NTSB to FRA: Require backup cameras on RMMs

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending the Federal Railroad Administration require all new and rebuilt remanufactured roadway maintenance machines (RMMs) be equipped with backup cameras.

The recommendation follows the NTSB's investigation into a fatal accident involving a railroad worker on Dec. 8, 2021. The National Salvage and Service Corp. worker was part of a Norfolk Southern Railway work gang when he died after being struck by a RMM on a main track in Reed, Pennsylvania. The three RMMs, or spikers, were driving railroad spikes into crossties when the middle spiker reversed direction. The operator, who blew the spiker’s horn and checked in the mirror before reversing, did not see the contract worker standing behind the spiker.

Board members determined the accident’s probable cause was the inability of the spiker operator to see the contract worker behind the spiker and the contract worker not being alerted by the spiker’s nonfunctional horn and change-of-direction alarms, according to an NTSB press release.

Also contributing to the accident, according to the NTSB: NS’s preshift inspection did not check the audibility of the spiker’s alerts above ambient noise; Nordco Inc. allowed the spikers to leave the factory without ensuring the change-of-direction alarm was working; and insufficient standoff distance chosen by NS that did not provide adequate visibility behind the spiker.

In addition to its recommendation to the FRA, the NTSB also called on all Class Is to equip new and existing RMMs with backup cameras. Additionally, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association should advise its members of the accident and of the importance of adding backup cameras to new and existing RMMs.  

Moreover, the NTSB recommended that the FRA inform railroads of the need to determine the appropriate standoff distance for all RMMs.