In most cases, freight railroads would need two staff members aboard in response to the Norfolk Southern disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, according to a new concept released on Tuesday.
The new law requires railways to obtain agreement from the Federal Railroad Administration before operating freight trains with just one employee in accordance with federal regulations for staffing freight trains. Before a ultimate decision is reached, areas and rail workers could also participate in that process.
At least two staff members on board large freight trains, some of which can be longer than three miles long, may be common sense, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is currently responsible for making sure railways are properly staffed. We are pleased to bring about this change, which will make staff, passengers, and communities safer, because it is long overdue.
The law would stop railroads from cutting back on their staffing, but most trains now have two-person crews. Amit Bose, mind of the Federal Railroad Administration, said the legislation is “making positive what’s in position remains. Without the law, they may do one- individual right now”.
The rail business criticized the regulation.
According to Ian Jeffries, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, “FRA is doubling down on an false and unnecessary legislation that has no proven link to bridge safety.” FRA is looking to the history and upholding the collective bargaining process, not putting forward data-backed solutions to create a safer coming for road. Railroads is committed to working with our union rivals and politicians to create on this speed and improve tried-and-true solutions that have made a significant difference in safety. However, the staff size law takes the economy in the exact opposite direction”.
Over the past 20 years, the organization reported a decrease in injury rates and victim rates for employees on the largest railroads.
But organisations welcomed the new rules.
” As trains, some carrying dangerous material, have grown long, crew should not be getting smaller”, said Eddie Hall, national leader of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. ” I physically have operated transport trains that were more than three miles in length.”
Buttigieg said the Norfolk Southern disaster on Feb. 3, 2023, provided a fresh boost to the company’s road safety initiatives.
Following a press conference with union members where he unveiled the new personnel law, East Palestine “refocused the entire nation on road protection” and that led to our three-way push. We were pushing ourselves to get great rules, regulations, inspections away, the industry to respond better, and Congress, which we’re still working on at this time, to pass this Railway Safety Act.
In bipartisan regulations introduced after the Norfolk Southern train derailed near the Pennsylvania border, the condition that two staff members get on board big carriers continues to be a source of contention. Residents of Beaver County were frightened of drinking the water from the toxic chemical vinyl chloride after its release, and farmers claimed customers were afraid to buy meat from them.
The bill by U. S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, D- Pa., Sherrod Brown, D- Ohio and J. D. Vance, R- Ohio, and U. S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D- Aspinwall, Pa., would require two- person crews on trains carrying toxic chemicals like the vinyl chloride aboard the East Palestine train.
To make sure rail companies are held accountable and do more to keep workers and communities safe, Fetterman said on X.
And Deluzio claimed on X that two-person “minimum staffing is a key tool to better protect rail workers & the communities that run along railroad tracks.” He claimed that the administration was “holding big railroads accountable and always places workers and public safety first with this crucial rule.”
However, enough Senate Republicans and the freight industry objected to the proposed regulations in the bill, which would increase the maximum fine for violating rail safety laws from$ 100,000 to$ 10 million, preventing passage in the Senate after the Commerce Committee voted to pass the measure in May 2023.
Last month, House Democrats held a hearing to push for the legislation’s passage. That came after Buttigieg criticized the railroad industry for thwarting the safety bill.
Instead of letting it be up to each state, Buttigieg claimed that the rule and the legislation would create uniform standards for railroads.
The state House and the bill’s sponsor, state representative, have already passed legislation requiring two-person crews on major freight railroads in Pennsylvania. Rob Matzie, D- Beaver, welcomed the new federal rule..
” Safe staffing on trains is good for public safety, especially given that we’re still witnessing more than 1,700 derailments annually and are still living through the effects of accidents like East Palestine and the Lehigh Valley derailment a few weeks ago,” Matzie said. ” Safer railroads are good for citizens, good for businesses, and, frankly, good for the railroads themselves when the people know those railroads are putting safety first”.
He stated that he would work to pass the state law in the future. The legislation would also place a cap on the length of trains that can block grade crossings, prohibit trains that are longer than 8,500 feet ( roughly 1.6 miles long ), and require the Public Utility Commission and the state Transportation Department to establish guidelines for tracking and reporting hazardous materials, making those details available to first responders.
The Federal Railroad Administration reported receiving more than 13,500 comments on the federal rule, almost all of which were in favor.
According to Bose,” the volume of comments from rail workers and their families, as well as comments from the general public about long trains and other issues, raised legitimate safety concerns that railroads have failed to adequately address on their own,” The final rule of today acknowledges the crucial role that both crew members play in the safe operation of trains, and it comes at a time when the most recent annual data reveal some alarming trends that need to be improved.
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( c ) 2024 the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette
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