NTSB is concerned with the increasing number of people working on or around railroad tracks,
such as train crews, maintenance-of-way employees, and mechanical workers, killed or injured
in preventable accidents involving train or equipment movement. Many of these workers were
conducting routine maintenance or switching operations when they were struck. Although rail
worker fatalities have declined overall in recent years, we continue to see some recurring safety
issues in our accident investigations, highlighting the need for better worker protections.
Roadway Workers
To better protect roadway workers (those who maintain the track), the Federal Railroad
Administration (FRA) implemented Roadway Worker Protection Regulations in 1997; however,
since then, more than 75 roadway workers have been killed. Meanwhile, the Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) has yet to establish any specific regulations covering roadway worker
protections.
Many of the accidents we’ve investigated have also involved train approach warning systems,
which are vulnerable to human errors, such as miscalculating site distance and generally
underestimating the time needed for workers to clear tracks. We have long been concerned with
the risks of using these systems as the primary form of worker protection, especially because
they lack safety redundancy. Trains travel at deceivingly high speeds, and without proper
warning, workers may not have enough time to react. The FRA and FTA need to require railroads
to implement technology to provide safety redundancy.
Operations and Mechanical Crews
Another recurrent issue that we see in our investigations is the need to address training and
scheduling practices. Industry needs to ensure that job briefings are done correctly and that
procedures are in place to audit those briefings. Additionally, watchmen/lookouts should receive
proper training and have the required equipment. Railroads and transit agencies must develop
work schedules and limitations based on science to prevent fatigued workers from being eligible
to work overtime.
Like roadway workers, operations crews and mechanical workers have also been killed in
preventable accidents. One issue requiring attention is spacing between train crews and rail cars
carrying hazardous materials. Although the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration
(PHMSA) requires buffer cars between train crews and hazardous materials, the agency has also
issued a regulatory interpretation that provides for a much shorter distance between hazardous
materials and train crews. We believe PHMSA needs to withdraw its regulatory interpretation so
railroads will be required to implement a minimum of five cars as a buffer between train crews
and highly hazardous flammable material, at least until PHMSA determines the appropriate
separation distance to keep train crews safe.
To see our all the specific detailed recommendations. Some recent highlights follow:
Regulators should
- Act now on our recommendations to establish adequate roadway worker and operations crew protection.
- Prohibit the use of train approach warning in controlled track territory during planned maintenance and inspection activities.
- Issue guidance for railroads for the assessment of on-track safety programs to ensure it encompasses the role of signal and train control equipment, including redundant protection, such as supplemental shunting devices, to protect roadway workers and their equipment.
- Study available technologies that automatically alert maintenance-of-way workers fouling tracks of approaching trains, then require such technology be implemented as a redundant protective measure.
Industry should
- Eliminate the use of train approach warning protection in controlled track territory during planned maintenance and inspection activities.
- Provide more comprehensive briefings.
- Equip new and existing roadway maintenance machines (RMMs) with backup cameras.
- Establish RRM standoff distances that take into account the ability of an operator to see a worker or object in the track gauge behind a RRM.
- Prohibit railroad employees from riding shoving movements through highway-railroad grade crossings equipped only with flashing lights or passive warning devices unless ground protection is provided
- Update speed enforcement guidelines to reflect the latest automated speed enforcement technologies and operating practices and promote these guidelines.
Open Recommendations that represent critical safety priorities
Rail worker safety covers all areas of rail service (freight, passenger, etc.), and includes measures to protect operations crew and roadway workers. There is some overlap amongst these categories.
Operations Crew Protections
R-17-1 to PHMSA: Evaluate the risks posed to train crews by hazardous materials transported by rail, determine the adequate separation distance between hazardous materials cars and locomotives and occupied equipment that ensures the protection of train crews during both normal operations and accident conditions, and collaborate with the Federal Railroad Administration to revise 49 Code of Federal Regulations 174.85 to reflect those findings.
R-17-2 to PHMSA: Pending completion of the risk evaluation and action in accordance with its findings prescribed in Safety Recommendation R-17-01, withdraw regulatory interpretation 06-0278 that pertains to 49 Code of Federal Regulations 174.85 for positioning placarded rail cars in a train and require that all trains have a minimum of five non-placarded cars between any locomotive or occupied equipment and the nearest placarded car transporting hazardous materials, regardless of train length and consist.
R-17-3 to FRA: Evaluate the risks posed to train crews by hazardous materials transported by rail, determine the adequate separation distance between hazardous materials cars and locomotives and occupied equipment that ensures the protection of train crews during both normal operations and accident conditions, and collaborate with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to revise 49 Code of Federal Regulations 174.85 to reflect those findings.
Roadway Worker Protections
R-20-5 to FRA: Revise your oversight inspection process to focus on roadway worker activities, especially when roadway workers are using train approach warning for protection.
R-20-6 to FRA: Define when the risks associated with using train approach warning are unacceptable and revise Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations 214.329 to prohibit the use of train approach warning when the defined risks are unacceptable.
R-21-3 to FRA: Modify Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 214 to prohibit the use of train approach warning in controlled track territory during planned maintenance and inspection activities.
R-21-5 to AMTRAK and Class 1 Railroads: Eliminate the use of train approach warning protection in controlled track territory during planned maintenance and inspection activities.
