PHMSA seeks comments on ECP brake provision in hazmat tank car rule

The deadline for public comments to be received on a provision regarding electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes in a Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration hazmat tank car final rule is 11:59 pm Eastern time, Nov. 1.    Time is running out for those seeking to comment on a U.S. government provision regarding electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes within a rule for hazmat tank cars.
   The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration, is seeking comments regarding a revised Regulatory Impact Analysis updating the original impact analysis associated with the electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brake provision of the PHMSA’s May 2015 Final Rule titled “Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains.”
   The agencies issued the updated impact analysis in response to the mandate of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act which, when it was signed by President Obama in December 2015, was the first federal law in over a decade to provide long-term funding certainty for surface transportation infrastructure planning and investment.
   The updated DOT/PHMSA analysis incorporates new testing and analysis the National Academy of Sciences reviewed regarding the effectiveness of ECP brake systems, plus includes recommendations from two U.S. General Accountability Office audits and updates the costs and benefits of the provision of the Final Rule based on changed economic conditions.
    Both the docket for the Regulatory Impact Analysis and the Federal Register Notice are available online. The deadline for comments to be received is 11:59 pm Eastern time Nov. 1.