BNSFs Matt Rose calls for reform of railroad regulation

[samfp1943]

The TRAINSNEWSWire of this date 02/16/2017 carries the above headline.

As many are aware there have been all sorts of discussions on this FORUM referencing the various Railroad GCOR's. But this has direct references to the Books of Federal Regulations; Some of those date back years to the Operations that stem from the 20th Century.  As with many Federal Regs, they may be changed, but seldom 'dropped', only added to.

FTA:"...WASHINGTON – The federal government should re-examine a railroad regulatory system that dates back to the steam era, BNSF Railway Executive Chairman Matt Rose told the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security on Wednesday.  “The command and control structure of railroad regulation goes back to the time when we had steam locomotives,” Rose said. “We don't have a good process for looking at old regulations, and the cumulative impact on regulations. We need to take a holistic view and find where technology has replaced the old command-and-control, activity-based regulatory oversight structure.”

He pointed to the Federal Railroad Administration's proposed rules requiring electronically controlled pneumatic brakes on unit trains of flammable liquids as an example. Last year the Government Accountability Office took the FRA to task for drafting the rule without sufficient data to support it.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., agreed. “With new leadership at the FRA, we hope the agency will improve. But we cannot rely on that alone. Congress must act to improve the use of data, risk-based analysis, transparency, collaboration, and objective based rules at the FRA.” Fischer is chair of the subcommittee.

Rose turned to positive train control. He noted that Congress required railroad to implement PTC as a result of an accident involving a freight and passenger train. “We hope that our hard-knock lessons will help the rest of the industry,” Rose said of BNSF’s PTC implementation.

However, passenger and commuter lines had fallen behind schedule because they don't have the money to complete PTC installation. He urged Congress to fund PTC for the commuter systems.

“I can't imagine a more difficult train wreck than where we have positive train control on the freight train and the passenger train doesn't because of lack of funding,” Rose said.

My questions to ask would be:

     Does anyone here think that the Congress will act to 'Clean up' the Federal Regulatory Register?

     The PTC Mandate was, as usual, 'underfunded' from the start by Congress, and then given a specific timetable for implementation; already actual practice has required that be rescheduled a couple of times. 

   Was this just 'knee-jerk' politics:   Demanding of the Railroads that they comply, and spend their money 'for their benefit'; while not making, and enforcing, the same requirements on the Public Funded Commuter Operations?

  This was the same Congressional Committtee that Wick Moorman testified about the 'needs' of AMTRAK's NEC Corridor infrastructure and its National System's  aging rail fleet.

    

 

[tree68]

Stepping back and taking an objective view of the various regs can't be a bad thing.

The problem comes with assembling an objective panel to do so.  There are many factors involved - labor, management, the regulators, even folks who have an intellectual investment in this reg or that.

I'm sure some portions of the regs will clearly be out of date, as Mr. Rose implies.

And there could be a ripple effect.  GCOR, NORAC, and the individual rulebooks of any railroad not using one of the above are all at least somewhat based on the CFR.

[wanswheel]

Link to video of the hearing

http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings?ID=059064F8-8D58-4725-98BC-61CC53DBCB08

[Shadow the Cats owner]

I work in the OTR industry and we have drop trailers at some of our customers.  One of the big issues some states have is snow and ice buildup on trailer roofs.  So they pass laws that require drivers to get up on the roofs and clear them off.  Hello OHSA regulations require full fall protection when working over 12 foot high with an attached railing on the item being cleared.  There is NO Safe Legal way to comply with some of the Regulations these people come up with. 

 

One of the most Idiotic ones that has come down the pipe recently was the 14 hour clock in the OTR industry. They think OTR driving is an office job at the FMCSA.  That is what the idiot that came up with the idea of it said. 

[tree68]

Shadow the Cats owner

There is NO Safe Legal way to comply with some of the Regulations these people come up with. 

There probably is, but it'$ going to co$t you...

Having been around such trucks on the Interstates, especially if the snow has a crust with loose snow underneath, it can be a bit scary...  Is that chuck of ice/snow going to slice through my windshield?

That said, it's not like the appropriate weather to cause such "flaking" is going to occur on a regular basis.  Just plain snow, I'm not worried about.  Add ice and that's another story.

At one time, there were supposed to be/going to be requirements that any regulation had to include some estimate of the cost to comply.  I think that's there for paperwork, but not for the other regulations those in the ivory towers promulgate...