Biden administration mandates two-person crews on freight trains

The Biden administration rolled out a mandate Tuesday requiring nearly all freight trains nationally to operate with two-person crews, ending for now a decade-long fight by the railroad industry to stymie similar efforts in Congress and in statehouses around the country.

The rules from the Federal Railroad Administration address a controversy that first attracted widespread attention following a 2013 oil train derailment in Canada that killed 47 people. The train had a single-person crew. That led to attempts in the U.S. at both the state and federal level to mandate two-person crews. Federal regulatory efforts languished as party control of the White House flipped back and forth, and rail safety legislation in Congress that contained similar provisions stalled.

States have jumped in to fill the void, though, especially after a derailed train spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, last year. Eleven states now have two-person crew mandates on the books: Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Illinois also passed a law, but a federal judge ruled that it was preempted by federal law. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a two-person crew requirement last month, calling the effort “premature.”

On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the new FRA rules will “address the patchwork of differing uncoordinated requirements that had been developing across the states, with some governors of both parties doing the right thing while others caved to railroad lobbyists.”

“You know,” he added, “when they pushed against the rules requiring two-person crews at the state level, one of the things that the railroad lobby said was the federal government should be the one to make the rules, so there's uniformity across state lines. So here we go.”

Buttigieg framed the issue as a safety measure, particularly as freight railroads deploy trains as long as three miles to cut costs as part of the industry’s adoption of “precision railroading.”

The result, Buttigieg said, is that trains are now as long as 12 Empire State Buildings laid on their side. “They want to operate that with one person. I certainly can't imagine operating one Empire State Building with one person, and it doesn't move. It defies common sense and that changes today.”

Having both an engineer and a conductor on the train would allow the second crew member to secure a train with handbrakes, operate trackside switches that are not remotely controlled and assist in emergencies, he said.

More than 13,000 people commented when the FRA announced its two-person crew proposal, he said, and nearly all of them were supportive of the idea. One worker told the agency that asking someone to run a train by themselves for a 12-hour shift is “kind of like solitary confinement,” Buttigieg said, and would “inevitably lead to fatigue.”

FRA Administrator Amit Bose touted the new rules as a “big step forward” in ensuring rail safety. “FRA is not satisfied with stagnant safety trends, which unfortunately, have been the norm over the last decade,” he said. “Rail-related incidents nationwide continue to impact communities and workers in very real and unacceptable ways. They deserve better. When it comes to rail safety, we cannot accept business as usual.”

But railroads criticized the new rule for its “overreach” on a key labor issue.

“FRA is doubling down on an unfounded and unnecessary regulation that has no proven connection to rail safety,” said Ian Jeffries, the president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, in a statement. “Instead of prioritizing data-backed solutions to build a safer future for rail, FRA is looking to the past and upending the collective bargaining process.”

The casualty rate for employees of major railroads reached an all-time low in 2023, he noted, and other accidents have been declining too.

“Unfortunately, the crew size rule takes the industry in the exact opposite direction,” Jeffries said.

Buttigieg announced the changes at the Transportation Department’s headquarters, along with union leaders representing firefighters and railroad workers.

Vince Verna, the vice president and national legislative representative for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said “safety improvements have come too slowly to the railroads.” He said two-person crews are needed to create safe conditions.

“Teamwork with a two-person train crew has a real impact, and anyone who says it doesn't is either ignorant, misleading or dangerous—usually all three,” he said.

David Hoagland, the president of the Washington, D.C., Firefighters Association, said first responders depend on railroad crew members during emergencies.“We train to respond to rail emergencies, but we rely on fully staffed rail crews to assist us. Rail emergencies may occur in remote areas and these crew members are the first line of defense until we arrive,” he said. “Train crew members may only have a few minutes or even seconds to make important decisions, like cutting a train to create a pathway for first responders. When train lengths are approaching three miles, relying on just one single crew member is a recipe for disaster.”

The FRA’s rules require two workers to staff freight trains unless a railroad gets a special exemption from the agency. When companies seek an exemption, the public and railroad workers will get a chance to weigh in before the agency makes a decision.

The FRA originally proposed a two-person crew requirement in the late days of the Obama administration, but it never took effect. The Trump administration reversed course, and even declared that states did not have the legal authority to mandate crew sizes.

Tuesday’s announcement comes amid a flurry of regulatory activity by the Biden administration, as it tries to put into place regulations before the end of Biden’s first term next January. Getting the new rules on the books now would make it more difficult for Trump to overturn them if he beats Biden in this year’s presidential election.

Buttigieg said Congress should move forward with bipartisan rail safety legislation that senators drafted shortly after the East Palestine derailment last February. But the transportation secretary also said the Biden administration would continue to issue new railroad safety rules in the meantime.

“We’re going to keep pushing together on what we know that we can achieve from within this building. We’re going to keep pushing industry to make the changes that they could make today if they were willing,” he said. “And we are going to keep pressing Congress to pass the Railway Safety Act.”