Railroads Want Input on Paperwork: Sound the Snooze
Published Date: 3/21/2025
Notice
Summary
The Federal Railroad Administration wants your thoughts on a new info collection plan that helps them do their job better. If you’re involved with railroads or just curious, you can comment by May 20, 2025. This process aims to keep paperwork fair and clear without costing extra money or time.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.
Paperwork burden on 35 railroads
If you run a railroad, FRA’s information collection for Passenger Equipment Safety Standards affects 35 railroads and requires a total of 4,860,838 annual submissions. FRA estimates those submissions total 95,947 burden hours and $8,296,770 in annual labor-cost equivalent under OMB Control Number 2130-0544.
Inspection data used to improve passenger safety
FRA collects inspection, testing, and maintenance information under Passenger Equipment Safety Standards (49 CFR part 238) so daily inspection data can be used to detect and correct equipment problems to help prevent collisions, derailments, and other events that can cause injury or death to railroad employees, passengers, or the public.
Removal of two sections from ICR burden
FRA determined that Sec. 238.133(c) (en route failure safety briefing) and Sec. 238.21(f) (comment on petitions) are not information collections under 5 CFR 1320.3(b) and (c), and removed the associated burden-hour estimates from this ICR. That change reduces the paperwork counted in the ICR for affected railroads.
One-hour increase for Tier III testing plans
FRA reports a small increase in estimated submissions under Sec. 238.111 (pre-revenue service acceptance testing plans for Tier III equipment) that raised the total ICR burden by one (1) hour (from 95,946 to 95,947 hours).
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
Related Federal Register Documents
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2026-18982, Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) wants your thoughts on a new info collection plan that helps them do their job better. If you’re involved with railroads or just curious, you can comment by November 16, 2026. This won’t cost you money but might ask for some time to share your input online.
2026-18986, Surface Transportation Project Delivery Program; Ohio Department of Transportation Audit Report
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2026-17996, Safety Advisory 2026-01; Restricted Speed
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