RAIL SAFETYCongress Should Empower Regulatory Agencies to Address Challenges Presented by Long Trains, Says New Report
Driven by cost and efficiency considerations, freight railroads have been operating increasingly longer manifest trains over the past two decades. The heightened safety challenges and operational demands of long freight trains require a combination of actions from major freight railroad companies
The heightened safety challenges and operational demands of long freight trains require a combination of actions from major freight railroad companies, the Federal Railroad Administration, and Congress, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In addition to evaluating issues around safety, operations, and crew training for long trains, the report also examines their potential to block highway-rail grade crossings and to interfere with Amtrak’s intercity passenger trains.
Complications of Long Manifest Trains
Driven by cost and efficiency considerations, freight railroads have been operating increasingly longer manifest trains over the past two decades. Manifest trains haul freight in many different types of railcars with different weights and sizes. The number and mix of cars can add to the extreme forces that moving trains experience, which can stress equipment and create handling challenges for train crews, increasing the potential for derailments if not closely managed, the report says.
There is no threshold at which a manifest train becomes a “long train” and subject to greater safety concerns, says the report. Rather, as the length of the train increases, it becomes more important to manage in-train forces by placing additional locomotives in the train and assembling trains correctly. Also, since manifest trains carry a mix of cargo, railcars of different types are picked up and dropped off en route, so a train’s handling demands can change over the course of a single trip.
“Freight railroads have provided such a dependable way to move goods and materials across the U.S. for so long that it’s easy to overlook them, but railroad operations have changed a great deal over the past few decades, as have the technologies used and our understanding of the best safety management practices,” said Debra Miller, chair of the Kansas Turnpike Authority, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. “So, the time is right for Congress, regulatory bodies, and the industry itself to take a closer look at railroad practices and regulations to ensure the safest operations going forward.”
