What We Looked AtThe Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) recent data show that human factors, which include fatigue, remain the leading cause of reportable non-grade crossing train accidents. In particular, the rate of human factor-caused train accidents reached a 14-year high of 1.43 per million train miles in 2022. According to FRA, overseeing railroad fatigue management and compliance with Federal Hours of Service (HOS) requirements is part of the Agency’s ongoing efforts to address the adverse impacts and underlying causes of fatigue in the railroad industry. Given these factors, we assessed FRA’s (1) oversight of HOS compliance, (2) pursuit of civil penalties for HOS violations, and (3) oversight of passenger railroad compliance with fatigue management requirements. What We Found Three FRA staff in two divisions—the HOS subject matter expert (SME) and two fatigue SMEs—oversee HOS compliance and fatigue management for the entire railroad industry. However, the oversight processes and analyses are not fully documented and there is no evidence of risk-based planning. Specifically, there are no detailed procedures documenting how FRA’s staff plan or perform oversight of HOS compliance or required analyses of passenger railroad work schedules and fatigue mitigation plans. FRA also lacks guidance for many HOS violation penalty amounts as well as procedures for producing accurate Annual Enforcement Reports. As a result, FRA does not have the procedures and accurate data necessary to effectively target its limited resources to the highest risk areas or adequately oversee different railroad types. Our Recommendations FRA concurred with all 19 of our recommendations to improve its oversight of HOS and fatigue management and provided appropriate actions and completion dates. We consider these recommendations resolved but open, pending completion of planned actions.
Open Recommendations
| Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Develop, document, and implement a process for analyzing excess service reports, identifying trends, and communicating results to enforcement staff. | |||||
| 4 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Improve how excess service reports are submitted by railroads or processed by FRA to facilitate data collection and analysis. | |||||
| 5 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Formally document the HOS audit process, including factors to consider when selecting railroads for audit (such as complaints, excess reports, and/or other factors), in a compliance manual or SOP. | |||||
| 8 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Update the OP Compliance Manual, the Signal Compliance Programs and Policies, and/or General Manual to clarify the definitions of HOS-related activity codes for OP and S&TC disciplines so that inspectors can accurately record activities that do not result in findings of noncompliance and include specific guidance to inspectors completing HOS-related inspection reports, including the correct use of source codes for specific HOS activities, and when multiple same-day HOS reports should be created. | |||||
| 9 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Modify the Railroad Inspection System for Personal Computers (RISPC) to only accept correct HOS-related inspection report entries and add activity codes to record defects and violations of 49 C.F.R. 228.407. | |||||
| 10 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Develop and implement training for OP and S&TC Division specialists and inspectors on reporting HOS-related inspections correctly, including the mandatory use of activity code 228 in conjunction with either HSL or 228P, and the meaning of those activity codes. | |||||
| 11 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Develop, document, and implement a review process that includes the HOS SME to check the accuracy of HOS-related inspection reports. | |||||
| 12 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Document and implement HOS oversight planning processes, including guidance on data sources that should be used to inform planning. | |||||
| 15 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Document the current RCS configuration that shows formulas for calculations performed by the system and data sources. | |||||
| 18 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Finalize the process document for conducting a baseline review of all passenger railroads subject to 49 C.F.R. 228.407 and complete the baseline review. | |||||
