Congress on Right Track with Passage of the FAST Act

WASHINGTON - The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) reacts to the inclusion of tank car retrofit reporting requirements and an ECP brake study in the Conference Report for the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act” or the FAST Act.   “We applaud this bipartisan support for a transportation bill that marks another step toward increased freight rail safety, our industry’s top priority,” said AFPM President Chet Thompson. “Congress rightly concluded that annual retrofit progress reports are critical to prevent supply disruption of products, including the fuels that make America’s modern lifestyle possible.” This legislation would also require the Government Accountability Office and National Academy of Sciences to study the cost, benefits, and performance of electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes. As a relatively new and untested technology, additional research of ECP brakes is needed to verify their safety performance in this application and to determine if they are an improved technology in comparison to more widely used braking systems. “We are pleased that Congress recognizes the need for additional study. The more informed we are about ECP brakes’ performance capabilities and cost, the better able we’ll be to determine if they offer improved safety benefits over more widely used braking systems,” Thompson continued.