September 2, 2025
Kyle D. Fields
Chief Counsel
Federal Railroad Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
RE: Miscellaneous Amendments to FRA’s Accident Reporting Regulations
Docket No. FRA-2025-0123
Mr. Fields:
On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I am pleased to respond to the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding amendments to its accident reporting regulations. TTD consists of 39 affiliate unions representing workers in all modes of transportation, including rail workers who will be directly affected by this proposed rule.[1] We respectfully request that the FRA rescind its proposed rule. In addition, we endorse the comments filed in this docket by our affiliates, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD).
This proposed rule would make various amendments to the FRA’s accident reporting regulations. Specifically, these amendments would permit electronic submission of documents to the FRA, remove the definition of “railroad carrier” from the FRA’s regulations, and allow railroads additional time to complete accident reporting forms.
Definitions
Part 225 currently contains separate definitions of “railroad” and “railroad carrier” even though this section states that “railroad” means a railroad carrier and “railroad carrier” means a person providing railroad transportation. The FRA argues that since these two definitions are duplicative, the agency proposes to revise the definition of “railroad” to “a person providing railroad transportation” and removing the definition of “railroad carrier.” TTD opposes this change given that the Railway Labor Act (RLA) specifically defines a “carrier” as, “any railroad subject to the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board, any express company that would have been subject to subtitle IV of title 49, as of December 31, 1995, and any company which is directly or indirectly owned or controlled by or under common control with any carrier by railroad and which operates any equipment or facilities or performs any service (other than trucking service) in connection with the transportation, receipt, delivery, elevation, transfer in transit, refrigeration or icing, storage, and handling of property transported by railroad, and any receiver, trustee, or other individual or body, judicial or otherwise, when in the possession of the business of any such “carrier.”’[2] In removing the definition of railroad carrier, the FRA is needlessly providing conflicting definitions with respect to a well-established statutory standard.
Recordkeeping
The FRA proposes to allow railroads 15 calendar days, rather than the currently permitted seven working days, to enter each reportable and accountable injury and illness and each reportable and accountable rail equipment accident/incident on the appropriate record as required by § 225.25(a)-(e). The FRA states that this proposed change would give railroads additional time to ensure the accuracy of the information on these forms. TTD objects to this change as there has been no recent evidence that additional time to “ensure the accuracy” of these reports is necessary. To the contrary, worker safety and accurate accident reporting should be of the highest priority to the railroads, and as such, these forms should be completed as soon as possible following an occupational injury or illness. Allowing additional time to complete and submit required forms will only create an undue delay in the FRA receiving important information as to the safety and health of the rail workforce. Similarly, delaying this reporting deadline will weaken the public’s ability to respond to trends in the data and seek proper remedies. We therefore urge the FRA to retain the existing reporting requirements and timeline for the filing of injury and illness reports.
We appreciate the opportunity to comment on this proceeding and look forward to working with the FRA in the future.
Sincerely,
Greg Regan
President
[1] Attached is a complete list of the unions affiliated with TTD.
[2] https://www.law.cornell.edu/definitions/uscode.php?width=840&height=800&iframe=true&def_id=45-USC-554360568-1206479658&term_occur=999&term_src=