FRA Publishes Another Train Operations Safety Advisory – 4-27-23

Today, the DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) published on their website a new safety advisory dealing with the operation of long trains. The instructions to railroad operators will not become official until they are published in the Federal Register, probably next week but, since these are non-regulatory instructions, that delay is not material.

Reacting to three recent long-train derailments (not including the East Palestine derailment) the advisory provides eight recommendations pending completion of two formal studies about safety issues related to the operation of long-trains. None of the recommendations is going to have an immediate impact on operational safety.

I’ll have more details when the official version is published and I can provide paragraph links in the discussion.