Train Accident Newsroom

Proposed Federal Regulations Expected To Improve Safety Of Passenger Trains Afford Passengers And Crew Better Crash Protection

Rail passengers and train crew members will be better protected under newly proposed federal safety standards that significantly enhance the strength of key structural components of passenger rail cars to make them more crashworthy, announced Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman.

"Mitigating the potentially damaging forces involved in train accidents is critical to preventing injury to passengers and crew," Boardman said, noting that crashworthiness can be significantly enhanced when the structure of a passenger rail car is engineered to absorb more energy and crush in a controlled manner.

Boardman explained that the proposed rule is designed to preserve more space in which both passengers and train crew members can safely survive a collision with another train, a vehicle at a highway-rail grade crossing, or other object by strengthening the car’s forward structure. Specifically, existing federal standards would be upgraded for cab cars and multiple-unit (MU) locomotives which are used in the predominant method of operation by commuter and intercity passenger railroads across the country, he said. These types of equipment provide both passenger seating and an area for crews to operate the train in the same car.

Under the proposed rule, forward corner posts would have to withstand 300,000 pounds of force before failing, doubling the current federal requirement. In addition, forward corner and collision posts would have to satisfy new federal standards to absorb a minimum level of energy and bend a specific distance without breaking to maximize the full potential strength of these structural components. The new standards would apply to cab cars and MU locomotives ordered beginning in October 2009 and accommodate new equipment designs.

With this proposed rulemaking, FRA seeks to formally codify as federal regulation, and enhance in part, industry standards issued by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and presently implemented by the nation’s passenger rail service operators on a voluntary basis, Boardman stated.