New Biden administration rule would require two-person freight train crews

WASHINGTON — Freight railroads would be required to have two crew members aboard in most cases under a new rule announced Tuesday in response to the Norfolk Southern derailment in

East Palestine, Ohio.

The new rule sets federal standards for staffing freight trains and requires railroads to seek permission from the Federal Railroad Administration to run trains with a single employee. That process also would allow communities and railroad workers to weigh in before a final decision is made.

“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,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “This rule requiring safe train-crew sizes is long overdue, and we are proud to deliver this change that will make workers, passengers and communities safer.”

Most trains already run with two-person crews, but the rule would prevent railroads from scaling back their staffing. Amit Bose, head of the Federal Railroad Administration, said the regulation is “making sure what’s in place remains. Without the rule, they could do oneperson right now.”

The railroad industry criticized the rule.

“FRA is doubling down on an unfounded and unnecessary regulation that has no proven connection to rail safety,” said Ian Jeffries, president and

CEO of the Association of American Railroads. “Instead of prioritizing data-backed solutions to build a safer future for rail, FRA is looking to the past and upending the collective bargaining process. Railroads are committed to working with our union counterparts and policymakers to build on this momentum and advance proven solutions that meaningfully advance safety. Unfortunately, the crew size rule takes the industry in the exact opposite direction.”

The association said casualty rates for employees working on the largest railroads and accident rates have dropped over the last two decades.

But unions welcomed the new regulations.

“As trains, many carrying hazardous material, have grown longer, crews should not be getting smaller,” said Eddie

Hall, national president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. “I personally have operated freight trains that stretched over three miles in length.”

Buttigieg said the Norfolk Southern derailment on Feb. 3, 2023, provided a new boost to the agency’s rail safety efforts.

“East Palestine refocused the entire country on rail safety and that led to our three-way push — pushing ourselves to get good rules and regulations and inspections out, pushing the industry to behave better, and pushing Congress, which we’re still doing right now, to get this Railway Safety

Act done,” Buttigieg told reporters following a news conference with union members where he announced the new staffing rule.