US Court Rejects Railroads' Challenge to Two-Person Crew Rule
A US appeals court denied railroad industry petitions against a federal rule mandating two-person train crews, citing safety concerns.
A federal appeals court has upheld a rule requiring most freight trains to operate with at least two crew members, dealing a setback to major US railroads that had challenged the regulation.
The ruling, issued Tuesday by the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, denied petitions from six railroads and two industry groups seeking to overturn the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) crew-size mandate.
Among the petitioners were Union Pacific and BNSF, the latter owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The railroads argued that the FRA overstepped its rule-making authority and failed to adequately consider the costs of the mandate, particularly for companies that had planned to move to one-person operations. They contended that this omission made the rule arbitrary and capricious.
The court, however, rejected those arguments and upheld the rule. One judge on the panel dissented, stating that the FRA's evidence did not support a minimum crew size and that the agency's cost-benefit analysis overlooked labor expenses associated with compliance.
The rule was introduced following intense scrutiny of railroad safety after a 2023 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. That incident involved cars carrying hazardous chemicals, including vinyl chloride, which spilled and caught fire. Organized labor had pushed to maintain crew levels in the wake of the accident.