The Federal Railroad Administration’s proposed regulations would require two engineers on all trains except for “operations that FRA believes do not pose significant safety risks to railroad employees, the general public, and the environment.”
A rule that would require railroads to man trains with at least two engineers is being met with strong opposition in the freight rail industry.
The Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) proposed regulation, published yesterday in the Federal Register, would require two engineers on all trains except for “operations that FRA believes do not pose significant safety risks to railroad employees, the general public, and the environment.” The rule would also establish minimum requirements for the responsibilities of the second train crew member.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR), however, is questioning the need for the proposed rule, according to a statement from the industry group.
AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger acknowledged the need for safety regulations, but said there is “simply no safety case to be made” for the two-person crew rule, especially in areas where positive train control (PTC) has been implemented.
PTC is a federally mandated communication system that can override a conductor to slow or stop a train to prevent an accident. Supporters of the system claim it will drastically improve railroad safety, but railways have complained that PTC, which relies on GPS, wireless radio and computers, is complicated and expensive to install.
“Worldwide, trains safely operate with one person in the cab, including here in the United States with passenger and commuter trains and some short line freight railroads,” said Hamberger. “Major European railway systems running many mixed freight and passenger trains per day have safely implemented single-person train crews.
“Coming from an administration that champions smart, data-driven regulations, it is inexplicable how this proposal was approved by the President’s Office of Management and Budget,” he added. “Even the FRA concedes they have no ‘reliable or conclusive statistical data’ to suggest that two-person crews are safer. I encourage the FRA to reexamine the facts and exercise sound regulatory judgment before finalizing a rule that lacks empirical support.”
Hamberger also noted that Class I freight railroads already require two people per train and will continue to do so for mainline operations that have not been equipped with PTC. Once implementation is complete, PTC will be in operation for 60,000 miles of the United States’s 140,000-mile freight rail system.
“PTC is designed to provide continuous monitoring of train operations to protect against human error in controlling train speeds and movements,” he said. “This is exactly the kind of safety redundancy through technology for which the FRA has long advocated.”
For its part, the FRA admitted in the Federal Register filing that it “does not currently collect sufficient data related to the size of a train crew nor do accident reports and investigations generally address the size of a crew in order for FRA or any entity to definitively compare one-person operations to multiple person operations.”
“However,” the administration added, “FRA has studies showing the benefits of a second crewmember and other information detailing the potential safety benefits of multiple-person crews,” citing a recent accident in Canada in which a one-person crew did not properly secure an unattended train and another incident in which a multiple-person crew was able to effectively respond and remove cars from danger.
“In addition, qualitative studies show that one-person train operations pose increased risks by potentially overloading the sole crewmember with tasks, and that PTC does not substitute for all the tasks performed by properly trained conductors,” said FRA. “Task overload can lead to a loss of situational awareness, and potentially to accidents. Moreover, other nations require government approval of railroad decisions to use less than two-person crews.
“Further, even if FRA does not have data to prove a direct correlation between higher rates of safety and multiple person crews, it is true that railroads have achieved a continually improving safety record during a period in which the industry largely employed two-person train crews.”
The FRA is seeking written comments on the proposed rule until May 16, 2016.
“The freight rail industry is spending billions to automate operations inside freight locomotives,” said Hamerger. “Instead of piling on additional, duplicative regulatory costs that offer no incremental safety benefit, the government should focus on creating an environment that fuels innovation and technological advancement in furtherance of safety.”
Freight railroads challenge proposed two-person crew rule
