Re: GGRM: The UP is cutting them no slack
Author: Dr Zarkoff
Date: 06-21-2019 - 20:30
> Doc,
> Its been that way since the late 70s (I think). The FRA was the one that set the time line. A home road could use them with (no revenue collected) but could not interchange them with another railroad. (Why do think SP sold all their beet racks to the sugar outfits.)
> As I understand it they are exempt from HEP. The FRA used to allow friction bearings on a case by case basis.
Whether or not to handle friction brakes is up to the handling RR, not the FRA, and the situation is possibly influenced by AAR policies and recommendations. Things didn't get "bad" until the 1990s.
As I mentioned earlier, HEP compatibility is an Amtrak thing, not a UP or FRA one. For example, if a UP (or BNSF, NS etc.) business car isn't HEP compatible, Amtrak won't allow it to be in one of its trains.