Q-1. Does FRA regulate the speed of trains?

A. FRA’s Track Safety Standards, found at 49 CFR Part 213, establish track structure and track geometry requirements for nine separate classes of track (Sec. 213.9 and Sec. 213.307) with maximum speeds designated for each class. Railroads indicate the class to which each track belongs. Once the designation is made, the railroads are held responsible for maintaining each track to specified tolerances for its designated class. A railroad becomes liable for civil penalties if it fails to maintain a track to proper standards, or if it operates trains at speeds in excess of the limits of the designated class.

Q-2. Does FRA regulate the speed of trains at highway-rail grade crossings?

A. The Track Safety Standards do not provide for establishing different speeds through grade crossings or urban settings. This omission is intentional. Locally established speed limits can result in hundreds of individual speed restrictions along a train’s route. This would not only cause train delays, but it could actually increase safety hazards. The safest train maintains a steady speed. Every time a train must slow down and then increase speed, safety hazards are introduced. For example, “buff” and “draft” forces (those generated when individual freight cars are compressed together or stretched out along a train’s length) are increased when a train slows down or speeds up. This, in turn, increases the chance of derailment with its attendant risk of injury to employees, the traveling public, and surrounding communities. The danger inherent in grade crossings is a separate issue from train speed. Stated simply, the physical properties of a train moving at almost any reasonable operating speed would likely prevent it from stopping in time to avoid hitting an object on the tracks. In more than 37 percent of public crossing incidents involving motor vehicles, the train was operating at less than 20 mph. There is little evidence that reductions in train speeds will reduce risk that an accident will occur. Prevention of grade crossing accidents is more effectively achieved through the use of adequate crossing warning devices and through observance by the driving public of crossing restrictions and precautions.