A victory for safety was achieved in June when the Federal Railroad Administration\u2019s (FRA) Railroad Safety Board denied a request by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) to lengthen the \u201coff-air\u201d restriction from four to 24 hours for required brake tests and inspections.
\nAAR had written to FRA in December 2017 seeking a petition for waiver, arguing that safety would not be affected and that lengthening the off-air restriction would bring U.S. requirements in line with Canada\u2019s 24-hour off-air restriction.
\nHowever, SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich and union leaders from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA) and Brotherhood Railway Carmen Division (TCU\/IAM)\u2019s letter in February urged FRA officials to deny the request.
\nThe waiver would be unenforceable and too far-reaching, the unions argued.
\n\u201cDespite the carriers\u2019 safety assurances, the labor organizations have concerns with this far sweeping request for waiver given the fact that it will cover AAR\u2019s entire membership,\u201d the unions said. \u201cTo allow such a sweeping waiver request to go forward, each railroad would have to demonstrate that the cars on their railroad had state of the art brake valves, dryers and automatic moisture drainage. It is hard to imagine FRA granting such a \u2018one size fits all\u2019 waiver to each of AAR\u2019s member railroads.\u201d
\nThe FRA board agreed with SMART TD and the other rail unions, with Robert Lauby, FRA Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety, saying in the agency\u2019s June 19\u00a0denial letter that the petition was better considered as part of the rulemaking process.
\nThe board also said that AAR failed to prove that the changes would not have an adverse effect on safety.
\n\u201cBased on its review and analysis, the board concluded that granting the requested relief would not be in the public interest or consistent with rail safety,\u201d Lauby wrote.
\nLauby also said in the letter that the data provided by AAR to support its petition did not cover the variety of real-world conditions encountered while running trains.
\n\u201cAbsent more detailed data demonstrating that safety would not be compromised, the Board concluded that the waiver request was not justified,\u201d Lauby said.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A victory for safety was achieved in June when the Federal Railroad Administration\u2019s (FRA) Railroad Safety Board denied a request by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) to lengthen the \u201coff-air\u201d restriction from four to 24 hours for required brake tests and inspections. AAR had written to FRA in December 2017 seeking a petition for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":7,"featured_media":43648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,18,25],"tags":[563,4085,175,3383,4086],"member_types":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n