Today, on an issue of importance to BLET members and following direct outreach from BLET National President Mark Wallace, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced that the Federal Railroad Administration is cracking down on the cross-border train operations of both Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited. The FRA has determined that a lack of basic English language proficiency exhibited by Mexican train crews operating trains into the United States for the two railroads poses a serious safety risk.
“Whether you’re operating an 80-ton big rig or a massive freight train, you need to be proficient in our national language – English. If you aren’t, you create an unacceptable safety risk,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy.
In conducting routine regulatory oversight of cross-border operations this past fall on CPKC and UP, FRA inspectors discovered instances in which inbound Mexican crew members appeared to have difficulty interpreting General Track Bulletins and communicating safety requirements in English with inspectors.
Train crew operators who can’t speak English pose a significant safety risk that should not be ignored,” said FRA Administrator David Fink. “Dispatchers and first responders need to know that they can communicate with train crews, especially during times of emergency.”
Throughout 2025, BLET and the Teamster union have sounded the alarm on this issue. BLET President Wallace personally reached out to the White House and regulators explaining the threat to public safety, border security and American jobs. President Wallace also led a coalition of BLET union leaders to the border to observe operations, the only labor union to do so. BLET members were also encouraged to Take Action and send letters to members of Congress.
When today’s announcement was announced, on the social media platform X the International Brotherhood of Teamsters thanked the Administration for the “regulatory win.”
President Wallace echoed the response from the Teamsters union. “The Administration should be commended for standing up for border security, public safety and American jobs. It’s critical that locomotive engineers are able to speak to dispatchers and first responders in English when trains are moving on U.S. soil and without question, trains moving beyond the border area should be controlled by American train crews.”
DOT is now mandating that CPKC and UP crews from Mexico not operate more than 10 miles into the U.S. from points of entry on the southern border. FRA also mandated that uncertified (and therefore potentially untrained) crews must stop at the customs inspection point and that any interpreters must be certified under safety regulations (49 CFR Part 240 and 242).
For more detailed information, click here to read the FRA news release that also contains links to letters that were sent to the two railroads.