AAR offers up several rules and regulations for USDOT to reevaluate

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
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AAR/Twitter

Airbrakes, hours of service, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and level boarding rules were included in comments the Association of American Railroads (AAR) filed Friday with the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) concerning federal regulations AAR is offering up for reevaluation.

AAR’s comments are in response to a directive from the Trump administration to reform regulatory processes and individual regulations to better serve the public. The association says the rules included in its comments are “ideal areas for repeal, replacement, suspension or modification.”

“As evidenced by our filing with the Department of Transportation, the AAR’s previous letter to Deputy Secretary Jeffrey A. Rosen and the continued actions of the AAR and its members, the freight rail industry is a critical partner to the government in improving federal regulation,” said Edward R. Hamberger, president and CEO of the AAR. “We have been clear and consistent in calling for common sense regulatory principles, including that rules should be based on a demonstrated need, as reflected in current and complete data and sound science; and non-prescriptive regulatory tools, like performance-based regulations, should be deployed wherever possible to foster and facilitate innovation to achieve well-defined policy goals.”

The AAR said it focused principally on the need for a regulatory approach that recognizes the significant private investments made by railroads, including innovative technologies built to improve safety and performance. “The regulatory relief we call for,” reads the filing, “is the license and flexibility to conceive, develop and deploy innovative technologies and practices where they are effective and efficient and to be regulated based on our success in achieving safety goals, not by outdated, prescriptive regulations.”

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