WASHINGTON — Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), released this statement after the Association of American Railroads (AAR) announced new safety measures today:
“The rail industry has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to self-regulate on safety. While we appreciate recent efforts to address some safety issues, these new industry-created safety measures are not enough to stave off further regulatory and legislative action.
“Currently, there are no federal regulations guiding wayside detectors, including their placement along tracks or temperature thresholds. There’s not even a federal definition of wayside detection technologies.
“It should not be left to the industry to come up with piecemeal guidelines. Rather, federal regulations should create a uniform approach to regulating technologies like wayside detectors and all other critical safety concerns across the freight rail industry.”
###