FRA rule to require two-person crews
Unions cite safety in supporting new regulation; industry calls move unnecessary
REACTIONS WERE BOTH strong and predictable on April 2 when the Federal Railroad Administration issued a long-pending rule requiring two-person crews for most freight trains: Unions supported the new rule and, like the FRA, cited safety considerations. The rail industry’s group, the Association of American Railroads, decried the move as unnecessary, saying there was no evidence two-person crews were safer than single-person operation.
“Common sense tells us that large freight trains, some of which can be over 3 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,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in announcing the regulation. Eddie Hall, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, had a similar reaction: “As trains, many carrying hazardous materials, have grown longer, crews should not be getting smaller.”
The AAR, on the other hand, said the rule “has no proven connection to rail safety,” and cited the industry training and investments in technology and infrastructure as leading to a decrease in employee casualties (63%) and in train accidents (27%) since 2000. The organization also noted the FRA had dropped plans for a similar rule in 2019. The FRA Administrator at the time, Ron Batory, cited a study (paid for by the AAR) that found no conclusive proof that trains with two-person crews were safer than those with just one.
The FRA rule arrives in an environment where railroad safety remains under scrutiny following the February 2023 East Palestine derailment and hazardous chemical release. While federal legislation introduced in the wake of that incident remains in limbo, states have increasingly passed legislation addressing crew size, train length, and other aspects of rail operation. The ability of such state laws to withstand legal scrutiny, given federal primacy over matters of interstate commerce, remains to be seen.
The economic considerations for the two sides were, at best, inferred. For the unions, two-person crews protect jobs — or as the SMART-TD union put, the rule “solidifies the role of freight conductors in this country.” Railroads, some of which have sought to experiment with groundbased conductors, face a new limitation on their ability to reduce labor costs — or, in the AAR’s words, “the FRA’s overreach … will diminish the importance of collective bargaining by inserting the regulator between the parties.” — David Lassen