The Trump administration wants America to lead the world on transportation technology, and it wants to remove burdensome federal regulations holding back technological progress. Why, then, is it allowing regulations to block American-made automation technology from being adopted?
Freight railroads own their tracks and are responsible for maintaining them but must do so in line with federal regulations. The current track inspection rules were first issued in 1971. They involve manual inspection by workers riding in special locomotives or walking along the tracks.
U.S. railroads have been developing automated track inspection (ATI) for years. These systems get mounted on the bottom of an ordinary locomotive or railcar. They use lasers to precisely measure tracks without special trips by workers to inspect them. They flag any defects in real time and dispatch maintenance workers can arrive exactly where they are needed.
Allowing full adoption requires updating archaic regulations. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has in the past waived some of the manual-inspection rules for railroads to test ATI, including during President Donald Trump’s first term. The data showed safety results as good or better than manual inspections.
The Biden administration declined to extend the waivers after the union that represents maintenance workers opposed an extension. Naturally they want to maximize the number of dues-paying members slogging around on the tracks. But if these track inspections can be done better with smarter technology, they should be – regardless of union distortions.
Trump is back in power but an industry-wide waiver request is being slow-walked by the FRA, according to the Washington Examiner. Two of the rail unions opposed to the technology are affiliated with the Teamsters, and the Trump administration seems loath to challenge their policy priorities.
A forward-thinking Federal Railroad Administration would be studying how artificial intelligence could be trained with track inspection data to predict where maintenance will be needed. To not even be willing to grant a waiver for already existing and successful automated systems because a handful of union lobbyists are upset is contrary to the technological aspirations of the administration to beat China in the AI race.
When Biden’s FRA halted the testing program, the BNSF Railway sued, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in 2024 that the pause was “arbitrary and capricious,” a big no-no under federal law. “The FRA fails to provide even one rationale that survives our review,” the court said.
At least it was expected that the Biden administration would haplessly defend an outdated regulation at the behest of union bosses. Why would the Trump administration want to follow in its footsteps?
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