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Statement of Need:

To address the potential safety impact of one-person train operations, including appropriate measures to mitigate an accident's impact and severity, as well as the patchwork of State laws concerning minimum crew staffing requirements, FRA is considering a final rule that would address the issue of minimum requirements for the size of different train crew staffs, depending on the type of operation.

Summary of the Legal Basis:

49 USC 20103; 49 CFR 1.89(a)

Alternatives:

FRA will analyze regulatory alternatives in the NPRM.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits:

FRA estimated the costs associated with special approvals, risk assessments, annual railroad responsibilities after receipt of special approval, and Government administration. FRA estimated the 10-year costs of the proposed rule to be $2.0 million, discounted at 7 percent. The estimated annualized costs of the proposed rule are $0.3 million discounted at 7 percent. The primary benefit of this rule is to ensure any railroad, seeking to operate a train with fewer than two crewmembers identifies, evaluates, and addresses, in a comprehensive and standardized manner, safety concerns that may arise from such operation. A second crewmember performs important safety functions that could be lost when reducing crew size below two. The benefits are discussed qualitatively, but not quantified for this rule.

Risks:

The NPRM is based off a risk assessment that individual railroads will have to perform. The risks should be negatively impacted.