Railroads are the quiet workhorses of our economy — moving the goods that keep manufacturers humming, farmers exporting, and small businesses stocked. They invest billions in infrastructure without taxpayer subsidies. And they are a natural fit for President Trump’s innovation and growth agendas.
Yet today, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is not adequately empowered to modernize outdated rules. Many of these regulations have been on the books for decades and ignore years of safety data and technological progress. If the Trump administration wants to unleash American innovation, rail reform should be at the top of the transportation agenda.
Take the FRA’s blanket crew size mandate, inherited from the Biden era. It requires two people in the locomotive cab of every freight train, no matter the route, train type, or available technology. There is no evidence this improves safety. In fact, Europe runs one-person crews on busier, more complex networks with no reduction in safety performance. For small railroads — all 696 of America’s Class II and Class III carriers meet the federal definition of a small business — the cost is especially punishing, threatening service to rural communities and driving shippers toward trucks, which reduces options and overlooks important issues such as truck accidents and traffic density.
Or consider Automated Track Inspection (ATI), a proven technology that uses sensors and cameras to spot track defects at full speed and vastly outperforms traditional visual inspections. ATI can prevent accidents, keep workers off dangerous trackside duty, and improve efficiency. Yet the FRA appears hesitant to expand ATI’s wider use, clinging to inspection rules written in 1971 and misguided political pressure from a Big Labor union that endorsed Kamala Harris for President.
These aren’t isolated missteps. They’re part of a permission structure and outdated regulatory culture that treats railroads as petitioners rather than partners in safety. Yet USDOT is a safety agency first and must be the guiding star. It’s a mindset that Big Labor has happily exploited, pushing rules that protect union power even when they do little for worker safety. Oftentimes, Big Labor’s wish list in Washington deviates from the rank-and-file employees doing the hard work on the ground.
The costs ripple far beyond the rail industry. Small businesses dominate many sectors that depend on rail — from agriculture and manufacturing to retail and energy. When rail costs rise due to regulation, those costs cascade down supply chains, squeezing margins and raising prices for consumers. And when rail service slows, entire regions lose economic competitiveness.
We’ve been here before. In the decades before the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, overregulation nearly destroyed America’s freight rail network. Staggers restored market freedom, sparking massive private investment, efficiency gains, and safety improvements. Today, some in Washington seem intent on undoing that progress — to the detriment of both railroads and the small businesses they serve.
President Trump has a choice. He can allow outdated labor politics to dictate rail policy, or he can double down on his commitment to growth and innovation by demanding results-based regulation. That means scrapping blanket crew size mandates, approving ATI nationwide, and adopting performance standards that reward safety and efficiency instead of locking in 50-year-old rules.
America’s freight railroads are already the safest, most fuel-efficient way to move goods over land. With smart regulatory reform, they could be even better — helping to power a manufacturing renaissance, strengthen supply chains, and lower costs for millions of small businesses.
It’s time to set America’s railroads free. If we do, the benefits will travel far beyond the tracks.
