The National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) submitted an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief supporting Florida East Coast Railway and other railroad petitioners in their challenges against a new Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) rule mandating two workers on each freight train. This important case is currently being heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
FRA’s two-person rule will impose significant and unnecessary costs on American taxpayers and consumers. The rule oversteps the FRA’s statutory authority, which is supposed to focus on safety, not on politically-motivated regulations that cater to labor unions.
The railroad industry made tremendous strides recently in productivity and efficiency, benefitting from deregulation and technological advancements of the last few decades. These improvements have lowered costs for consumers, created high-paying jobs, and reduced taxpayer burdens. The FRA’s rule, however, threatens to reverse these gains by stifling innovation and imposing billions of dollars in additional labor costs. This is particularly troubling given that other sectors, like trucking, continue to advance with automation and technological integration.
The FRA justifies this rule under the guise of safety, but the evidence does not support this claim. One-person train crews have been operating safely, and there is no substantial data indicating that a mandated two-person crew is necessary for safety purposes. Moreover, it is important to note that Congress has never legislated a minimum crew size for railroads. On the contrary, federal directives have historically aimed at reducing regulatory costs to enable the railroad industry to thrive. The FRA’s rule is a significant deviation from this long-standing policy of deregulation and efficiency.
FRA’s rule is economically detrimental, halts technological progress, and exceeds the agency’s authority. We therefore asked the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn this rule to protect taxpayers, promote innovation, and ensure that regulatory agencies do not exceed their lawful mandates.
The cases are grouped together under the lead case Florida East Coast Railway v. Federal Railroad Administration (11th Cir. No. 24-11076), along with similar challenges under docket numbers (24-11300, 24-11366, 24-11367, 24-11428, 24-11444, 24-11445, & 24-12003).