2023-10-12 10:04:54
A rainbow of locomotives leads a BNSF train across the flyover at Santa Fe Junction in Kansas City, Kan., on May 8, 2022. Kansas now requires freight trains to have two-person crews. David Lassen
TOPEKA, Kan. — The state of Kansas on Wednesday enacted rules requiring two-person crew for freight trains, but the new administrative action could be challenged in court.
Gov. Laura Kelly said in a press release that the new requirement “will protect workers from the effects of fatigue, prevent train derailments, and reduce risks in the many Kansas communities along our railroad tracks.”
But a spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads told the Associated Press that that such rules “lack a safety justification.” Spokeswoman Jessica Kahanek would not speculate whether railroads would sue to challenge the rule. The AAR filed suit in June over Ohio’s two-person crew requirement, arguing that federal law preempts state action and that studies have found one-person crews are as safe as those with more people [see “AAR sues to block Ohio crew-size law,” Trains News Wire, July 7, 2023].
Kelly directed the state’s Department of Transportation to propose the rule in May [see “Kansas governor calls for regulation …,” News Wire, May 7, 2023]; a 60-day comment period was required before it could be enacted. When the proposal was announced, the Kansas City Star reported it had no enforcement mechanism.
In a post on the social media site Xformerly Twitter, Kelly thanked the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers for its role in enactment of the rule. SMART International President Jeremy Ferguson, who met with Kelly to mark the start of the new rule, said in a press release that the regulation “is monumental for the safety of all Kansans and for our crews that operate day in and day out within this great state,” and thanked Kelly “for directing her agency to promulgate this rule, and we are also very rpoud of her longstanding leadership on rail safety.”
The AP reports that Arizona, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin are the other states that currently require two-person crews.
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