Even as inflation shows signs of cooling, affordability remains top of mind for families and businesses navigating an uncertain economy – marked by volatile freight demand, ongoing trade tensions, and persistent cost pressures. In moments like this, industries often retreat or pass costs along. Freight railroads are not. Instead, Class I railroads are sustaining investment levels that improve safety, strengthening supply-chain reliability, and helping keep transportation costs stable – delivering real results for the network, the communities it serves, and the American economy that depends on affordable goods.
Freight railroads are hitting new safety milestones, building upon record-low injury and accident rates in recent years. Full-year 2025 data from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) confirm freight rail achieved its safety year on record, with accident and derailment rates falling to historic lows and Class I employee injury rates reaching an all-time low – clear proof that long-term investment and innovation are continuing to reduce risk across the system.
Billions of dollars in private investment are driving real safety gains through advanced technology, infrastructure upgrades, and on-the-job training – often moving faster than decades-old regulatory frameworks. Railroads now deploy a nationwide suite of wayside detection tools, high-speed inspection portals, and ground penetrating radar systems, to name a few. The goal? Finding potential defects in real time and further reducing risk of accidents.
Despite significant strides in U.S. rail safety, more can be done by our federal partners to bolster freight rail’s progress by reinforcing what works and embracing a regulatory structure that supports innovation. As Congress begins to deliberate the nation’s surface transportation law ahead of its September 30 deadline, policymakers can modernize a decades-old regulatory scheme by prioritizing outcome-based rules over one-size-fits-all mandates masquerading as safety reforms.
Indeed, transportation policy works best when it encourages innovation, investment, and measurable safety outcomes. Results-based approaches—rather than rigid, prescriptive mandates – better support continued affordability, economic growth, and competitiveness by allowing railroads to develop and deploy proven technologies and safety practices as they evolve. That flexibility helps sustain private investment, accelerate safety innovation, and avoid unnecessary cost increases at a time when affordability remains a top concern for Americans.
“Regulatory rigidity can create an innovation bottleneck, discouraging investment in safety-enhancing technologies and slowing the adoption of measures that would improve overall safety outcomes,” says new peer-reviewed analysis from Roslyn Layton, PhD, in the Journal of Economic Affairs.
Before pursuing any new policies this year, Congress should consider what railroads are already doing.
Expanded detection standards and AI-enabled imaging provide earlier warnings, more frequent data points, and a more proactive approach to railcar safety, including ultra-high-resolution, 360-degree views that can be reviewed quickly when it matters most. These tools strengthen a deeply embedded safety culture, empowering a highly skilled workforce with predictive analytics and next-generation inspection systems to deliver safer, more reliable rail service across the network.
Support for first responders is also a priority and critical to strengthening the safety culture of railroads. From hazmat response tools that provide access to real-time data on what railcars are carrying to field training that gives first responders the knowledge and skills to safely react to an incident, partnership with those who protect is a core tenet of our commitment to communities.
Taken together, these technological advances – together with deep investments in our nation’s railroaders, physical infrastructure and the communities we serve – are directly tied to better safety outcomes.
Railroads will always support sensible, data-driven safety policies that are proven to reduce risk and improve outcomes. If Congress is serious about prioritizing safety and lowering costs for consumers, policymakers should target efforts on rules that define outcomes over methods, looking forward versus looking in the rearview mirror and locking in old, outdated practices.
Rail safety and economic strength advance together when policy enables investment, innovation, and measurable results. Congress has the opportunity to reinforce this progress by supporting approaches that encourage continued safety gains while preserving affordability and competitiveness. Doing so will benefit railroaders, the communities railroads serve, and the consumers who depend on a strong, reliable supply chain.
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