FRA issues safety advisory for unintended train brake releases

The Federal Railroad Administration last week issued safety recommendations for unintended train brake releases.

The recommendations followed the FRA’s review of an incident involving a train crew that experienced an unintended break release of a train’s automatic air brakes while stopped at a signal.

The incident occurred June 22, 2022, during a thunderstorm and involved a locomotive engineer and conductor operating an intermodal train, according to an FRA notice published in the Federal Register. The train consisted of three head-end locomotives, 47 loaded cars and six empty cars. The engineer stopped the train on a downhill slope near the signal governing the train’s movement, set the train’s air brakes at 12 pounds and fully set the locomotive consist’s independent brakes.

After being stopped for three hours, the engineer and conductor in the cab noticed the train rolling toward the single interlocking displaying a stop indication. The train experienced an unintended automatic brake release. The independent brakes remained applied, but due to the grade, tonnage and wet rail could not hold the train without the automatic air brakes being applied.

After reviewing the case and others like it, the FRA made the following recommendations:

• Train crews should not expect a service rate or emergency brake application to indefinitely maintain application of a train's air brakes;

• If a train is stopped with air brakes set, and the train begins moving, the crew should immediately apply the emergency brake. After the train is stopped, the crew should set a sufficient number of handbrakes to secure the train from further unintended movement before releasing the brakes and recharging the train's air brake system;

• Each railroad should adopt and implement an air brake procedure consistent with recommendation Nos. 1 and 2 that addresses unintended brake releases; and

• Each railroad should have an operating supervisor conduct a face-to-face meeting with each locomotive engineer and conductor to explain and reinforce the contents of this advisory.