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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 12 april 2024

Freight railroads ask courts to throw out new rule requiring two-

person crews on trains

By JOSH FUNK Transportation Secretary
AP Business Writer Pete Buttigieg has said the
Four railroads have asked need to improve railroad
federal appeals courts to safety was made glaringly
throw out a new rule that clear last year when a Nor-
would require two-person folk Southern train derailed
train crews in most circum- on the outskirts of a town on
stances, saying the man- the Ohio-Pennsylvania bor-
date is arbitrary, capricious der and spilled an assort-
and an illegal abuse of dis- ment of hazardous chemi-
cretion. cals that caught fire. That
The identical challenges of East Palestine derailment
the Federal Railroad Ad- inspired calls for reform that
ministration’s rule were all have stalled in Congress.
filed this week in different But Buttigieg and the Fed-
appellate courts on behalf eral Railroad Administra-
of Union Pacific, BNSF and tion declined to comment
two short line railroads — Thursday on the legal chal-
the Indiana Railroad and lenges to the new rule that
Florida East Coast Railway. is set to take effect in early
The new federal require- June.
ment, announced last The head of the Brother-
week, was a milestone in A maintenance worker walks past the company logo on the side of a locomotive in the Union hood of Locomotive Engi-
organized labor’s long fight Pacific Railroad fueling yard in north Denver, Oct. 18, 2006. Associated Press neers and Trainmen union
to preserve the practice Eddie Hall said this legal
and came amid increasing the rule was unfounded one, hinders our ability to day and the unions that challenge is just another
scrutiny into railroad safety, and not supported by safe- compete in a world where have lobbied for the policy sign the railroads “place
especially in the wake of ty data. The Indiana Rail- technology is changing the for years all argue there profits over safety.” He said
the fiery February 2023 de- road like many short lines transportation industry and are clear safety benefits to keeping two people in the
railment in eastern Ohio. across the country already prevents us from preparing having two people in the locomotive won’t keep rail-
Most of those railroads did operates with one-person our workforce for jobs of cab of locomotives to help roads from investing in new
not immediately offer ad- crews, but the major freight the future.” operate the train because technology, and the indus-
ditional explanation for railroads all have two-per- BNSF deferred comment to they can keep each other try should focus on improv-
why they don’t like the rule, son crews that their union AAR, and the two smaller alert and the conductor ing safety.
but the industry has long contracts require. railroads did not immedi- can respond immediately “This move by the railroads
opposed such a regula- Union Pacific said in a state- ately respond to messages to any problems they en- was predictable. The rail-
tion and the Association of ment “this rule, which lacks Thursday. counter, including serving roads and their trade asso-
American Railroads trade any data showing two peo- The regulators who an- as the initial first-responder ciation appeal every safety
group said last week that ple in a cab are safer than nounced the rule last Tues- to a derailment. reform,” Hall said.q

Almost 10% of Florida’s youngest children were missed during the

2020 census

By MIKE SCHNEIDER with a negligible rate of 0.02%, the equiva-
Associated Press lent of six children.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Children age 4 and Preschool-age children are the most diffi-
under in Florida were undercounted by cult age group to count and are regularly
almost 10% during the 2020 census, ac- missed during the nation’s head count, an
cording to estimates released Thursday by oversight that can shortchange commu-
the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau said nities of federal funding for programs like
the estimated error was the largest under- Head Start. During the 2020 census, an es-
count of young children by any U.S. state. timated 1 million children age 4 and under
More than 112,000 children age 4 or nationwide were overlooked, an under-
younger were overlooked in Florida during count of almost 5.5%.
the 2020 tally which helps determine fed- Parents often don’t know they should in-
eral funding and political power every 10 clude their babies on the census forms,
years, according to Demographic Analysis and, at other times, young children are
estimates using administrative records to missed in multigenerational households or
estimate the population’s size. if they live in two households because of
The Demographic Analysis is one of the joint custody.
tools the Census Bureau uses to calculate “We know these undercounts are often
how good a job it did of counting every correlated with undercounts of certain
U.S. resident during a census that de- race and ethnicity groups along with other
termines how many congressional seats factors that we were not able to measure
each state gets. directly,” Census Bureau Director Robert
Students from Thomas Leadership Academy play on the school’s
playground in Eatonville, Fla., Aug. 23, 2023. Vermont had the smallest undercount of Santos said in a statement. “We are dili-
Associated Press young children during the 2020 census, gently working to address this issue.”q