Legislators used a House subcommittee hearing on railroad safety Tuesday to highlight a new rail safety bill. But committee members and witnesses including regulators, union representatives, and the House member representing East Palestine questioned the rail industry’s own safety efforts.
As the release of the NTSB’s accident investigation report on the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment looms, policymakers can take several steps to focus on rail safety.
Recent incidents involving Norfolk Southern trains exposed the continued need for rail safety to the greater public. Here are some ways rail can drive safety.
Saturday will mark one year since a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. NS is joining the federal Confidential Close Call Reporting System, the only Class I railroad to do so.
What are stakeholders in the freight rail space keeping an eye on in 2024? Here’s a starter list.
Election-year politics and the NTSB report on the East Palestine derailment are key factors in whether Congress will pass rail safety legislation in 2024, industry observers say.
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way – Employes Division is continuing to express its disappointment over planned furloughs at Union Pacific. But UP insists that it will call back furloughed employees as the railway pursues rail service and safety goals.
Will Congress pass any rail safety bills before 2023 ends? One consultant thinks the answer is probably no.
Using technology to assess adverse weather impacts in real time and working with other railroads to adopt best practices were two of the Federal Railroad Administration’s recommendations.
The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen and Norfolk Southern, with technical input from the Federal Railroad Administration, will conduct a one-year pilot program to identify best safety practices.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen wants the Federal Railroad Administration to issue an emergency order prohibiting freight train lengths greater than 7,500 feet.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said a new rule calling for passenger trains to have inward- and outward-facing image recording devices should also have applied to freight trains.
The National Transportation Safety Board will focus on CSX’s safety training of railway carmen as the agency continues investigating the death of a carman at a CSX yard in Ohio.
President Joe Biden wants Norfolk Southern and federal agencies to stay involved in recovery efforts in East Palestine, Ohio, where an NS train carrying hazardous materials derailed on Feb. 3.
Rail union leaders want the industry to examine safety practices involving remote-controlled locomotives following the Sunday death of a railway carman at a CSX rail yard in Ohio.
Atkins Nuclear Secured released its initial findings on how Norfolk Southern can bolster its safety culture.
Union Pacific is asking the Federal Railroad Administration for more details on the safety defects that federal inspectors reportedly found during focused inspections this summer.
Union Pacific plans to respond this week to concerns of Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose that the railroad is being cavalier in ensuring its locomotives are safe.
House Oversight Committee Republicans are accusing U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg of not acting on the DOT inspector general’s recommendations for improving aviation and rail safety.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is temporarily suspending a 2020 rule that allows the transport of liquefied natural gas in specialized cryogenic tank cars.
The National Transportation Safety Board will focus on employee training methods and industry practices on clearance as it continues its investigation of an Aug. 6 conductor trainee fatality at a Maryland CSX rail yard.
The Association of American Railroads says a federal program in which employees can anonymously report safety concerns has the potential for misuse.
SMART-TD is telling freight train conductors and conductor trainees to take charge of their safety since the programs offered by railroads are lacking. This is following the recent deaths of two conductor trainees.
The Transportation Trades Department wants to know why the Class I railroads haven’t fully committed to a program that lets employees anonymously report safety concerns. The railroads say sticking points remain.
After two recent deaths of conductor trainees, CSX is recalling about 350 people to their home terminals for additional training.
The Federal Railroad Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration separately released reports Wednesday on how Norfolk Southern can improve rail safety.
A policy think tank is urging lawmakers and regulators to carefully examine what economic and environmental outcomes could occur if the federal government decides to regulate the length of freight trains.
The National Transportation Safety Board says more frequent track inspections could have helped prevent a fatal September 2021 Amtrak derailment that was caused by “poor track conditions.”
The Federal Railroad Administration wants more data on train lengths so that the agency can better assess what impact, if any, longer trains might have on operations.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Rio Grande Foundation and others are urging senators to leave some items out of the rail safety bill before Congress.
The rail industry has taken steps to prevent another Lac-Mégantic derailment, but more needs to be done, said the chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Research and development initiatives in the freight rail industry should turn their focus on integrating systems that are typically siloed in railroad operations, sources tell FreightWaves.
“There are qualified mechanical inspectors at all these points, and they were not allowed to inspect this car at any of those locations,” Jason Cox, of the Transportation Communications Union, testified at a National Transportation Safety Board hearing Friday.
The National Transportation Safety Board is holding a field hearing in East Palestine, Ohio, to garner more information on why the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train happened.
The heads of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers want swift action on the rail safety bill that passed the Senate Commerce Committee last month.
Three groups representing state and local governments have asked Senate leaders to move forward with debate on the rail safety bill.
CPKC seeks to extend or make permanent a waiver that allows the railway to dispatch trains for three locations at its Calgary office.
The Federal Railroad Administration is planning to expand its assessment of safety culture to include all of the Class I railroads, the agency’s head said recently.
A federal court in Canada sided with union members and determined that Canadian Pacific had failed to adequately limit the number of hours that train crews worked in a number of instances in 2018 and 2019.
How industry stakeholders are responding to efforts to legislate rail safety reforms was one of the themes percolating at the recent North American Rail Shippers annual conference.
Two regulations proposed by the Federal Railroad Administration call for freight railroads to create programs to certify train dispatchers and signal employees.
NS employees received a letter signed by President and CEO Alan Shaw and the presidents of 12 unions pledging collaboration to improve rail safety.
The Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO wants Congress to pass a rail safety bill that addresses train crew sizes, train lengths and inspection times.
The Senate Commerce Committee passed the Railway Safety Act, sending the bill to the Senate floor for a vote. But will it have smooth sailing?
FRA has issued a safety advisory asking freight railroads to be aware of the operational adjustments that must be made when they deploy longer trains.
An industry trade group advisory questioning the safety of wheel sets manufactured by National Steel Car has been canceled, National Steel Car said.
The way that trains are configured might have factored into the derailments of six Class I trains over the past two years, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Democratic lawmakers from Pennsylvania and Ohio have introduced a second piece of legislation, the Railway Accountability Act.
Norfolk Southern and SMART-TD are tabling discussions about how to handle conductor redeployments as congressional lawmakers want more information about what rail safety initiatives should become law.
Transportation secretary takes on lawmakers’ concerns on truck and rail issues while defending his department’s $145 billion fiscal year 2024 budget request.
Two congressional representatives from Ohio have introduced a rail safety bill that they say would build off of NTSB’s findings into the cause of the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train.
A Senate hearing Thursday provided Congressional leaders a chance to grill Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw not just on the Feb. 3 train derailment in Ohio but also on the industry’s views on rail safety.
Norfolk Southern notified federal officials about loose wheels, and the Association of American Railroads put out an advisory to halt the use of rail cars that might have this issue.
The Association of American Railroads has laid out initiatives the freight rail industry expects to take up to boost safety amid calls from federal officials in the wake of the Feb. 3 Ohio train derailment.
“While the Railway Safety Act of 2023 has potential, railroad workers are concerned with what is glaringly left out of the bill and what aspects are left to the DOT and FRA to draft, implement, and administer,” said Matt Weaver of Railroad Workers United.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Railroad Administration will conduct investigations into Norfolk Southern’s safety practices.
The Federal Railroad Administration collects a lot of data related to rail safety. What does that research show when it comes to the performance of the Class I railroads?
This AskWaves article describes the various stakeholders involved in regulating rail safety.
All seven Class I railroads have agreed to participate in a federal program in which workers can anonymously provide tips on operational conditions. The participation will complement existing internal programs at the railroads, says the Association of American Railroads.
Ohio members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way – Employes Division are concerned about the health of workers who responded to the Feb. 3 train derailment, and they disagreed with NS’ attempt to address automated track inspection during early negotiations over sick leave.
DOT wants railroads to take immediate actions to address safety
The National Transportation Safety Board’s probe of the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment will include a close look at the protective housing covers on the derailed tank cars.
The Federal Railroad Administration and a bipartisan group of five senators aim to show their responsiveness to rail safety concerns via new initiatives and proposed regulations.
The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a safety advisory that calls on railroads to evaluate their procedures for using and maintaining hot box detectors in light of the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio.
Rail unions warn that revisions to a rule affecting railroad contract workers could be a step backward for safety.
The Environmental Protection Agency has given Norfolk Southern a new order as the Ohio derailment cleanup transitions to longer-term remediation, and the U.S. Department of Transportation has given the railroads a list of what safety actions they should undertake.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and others have suggested the freight rail industry needs more regulation to ensure safe operations.
Union members are putting a spotlight on the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in Ohio, with the Transportation Trades Department calling for greater safety oversight from the Federal Railroad Administration.
The U.S Government Accountability Office says the Federal Railroad Administration could do more to increase the participation of railroads in a program geared toward addressing the root causes of close calls in the workplace.
Transport Canada says it is initiating the first steps toward implementing a version of positive train control in the country.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada wants the country’s major railways to install enhanced train-control technology similar to positive train control in the U.S.
A BNSF employee was fatally injured at the Globeville rail yard on Wednesday.
“We founded Parallel to allow railroads to open new markets, increase infrastructure utilization and improve service to accelerate freight decarbonization,” said Matt Soule, co-founder and CEO at Parallel Systems.
Rail-related provisions in the newly signed infrastructure bill span from federal grants to support infrastructure projects to studying the impacts of positive train control and train lengths.
A compilation of the past week in social media images features Northeast flooding, late summer Rockies snow and a white-knuckle helicopter landing.
Transport Canada has approved updates to the rules, regulations and standards regarding switching operations as part of a broader effort to make operations safer.
A February incident involving an Ontario train derailment led Canada’s Ministry of Transport to issue two orders aimed at preventing the uncontrolled movement of rail equipment.
The Union Pacific employee, who was working in Vail, Arizona, was struck by a rail tamper and fatally injured, according to the railroad and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the freight rail industry needs to reconsider where it places buffer cars on high-hazard flammable trains in order to reduce potential accident severity.
All 50 states plus the District of Columbia must now develop and implement safety measures for high-risk highway-rail grade crossings.
A cross-industry working group for freight rail cautions workers following three recent fatalities related to switching.
The federal agency says the rule would reduce unnecessary costs and incentivize innovation while also improving rail safety.
The Federal Railroad Administration and Volpe are in the middle of conducting a survey on how railroaders gather and share information about occupational safety.
The revisions encourage technology integration and encourage preventative measures, say some stakeholders.
Labor groups praise bill’s contents but key freight rail group is “disappointed.”
The pandemic is exacerbating existing problems with vendors and software installation, according to a federal report.
Labor attorney takes issue with allowing carriers to keep accident evidence from being used in court.
The agency has issued two new notices of proposed rulemakings that it says would promote safety innovation and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens.
Government initiatives are encouraging the freight rail sector to address cyber threats. But what else needs to be done?
Amtrak train 91, which was traveling from Penn Station in New York to Miami, should have been on the main line, but it was directed to tracks just east of it, where a CSX train was parked.
Following the collapse of a rail tunnel at the district of Rastatt in the city of Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany, the European Union has adopted new rules to “improve international coordination of infrastructure works,” the Handy Shipping Guide reports.
