AAR applauds multi-year surface transportation legislation agreement

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) congratulated Congressional conferees Tuesday for coming to an agreement about the first long-term surface transportation legislation in approximately 10 years.

The agreement includes the railroad industry in the United States and calls for safety improvements for tank cars when they transport flammable liquids throughout the nation.

Additional concerns, though, include the fact that there needs to be further provisions made for thermal blanket protection for tank cars, requirements for tank car retrofits as well as restrictions for using older DOT-111 tank cars when they transport flammable liquids.

"The AAR's position has always been that the tank car rule was a good start, but didn't advance safety as much as it could," Edward R. Hamberger, the president and CEO of AAR, said.

These provisions would solve safety issues that were not addressed in the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s recent tank car rule that was implemented in May.

"America's freight rail industry is pleased with the commonsense reforms intended to address duplicative and burdensome permitting delays unrelated to environmental quality," Hamberger said.