oil in DOT-117 tank cars.

NAS/TRB ECP study inconclusive

In response to a congressional request in the FAST (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation) Act, The US Department of Transportation entered into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) Transportation Research Board (TRB) to conduct a two-phase study on ECP (electronically controlled pneumatic) freight train brakes.

Commentary

“Civil War-era” technology? You’re joking, right?

I’ve heard some pretty disingenuous (that’s a polite word for “dopey”) things said about railroads in my nearly 25 years at Railway Age. Nearly all of them have come from uninformed generalist reporters who are mostly clueless about what we do, how we do it, and the technology we employ—and that they don’t take the time to understand.

AAR to DOT: GAO agrees we don’t need ECP

The Association of American Railroads says the Department of Transportation should withdraw its rule on electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes for crude oil trains after a review released Oct. 12 by the United States Government Accountability Office.