AP Exclusive: Transport safety rules sidelined under Trump

Fake news. Most of those rules are pure fantasy. How do you equip tank cars with advance brakes and meet the Federal rules of interchange of those cars.......you can't. You either convert every freight car in the country in service or none at all. Trains that haul radioactive waste do not all have such brakes I know for a fact that is BS. Railroads have experimented and continue to experiment with electronic brakes but again they run into not being able to interchange the cars on a one by one basis because their brake system makes them unique from the rest of the rail car fleet. Also, electronic brakes shorten stoping distance they have other issues as well.

Railroads are under the gun right now to install PTC (Positive Train Control) and Trump has not relaxed that deadline. You can Google what PTC does and then you can put the pieces together and figure out it makes the specialized braking systems a completely irrelevant issue. PTC installation is being heavily rushed. It was a unfunded mandate by Congress that is costing our railroad system $15 Billion to implement. Some railroads will not be ready by the deadline at the end of this year and the deadline will probably be extended. The last Amtrak crash was caused by PTC installation, the signal system has to be turned off to install it which is pretty high risk move.

The train rolled away in Quebec because the crew improperly set the brakes NOT because the brakes did not work correctly, the same thing will happen with a manual shift car if you do not set the brake or place it in gear. One person crews are more a Union issue than a Federal issue. Even with that it is complete falsehood that the Feds have made them legal (they have not and if they did the Unions would strike) So a lot of the article as it pertains to railroads and railroad safety is mostly false. Another hit piece against the President.

Based on accidents under the last administration, not sure this is a big deal.

Interesting share of news.