Railroad Safety
More FRA Oversight Needed to Ensure Rail Safety in Region 2 Gao ID: RCED-90-140 April 27, 1990Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effectiveness of the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Region 2 hazardous materials inspection program.
GAO found that FRA Region 2: (1) did not establish inspection frequency goals and maintain complete, updated lists of hazardous materials inspection points; (2) did not inspect 70 percent of its inspection points in 1987 and 1988; (3) did not have enough inspectors to effectively carry out its inspection program; (4) inspectors prioritized inspections depending on risk, volume, type of hazardous materials, and safety history; and (5) inspectors did not have sufficient knowledge of the scope of FRA inspection responsibilities or information on hazardous materials shippers. GAO also found that: (1) rail system assessments required more resources to evaluate rail safety training and operations; (2) routine inspections most often identified such problems as improper shipping documentation and tank car unloading and identification; (3) FRA relied on the rail industry to enforce speed rules and provided little oversight of railroad speed enforcement actions; and (4) FRA based its hazardous materials routing policy on whether the advantages of reducing public exposure outweighed the disadvantages of diverting traffic to unsafe tracks.
RecommendationsOur recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director: Team: Phone:
