Norfolk Southern to FRA: Fed regs impeding rail automation

Autonomous rail technology is “inevitable,” says a Class I railroad, but blocked by restrictive federal regulations.

Norfolk Southern, in response to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Request For Information (RFI), became the first carrier to publicly speak out on autonomous tech. It called the issue “important and imminent” in comments to the FRA and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

In an opening letter to FRA, NS Executive Vice President Law and Administration John Scheib wrote that “the development of technology-assisted rail operations is moving rapidly,” and “the [automation] technology is already here or very close and is inevitable. [T]he application of many technologies for transportation operations is easier for rail than other modes.”

Self-driving trucks have already been tested in the U.S. and Europe, and plans have been announced for autonomous ocean-going cargo vessels. In Australia, mining conglomerate Rio Tinto has been successfully operating crewless mine-to-port rail shuttles in revenue service.

The Norfolk, Va.-based company in comments pointed to a number of benefits that it claimed would flow from automation, including safety, efficiency, and environmental enhancements. It also addressed the thorny issue of automation’s effect on labor.

“[T]echnology-assisted rail operations can help reduce human error,” adding in a release that it would also minimize the number of people around equipment, both of which are “important to reduce accidents and injuries.”

The railroad praised FRA for initiating an automation discussion, but Scheib said that “the greatest obstacle to strategic deployment of technology-assisted rail operations is the lack of regulatory clarity, as well as current regulations that impede their implementation.

RFI is “a valuable first step” towards FRA “partner[ing] with railroads to pursue this important, safety-enhancing technology.”

Norfolk Southern urged FRA to “affirmatively signal its willingness to embrace and encourage automation in the rail industry…and begin reviewing and removing regulations that impede innovation in favor of a performance-based regulatory scheme.”

Norfolk Southern asked FRA, like its Department of Transportation counterparts such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to provide clear and flexible guidance, enabling railroads to pursue new technologies.

“[A]utomation is not a risk to be contained, but rather a safety and efficiency-enhancing standard to which the industry should aspire.”

The Association of American Railroads also filed a response with FRA, urging the DOT “to take the same supportive regulatory approach with railroads that it has with automation of trucks and cars.”