A Review of the Department of Transportation's Plan for Analyzing and Testing Electronically Controlled Pneumatic Brakes Letter Report (Phase 2)

TRB's Committee on the Review of the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Testing of Electronically Controlled Pneumatic (ECP) Brakes has issued its final letter report. In response to a Congressional request, the committee reviews the conduct of DOT's tests, reports of test results, and analysis comparing the performance of ECP brakes relative to other braking technologies in reducing the incidence and severity of spills of crude oil or ethanol from derailments.

The committee's report reviewing DOT's test and analysis plan, issued in February 2017, recommends that DOT test the timing of brake propagation for alternative systems, conduct statistical analyses of the multiple factors contributing to derailments, and extend its validation of its modeling and simulation approaches for comparing ECP brakes to other brake systems. The committee’s letter report reviewing the results of DOT’s testing and analysis, issued in September 2017, finds that DOT’s efforts to validate its model and simulation approaches are incomplete and unconvincing. Based on the results of testing and analysis provided by DOT, the committee is unable to make a conclusive statement about the emergency performance of ECP brakes relative to other braking systems.