The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Jan. 25 announced that it has issued a final rule requiring railroads to provide emergency escape breathing apparatuses (EEBAs) for train crew members and other employees who could be exposed to an inhalation hazard in the event of a hazardous material (hazmat) release.
Four witnesses on Jan. 18 discussed improving safety at highway-rail grade crossings at a hearing of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.
![The NTSB observed the inspection and disassembly of wheelset #4 from railcar 7200, which caused the 2021 Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority derailment in Virginia. “In accordance with wheelset design, each wheel should have been flush against its bearing when mounted,” NTSB wrote in its January 2023 derailment investigation report. “Before disassembly, the inspection identified gaps between both wheels and their respective bearings: about 0.63 inches for the right-side wheel and about 1.10 inches for the left-side wheel [see above] … The back-to-back measurement was about 55.375 inches, or about 2 inches wider than the maximum design specification.” (NTSB Image)](https://clone.railwayage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/lead-315x168.png)
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Jan. 4 issued its final report on the October 2021 Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) train derailment in Arlington, Va., attributing the cause to a wheelset irregularity. Chair Jennifer Homendy was critical of both the transit agency’s “safety culture” and the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) oversight.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced on Dec. 14 that 2023 will mark the end of its Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements, the focus of the agency’s safety advocacy for nearly 35 years.
Mortimer L. Downey III, a nationally recognized leader in urban mass transit died on Nov. 2 at the age of 87, according to a report by The Washington Post. Downey spent six
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling on the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to formulate a plan to “incorporate promising new [Positive Train Control (PTC)] technology into the existing system that
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is considering minimum safety standards to provide protections for transit workers to obtain rest “thereby reducing the risk of fatigue-related safety injuries.”
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a report and three safety recommendations on shoving movements following its investigation of the Oct. 29, 2021, accident involving a Watco Dock and Rail LLC (WDRL) conductor killed when a train collided with a combination vehicle at a grade crossing in Houston, Tex.
On Monday, Oct. 16, NTSB Newsroom announced via Twitter that it has opened a docket “for its investigation of the March 30, 2023 derailment of a BNSF Railway freight train on the Marshall District in Raymond, Minnesota.”
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Oct. 12 announced that it is requiring the installation of inward- and outward-facing locomotive image recording devices on all lead locomotives in passenger trains, as required by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.