Democratic senators take issue with AAR's track inspection waiver request

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, led several Democratic colleagues in a letter to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to express their concern over the Association of American Railroads (AAR) waiver request to allow railroads to incorporate automated train inspection (ATI) into their track inspection practices.

Cantwell and the other Democratic senators said the AAR's request for a waiver would "dramatically reduce track safety inspections and loosen requirements to repair safety defects," according to a press release issued by Cantwell's office.

In April, the AAR asked the FRA for a waiver to its track inspection regulations so that railroads could add ATI to their track inspection practices. Railroads are not seeking to replace visual inspections, the AAR said last week in its public statement. Rather, they want to integrate ATI with manual inspections "in a way that puts inspectors and technology where they’re most effective — a modern, data-driven approach designed to catch more issues sooner and further reduce risk," AAR officials have said.

Cantwell and her colleagues — U.S. Sens. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) — said that they support the use of rail safety technologies.

But they cautioned the FRA to "take care not to allow railroads to become overly reliant on technology," according to their letter. 

“We are concerned that the AAR’s proposal would do just that, reducing the inspections for all track safety issues that are currently inspected by humans in exchange for potentially improving the inspection of track geometry issues," the senators wrote.