(Reuters circulated the following article by John Crawley on June 30.)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government wants freight and passenger railroad companies to improve the quality of their data recorders to ensure they can survive serious crashes, fires and water damage, regulators said on Wednesday.
The Federal Railroad Administration, after several years of considering changes, proposed the upgrade to give investigators more precise and reliable information after an accident.
“The survival of data is key to understanding why a train accident happened,” said FRA acting Administrator Betty Monro. “Having a better ‘black box’ will improve our ability to prevent future accidents.”
It would cost the rail industry about $22 million to install the latest recorder models on new trains or retrofit them on older ones, the agency said. There were 28,000 locomotives in 2000.
Locomotive recorders have been required for years. They record criteria like engine speed, direction, and braking.
The proposal addresses concerns raised for years by the National Transportation Safety Board, which has placed railroad “black box” upgrades on its Most Wanted list of safety improvements.
Safety investigators have not been satisfied with the Transportation Department’s response to its recommendations on rail data recorders, but reserved judgment on the proposal.
“Up to this point, it’s been open and unacceptable and we’ll be submitting comments,” said Ted Lopatkiewicz, a safety board spokesman.
The safety board also wants the FRA to mandate voice recorders on locomotives, but the agency did not include that in its proposal. Commercial airliners are equipped with voice and data recorders.
The passenger and freight rail industries did not have any immediate comment. The government’s comment period on the proposed rule expires on Aug. 31.