Final rule aimed at keeping rail transit workers safe near tracks

Washington — A new Federal Transit Administration final rule establishes mandatory minimum safety standards for rail transit employees who work on or near tracks.

Set to go into effect Dec. 2, the rule directs rail transit agencies to establish multiple track worker protections, including “the right to challenge and refuse in good faith any assignment based on on-track safety concerns and resolve such challenges and refusals promptly and equitably.”

Other requirements:

• Implement a roadway worker protection program to prevent incidents, fatalities and injuries to workers who access areas on or along tracks.
• Establish minimum requirements for RWP programs, such as job safety briefings and lone worker protection.
• Require workers to report unsafe actions, conditions and near misses related to RWP programs.
• Develop training programs that cover all transit workers responsible for on-track safety by position.

An FTA press release cites National Transit Database statistics showing that 29 transit workers were killed and 144 were seriously injured while performing track work between Jan. 1, 2008, and June 30, 2024.

“Transit workers deserve to know their safety is the highest priority when they’re performing track work,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in the release. “Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, we now have the first-ever rule requiring worker protection standards for rail transit agencies that will keep American track workers safe as they do their important work to keep our transit systems operating.”

In September 2021, FTA issued a Request for Information on ways to improve track worker safety before following up with a proposed rule in March.

The Transport Workers Union of America applauds the rulemaking, calling it a “massive step forward” for safety.

“President Joe Biden and [the Department of Transportation] are telling transit agencies across the USA their top priority must be protecting critically important workers,” TWU International President John Samuelsen said in a separate release. “We do critical work in perilous conditions and now we have the right to refuse inherently dangerous assignments.”