FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure Calls for Overhaul of FRA Waiver Process to Modernize Rail Safety
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 10, 2025) – The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) today released a thorough report calling for urgently needed reforms to the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) waiver process, a key regulatory mechanism intended to promote innovation and ensure rail safety. The report, Driving Regulatory Innovation for Safer Railroading, outlines how outdated rules and political interference are undermining technological progress and hindering safety improvements across the U.S. railroad industry.
With the U.S. rail network transporting nearly 1.5 billion tons of freight annually, safe and efficient operation is vital to the national economy. However, many of the regulations guiding railroad operations today were drafted more than half a century ago and fail to reflect modern technologies like Automated Track Inspection (ATI) systems. According to the report, the waiver process that allows railroads to bypass such outdated rules has become increasingly politicized, opaque, and inconsistent—undermining safety, innovation, and long-term investment.
“We need a regulatory system that matches the speed of innovation,” said Benjamin Dierker, Executive Director of Aii and lead author of the report. “The FRA’s current waiver process too often delays or denies safety-enhancing technologies without clear justification. Reform is not just overdue – it’s essential.”
The report makes five key recommendations for improving the FRA’s waiver system:
- Increase Transparency in the Railroad Safety Board’s decision-making process.
- Limit Political Influence by empowering career safety professionals to lead evaluations.
- Recognize Proven Technologies by granting long-term waivers for successful safety innovations.
- Prevent Bureaucratic Delays through automatic provisional approvals when statutory timelines are missed.
- Trigger Regulatory Review when multiple waivers are granted for the same outdated rule.
These reforms aim to move the FRA toward a more performance-based regulatory model that encourages data-driven decisions and aligns safety policy with technological advancement.
Aii’s report includes a case study on ATI systems, which have been shown to significantly improve defect detection and inspection efficiency. Despite strong evidence, multiple waivers for ATI use were denied or delayed, forcing railroads into protracted legal battles culminating in a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals holding the FRA’s waiver denials to be “arbitrary and capricious.”
“We cannot allow political cycles to dictate safety decisions,” said Dierker. “Our rail network – and the communities it serves – deserve consistent, transparent, and data-based policies.”
With reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs approaching in 2026, Aii urges policymakers, regulators, and industry stakeholders to prioritize these common-sense reforms to modernize the waiver process and revitalize rail safety in the 21st century.
Read the full report here:
Driving Regulatory Innovation for Safer Railroading: How Modernizing the Waiver Process at the Federal Railroad Administration Can Revolutionize Railroad Safety, Efficiency, and Resilience and Future-Proof the Regulatory Culture Across the Entire Federal Government
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About Aii:
The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) is an independent, national research and educational organization working to advance innovation across industry and public policy. The only nation wide public policy think tank dedicated to infrastructure, Aii explores the intersection of economics, law, and public policy in the areas of climate, damage prevention, eminent domain, energy, infrastructure, innovation, technology, and transportation.