cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/28549386
“As trains — many carrying hazardous material — have grown longer, crews should not be getting smaller,” said Eddie Hall, the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union. He praised the FRA for taking the step President Joe Biden promised. Hall said keeping two people in the cab of a locomotive is crucial now that railroads rely on longer trains that routinely stretch for miles.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Major freight railroads will have to maintain two-person crews on most routes under a new federal rule that was finalized Tuesday in a milestone in organized labor’s long fight to preserve the practice.
“As trains — many carrying hazardous material — have grown longer, crews should not be getting smaller,” said Eddie Hall, the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union.
Railroads have a history of resisting new regulations as they sought the discretion to operate trains with only one person and to move conductors to ground-based jobs in places with automatic braking systems.
“FRA is doubling down on an unfounded and unnecessary regulation that has no proven connection to rail safety,” said Ian Jefferies, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads trade group.
The East Palestine, Ohio, derailment put a national spotlight on rail safety because of the consequences of the hazardous chemicals that spilled and caught fire, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate and causing lingering health concerns.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, said it’s still important to pass a rail safety bill he cosponsored along with several Republicans because it would ensure future administrations couldn’t drop the crew-size rule and would make other meaningful improvements, including standards for trackside detectors and railcar inspections.
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