Implementation of ECP: Benefits, Migration Path and Economics

I first became aware of the benefits of electrically piloted independent brake cylinder control at the beginning of my railroad career in 1956. I was working for the Rock Island Railroad, and we had Electrically controlled brakes on two of our fastest passenger trains, the Golden State and the Twin Star Rocket. The instantaneous response and the improvement in stopping smoothness and distance that the EP provided was remarkable. For those trains, a big benefit was not needing to “bail off” the locomotive brake. The stop distance from 95 MPH was reduced by about the length of the platform (as we proved on a trip where the EP failed).