Washington — The Federal Railroad Administration’s decision to allow railroads to expand field testing of automated track inspection technology has drawn a terse response from a national labor union.
A five-year waiver recently approved by the FRA Safety Board permits railroads to “collect crucial data to improve safety,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a recent press release.
“The new waiver will allow U.S. railroads to complement visual track inspections with innovative technology that will identify issues on our rail before they become a serious safety threat for rail passengers and crew,” Duffy added. “Achieving the highest standards of safety is the top priority, and this research can help our industry unlock the latest and greatest methods to get American families to their destinations as safely and efficiently as possible.”
In April, the Association of American Railroads petitioned FRA for a waiver of compliance from certain provisions of the federal railroad safety regulations related to visual track inspections.
The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – which represents 230,000 workers – disputes the secretary’s claim.
FRA “checked another box off the [AAR’s] long-desired wish list – the ability to increase the use of automated track inspection technologies,” Jared Cassity, national safety and legislative director for SMART, said in a letter posted on the union’s website. “The irony, however, is that nothing was preventing America’s Class I railroads from expanding the use of ATI in the first place, meaning the reality is that prioritizing the safest course is not the ultimate goal. Instead, it is to reduce the number of visual inspections (or manpower) to improve the operating ratio in their never-ending pursuit to appear attractive to their shareholders on Wall Street.
“Simply put, this waiver does nothing to improve safety. This ruling reduces by half the assurance that our members have that the rail underneath them is intact and equipped to handle the weight of the car or engine they are riding. This ruling makes it twice as likely that a defect will be discovered the hard way, by our members rolling over it.”
The waiver, FRA asserts, provides the rail industry a “long overdue opportunity” to demonstrate how ATI technology can assist safety inspectors by identifying defects and hazards that could be missed during routine visual inspections.
The agency notes that, under the ATI waiver, only “minor changes” to nonautomated track inspection activities will take place, including added data collection and sharing requirements.
Cassity said the union supports ATI when its use is in conjunction with visual inspections, calling it a “sensible and pragmatic approach to safe railroad operations.”
He added: “Labor supports technology that advances safety and supplements our work. This effort misses that mark.”
