Federal Railroad Administration News

Feds Investigating Southeast Oklahoma Union Pacific Derailment

Federal and state agencies are investigating the cause of a train derailment in southeastern Oklahoma. Authorities say 16 railroad cars and a locomotive of a Union Pacific freight train derailed about 6:30 a.m. Sunday in a rural area north of …

Investigators Say Broken Rail Caused Pennsylvania Derailment Over Summer

Investigators say a broken rail caused a freight train derailment in Pittsburgh over the summer that disrupted service for weeks. Norfolk Southern issued the findings Wednesday in a report to the Federal Railroad Administration. The report says the Aug. 5 …

Fiery Indiana Freight Derailment Blamed on Buckled Track

Officials say a buckled stretch of track is believed to have caused a fiery freight train derailment in southwestern Indiana that belched black smoke into the sky and forced the evacuation of nearby homes. The Evansville Courier & Press reports …

Safety Deadline Looming, New Jersey Transit Aiming for Extension

New Jersey transit officials said Tuesday they hope to earn a two-year extension of a federally mandated deadline for installing an emergency braking system on their rail lines. With an initial deadline six months away, New Jersey Transit basically made …

Report Shows Far to Go for NJ Transit to Hit Safety Deadline

New Jersey Transit had installed a federally mandated emergency braking system on less than 10 percent of its fleet of locomotives nine months before the deadline, according to a progress report covering the first quarter of this year. The report …

NJ Transit to Reduce Trains to Try and Meet Safety Deadline

New Jersey Transit said Thursday it will reduce its train service over the next several months as it tries to install a federally mandated safety system by a Dec. 31 deadline. Last week, the Federal Railroad Administration sent a letter …

Massachusetts Rail System Addressing Engineers With Bad Driving Records

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is taking steps ensure that commuter rail engineers with poor personal driving records aren’t putting passengers’ safety at risk. The Boston Globe reports the Republican governor notified the Federal Railroad Administration this week that commuter rail …

Virginia Train Crash: Railroad Crossing Safety Arms Face Scrutiny

The lead investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board said it’s too early to say whether the safety arms at a rural Virginia crossing were working when a train carrying GOP members of Congress slammed into a trash truck, killing …

Trump Effort to Roll Back Rail Safety Rules Questioned Following Amtrak Crash

As investigators sift through the wreckage of this week’s Amtrak train crash in Washington state, critics have begun questioning President Donald Trump’s recent efforts to roll back or delay finalizing U.S. rail safety regulations. Making American railroads safer drew renewed …

U.S. to Investigate Growing Length of Freight Trains as Threat to Safety

The investigative arm of the U.S. Congress is launching a probe into the safety of increasingly long freight trains being operated by CSX Corp, Union Pacific Corp. and other major U.S. railroads to boost profitability, the U.S. Government Accountability Office …