By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Transportation Department’s Federal Railroad Administration said Tuesday it will require major railroads to have at least two crew members for most trips.
The final rule creates a special approval process for railroads seeking to initiate new one-person train crew operations and requires trains carrying some hazardous waste to have two-person crew.
“Common sense tells us that large freight trains, some of which can be over three miles long, should have at least two crew members on board – and now there’s a federal regulation in place to ensure trains are safely staffed,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The Association of American Railroads, an industry trade group, criticized the rule saying the agency “is doubling down on an unfounded and unnecessary regulation that has no proven connection to rail safety.”
In 2019, the administration of then President Donald Trump withdrew a proposed regulation on crew staffing saying “no regulation of train crew staffing is necessary or appropriate for railroad operations to be conducted safely at this time.”
Greg Regan, President of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO, praised the Biden administration rule saying it “acknowledges that crew size is fundamentally a safety issue at its core. Rail workers experience the risks of the job daily, and have made it clear that two-person crews are inherently necessary to ensure the safe operation of our rail systems.”
The issue of rail safety has garnered new attention since the February 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern operated train in East Palestine, Ohio. The train caught fire and released over a million gallons of hazardous materials and pollutants.
(Reporting by David Shepardson,Editing by Franklin Paul)
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