Rail

Transportation safety is a shared responsibility and a range of stakeholders play a part, including rail shippers, rail workers, the railroads (or rail carriers) and well-prepared emergency responders. AFPM members, as shippers, control the tank cars and rail cars we own up to the point when we hand them over to the railroads.

Rob Benedict, AFPM’s Vice President of Midstream and Petrochemicals, issued the following statement after Congress passed, and President Biden signed, a resolution to avoid a nationwide rail strike.

On Tuesday, November 29th AFPM President and CEO Chet Thompson sent a letter to Congressional leadership urging their immediate intervention to avoid a rail worker strike. Thompson stressed that time is of the essence since shipping embargos and service curtailments capable of disrupting U.S. manufacturing, fuel production and freight deliveries are starting now, well before a December 9 work stoppage. A copy of AFPM’s letter is available here and excerpts can be found below:

“Refiners and petrochemical manufacturers are relieved that the two sides were able to come to agreement and avert what would have been a disastrous event for our economy and energy security."

American manufacturing has seen its fair share of challenges in what has been a transformational year economically, thanks in part to a protracted trade war and the global pandemic.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday the Federal Railroad Administration published its Rail Integrity and Track Safety Standards final rule in the Federal Register.

The ultimate goal of safety policy is to reduce or even virtually eliminate risk, and policymakers and regulated industries continually face difficult decisions in working toward this objective.

Last month Rob Benedict, senior director, petrochemicals, transportation and infrastructure at AFPM, spoke with Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono regarding a host of current issues facing AFPM members and freight rail shippers across the United States.