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The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is urging the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to modify six regulations that are costing the rail industry “hundreds of millions of dollars each year,” according to a press release issued by the AAR yesterday.

The association submitted the list in response to the USDOT’s request for comments regarding Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations that are deemed “obsolete, unnecessary, excessively burdensome or counterproductive.”

The AAR’s chosen regulations and reasons for selecting them include:

• locomotive inspections, because modern diesel locomotives are equipped with electronic and self-diagnostic systems that negate the need for daily or periodic inspections, and current FRA rules cost major freight railroads more than $400 million annually;

• track inspection technology, because modern inspection technologies force railroads to address rail defects that do not need immediate attention, and some sophisticated technologies currently used to detect rail flaws pose safety and operational efficiency concerns;

• guard face/check gage standards, because the AAR isn’t aware of deviations from the standard being a factor in any derailment;

• intermediate brake tests, because modern technology, such as wheel temperature detectors, has made visual brake inspections every 1,000 to 1,500 miles (or 3,500 miles for ECP brakes) obsolete;

• signal inspections, because railroads increasingly are relying on electronic health monitoring to provide status updates on equipment; and

• diesel exhaust, because the FRA’s wording of permissible diesel exhaust exposure limits as outlined by Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules has created confusion, and in some cases set an impossible standard for railroads to meet.

“[By] constantly innovating, implementing new technologies and finding ways to be safer and more productive … railroads and the technology we use have outpaced some of the rules and regulations related to how we operate,” said AAR President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Hamberger. “So now is a good time to bring our rules up to speed to meet the realities of railroading in the 21st Century.”