Transportation Department sets new training requirements for rail workers

May 20 (UPI) -- The Federal Railroad Administration on Monday said it had finalized a set of two new rule changes that will now require railroads to create and implement training program requirements for train dispatchers and signal employees.

"By establishing a federal standard on the certification of dispatchers and signal employees," FRA Administrator Amit Bose said in a news release, the agency "is ensuring that railroads properly prepare, train, and equip their workforce, now and in the future."

The federal agency first proposed the regulations in May 2023 followed by a public comment period. But unlike train conductors and locomotive engineers which have specific training, until now there have been no federal regulations that mandate specific training requirements, safety and knowledge checks or verification of safety records for dispatchers and signal employees, according to the Transportation Department.

The railroad industry, Bose said, "has become an increasingly complex and demanding line of work" as employees "must learn and adapt to new technologies and computerized systems, and as continuing workforce reductions have placed a greater responsibility on current and new workers."

Under the final rules, railroads will be required to submit certification programs for FRA approval "that will evaluate the knowledge, skills, and prior safety records of dispatchers" whose job it is to assign track routes, and signal employees who install, repair, and maintain signal systems directing train movements.

According to the federal government, the new rules "address this gap in rail safety" by ensuring that certified dispatchers and signal employees "are qualified and fit for duty."

The department says this builds on FRA actions to increase rail safety "and better protect rail workers and communities," which included last month's final rule regarding freight train crew size safety requirements.

There has been a bolstered interest in American railway safety and other related issues following the Feb. 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio which was carrying and dumped large amounts of hazardous and toxic material into the region.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says railroad operators "require extensive, real-time coordination among employees to ensure that people and goods get where they need to go and that all workers can return to their homes and families at the end of the day."

As recently as March, three of Norfolk Southern trains were involved in a eastern Pennsylvania collision with two engines ending up in the Lehigh River near Allentown.

Monday on social media, the FRA reiterated how "new federal standards support safety & workers by ensuring railroads properly prepare, train, & equip dispatchers & signal workers."

"Railroaders and the communities through which trains run need to know that they have competent, qualified teams managing railroad operations," said Buttigieg, adding how the final rules announced Monday "will help guarantee that those working on or living near the tracks have their safety in good hands."