Buttigeig: We're constrained by Trump administration withdrawing braking rule (train derailment)

[News Junkie]

Link to tweet

[blm]

1. WH needs to wield power to do the right thing as fast as Trump

Wielded it to do the wrong.

I don’t think slow-walking a dangerous issue like this is the smart option, Pete.

[jimfields33]

2. Congress passed a law constraining the government in 2015?

Then trump used that law to make it worse?

[Whiskeytide]

5. No. Congress passed a law in 2015 ...

… that placed requirements on the RR industry to use more expensive and time consuming methods to brake trains carrying dangerous/flammable products. In 2017, the Тяцмp administration’s Transportation Department repealed/removed those requirements.

[MichMan]

6. According to the link, Congress passed a law giving Transportation Sec the authority to re evaluate

and it was signed into law in late 2015.

December 7, 2017

The U.S. Department of Transportation on December 4 announced that it will withdraw a 2015 regulation requiring the use of electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes on certain trains carrying flammable liquids, on the grounds that the safety benefits were inconclusive and the cost-benefit analysis was negative.

The original rule was published in May 2015, but later that year, in response to complaints from railroads, Congress enacted section 7311 of the FAST Act which ordered GAO and Transportation Research Board reviews of the rule, and once those reviews were finished, ordered the Secretary of Transportation to take an “evidence-based approach” to a reevaluation of the rule.

There is more in the link following the part I posted here

[Whiskeytide]

9. That's a better explanation. Bottom line is that the ...

… RR industry didn’t like the restrictions, and whined until Congress and the DOT weakened them.

I’d say the evidence now is that it was a pretty sound requirement after all. (Although I don’t really know if implementing it would have actually averted this particular disaster).

[MichMan]

20. The legislation in 2015 giving the DOT authority to revise the braking rule had pretty broad support

H.R. 22 FAST Act

Passed the House 359-65 ( All nay votes were Republican)

Passed the Senate 83-16 (All but 2 nay votes were Republican)

Signed by President Obama 12/4/2015


With hindsight, it is easy to say the railroads used their influence, but given the vote margins, the original rule must have had some issues, if it they included legislation to order the DOT to initiate a study to alter it so soon after it was passed. Otherwise, it would have just stood as written.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/22/actions

[jimfields33]

10. Oh ok. Thank you.

[jmowreader]

13. More expensive, yes. More time-consuming, no

Trains have air brakes, which were invented by George Westinghouse - yeah, the same guy who later went into the electrical business.

To oversimplify things, each car on the train has an air tank. There’s a hose running the length of the train that keeps this full. There’s another hose that’s connected to a valve on the car. When air gets into this one, the valve opens and sends air to the brakes on each wheel, which stops the car.

The problem is, it takes a while for compressed air to travel to the end of the train, and some trains are a half-mile long.

Obama brakes, officially Electrically Controlled Pneumatic brakes, replace that second hose with an electrical cable. When the engineer puts the brakes on, the valves immediately open and brake the train.

You can see why Trump wanted to get rid of this system: every car in the fleet that could potentially carry hazmat - in short, all of them - would have needed an ECP valve and every locomotive that could pull a train carrying hazmat - in other words, all of them - would have needed a control box, and the railroads would have rather buy back stock than spend money on their equipment.

[Whiskeytide]

14. Thank you for that explanation. I think this is ...

… the real problem with lowering the tax rate for the ultra wealthy and big corps. When the tax rate was high, they really did spend profits on innovation and infrastructure upgrades instead of Filtering it through to shareholders and executives. This kind of thing would have gotten done for the tax break that came with it. Now it goes to yachts, vacation homes, and golden toilets. Our priorities are so fucked up.

[DENVERPOPS]

17. I found it appalling when

The railroad industry allowed the railroads to get rid of the caboose on all trains. The engineer in the front of the train can not see anything happening to the train behind him. The guys in the caboose could observe any problems, that is why they were there. The fact that this train had a wheel that was shooting sparks and flames for 20-30 miles would have been spotted by the personnel in the caboose in the first few miles......and relayed to the engineer to take immediate action.

[Duppers]

22. Exactly

[AllaN01Bear]

3. here is what this op is talking about.

https://www.railwayage.com/regulatory/usdot-repeals-ecp-brake-rule/
Electronically controlled pneumatic brakes are a type of modern railway braking system which offer improved performance compared to traditional railway air brakes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronically_controlled_pneumatic_brakes

[MichMan]

4. If I read it correctly, the Sec of Transportation has the authority to reinstate it.

From the link

December 7, 2017

The U.S. Department of Transportation on December 4 announced that it will withdraw a 2015 regulation requiring the use of electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes on certain trains carrying flammable liquids, on the grounds that the safety benefits were inconclusive and the cost-benefit analysis was negative.

The original rule was published in May 2015, but later that year, in response to complaints from railroads, Congress enacted section 7311 of the FAST Act which ordered GAO and Transportation Research Board reviews of the rule, and once those reviews were finished, ordered the Secretary of Transportation to take an “evidence-based approach” to a reevaluation of the rule.

I didn't see anything about not being able to re evaluate and change it back again.

[GoCubsGo]

7. Reinstating these rules is easier said than done.

Here's a decent summary of how it works--or doesn't. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/IN10611.pdf

[CaptainTruth]

11. Every Republican action & policy results in more dead Americans.

[keets]

15. Elaine Lan Chao served as the...

...18th United States Secretary of Transportation in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2021.

She is married to U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell.

[DENVERPOPS]

18. Isn't she also

the daughter of Uber Rich Chinese Oligarchs?

"Citizens United" needs to be repealed yesterday.............With these new supreme court justices that will never happen.

I would bet a bunch, that if you asked Repub AND Dem voters to explain "Citizens United" supreme court's ruling of 2010, that 90+% of them would not know a single thing about it.......No shit................

Perfect Title for a book about the last 40+ years would be: WHILE THE NATION SLEPT

[gratuitous]

16. And isn't it great . . . ?

Isn't it great that Republican actions sail right through into effect, while the remedies get hog-tied by red tape and never enacted until enough people have died.

[LisaM]

12. Would the better braking system have prevented this?

I am assuming so, but wonder if there's anything out there that confirms it.

I cannot believe that the networks are spending so many hours on the balloons, and so little time grilling senators on the effect of that vote.

[DENVERPOPS]

19. How about the cost cutting

by railroads to eliminate the caboose, and the people in it whose job was to observe the train from the rear?
Certainly they would have seen a car/wheel shooting sparks and flames almost immediately, instead of the train going for 20-30 miles self destructing....

[LisaM]

21. Absolutely agree.

I didn't know this was a thing, though I have noticed the lack of cabooses. Another thing the media should be paying attention to.

[NowsTheTime]

24. Just implement today's technology..

Today we have systems in machines that alert us to problems,

and the systems can also alert us to if they are functioning correctly in real time........

...but do stop short here:......Don't link it to software updates like Tesla

[NowsTheTime]

23. To me it seems almost inexcusable...

Last edited Thu Feb 16, 2023, 08:32 PM - Edit history (1)

........because the solution is known and doable...

.......and the downside is obvious........

.......and it's not just hazardous materials, it's heavy tar sands crude shipped to gulf coast for refining.

Rolling back regulations that protect people.....what a wonderful idea!