WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has failed to enact a majority of recommendations from National Transportation Safety Board accident investigations over the last decade, even though human errors and track defects led to more than 3,000 accidents, 23 deaths, and nearly 1,200 injuries during that time, according to an analysis from the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland.
The Howard Center’s findings were published today (Jan. 12) by The Associated Press; its report is available here.
The center’s analysis found that from 2015 through 2024, the FRA fully implemented just five of 81 recommendations from the NTSB — the lowest such rate for any Department of Transportation agency. Its report says examination of actions recommended by the NTSB found “a recurring cycle of industry opposition, FRA inaction, congressional capitulation, and tragedy.”
Among its examples are incidents involving rail wear, including the fatal 2021 derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder in Joplin, Mont. [See “NTSB says track conditions caused …,” Trains.com, July 27, 2023.] Several incidents have led the NTSB to recommend regulatory limits on rail wear, but the report says that while an FRA-sponsored study in 1998 found such limits would improve safety, there has been no action.
An FRA spokesman quoted in the report says the agency had more than 100 open recommendations from the board and is acting or planning to act on more than 70%. Three railroads contacted for the story — BNSF, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific — did not dispute the report’s findings and said in statements that they are committed to safety, the report says.
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