Holistic, Culture-Driven Safety: Railway Age CEO Perspectives on Safety

Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood once argued that “building a safety culture requires constant attention, a commitment to continuous improvement, and strong leadership from the top. It means not just complying with the rules, but always striving to do better.”

Such is the case in the railroad industry I proudly represent at the AAR. Safety permeates everything our members do every day—it is a way of life—from morning safety briefings to inspections and all points of safety in between. As the AAR, we have a unique responsibility to promote the industry’s safety record while informing the policy decisions our members are ultimately bound to. We serve a critical role in supporting railroads in their pursuit of an even safer future, particularly in making the case for a regulatory framework that enables advancement. 

As we have argued many times over, strong safety is good for employees, communities, customers, and overall business performance. This is not a call for zero regulation. Far from it, as railroads are one of the most regulated sectors in the economy and we have a storied history of working alongside the government to make critical safety gains. We go above and beyond regulation regularly, setting standards and advancing safety through unique insights gleaned from running the network. 

Yet the clearest path to further safety advancement includes a healthy mix of investment, technological innovation, and an unwavering commitment from our employees. Real strides continue to be made across these fronts, exemplified by annual spending topping $20 billion and the across-the-board progress in improving employee quality-of-life packages for workers. 

Railroads can and do learn from each accident, yet one accident does not ultimately define the performance of railroads—the data and clear trend lines do.

The past decade was the safest on record for railroads. According to the FRA, the train accident rate per million train-miles has dropped 23% since 2000. Over the same time frame, the hazardous materials train accident rate has fallen 73%.

As part of an overall safety culture, railroads invest billions each year to reduce accidents. One of the industry’s biggest areas of focus is track-caused incidents, where a large portion of annual capital spending goes to repair and upgrade infrastructure. Automated Track Inspection, or ATI, is being used to more frequently assess infrastructure health and provide deeper readings possible than manual inspections alone. ATI systems increase detection by up to 90%.  

Another key area is reducing human error—the source of nearly 50% of incidents—by constantly innovating to aid employees with new technologies. A prime example includes the industry’s $15 billion investment in Positive Train Control. 

Railroads also continue to invest in detection technology to assess the health and safety of its rolling stock, including through much-discussed hot bearing detectors. This technology is essential to reducing accidents and incidents because it is uniquely capable of assessing equipment while it is in use, which allows railroads to develop a more accurate picture of the equipment in real-time. These systems continue to work as intended, are being refined every day, and exist today because railroads voluntarily put them on the network—not because of government dictates. 

We are aware of the broader discourse surrounding our sector, including after uniquely challenging years in 2022 and 2023. For example, we hear points of concern raised when it comes to emergency response. This has driven AAR and its members to dramatically expand access to AskRail, now available to 2.3 million first responders. At the same time, railroads provided hands-on emergency response training to more than 36,000 first responders in 2023 alone.

Congress and the Biden administration will continue to assess rail safety in the year ahead and weigh various policy changes. We support these endeavors so long as measures are rooted in sound data and designed to address a real and specific problem. The nation’s complex freight rail system requires an evidence-based, nuanced, and surgical approach. Policies should be designed to meet specific needs.

Because ultimately, the data is clear—while there is much work to do, railroads are safe and getting safer.