The Association of American Railroads (AAR) recently submitted comments to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in support of enhancements to rail safety and reliability through automation.
As automation has increased in the industry, safety has also increased, AAR said. Since 2000, the track-caused accident rate has dropped 55 percent, the train accident rate 44 percent, the derailment rate 42 percent and the equipment cause accident rate 38 percent.
While there have been many benefits, regulations are impeding on progress, AAR said.
“While railroading in America is safer than ever, we are at an inflection point and further progress requires a paradigm shift,” AAR President and CEO Edward Hamberger said. “Emerging automated technology now makes it possible to envision, and more importantly build, a future free from the cause of one-third of all train accidents – human error. The Department of Transportation has encouraged the development and deployment of this game-changing technology in other transportation sectors, and we hope this is the beginning of an ongoing conversation about how it can be put to work across the world’s best freight rail network.”
Through its comments, AAR is urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to approach railroad automation as it has automobile automation.