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— The FRA’s abandonment of a rule which would have required two man crews on freight trains has triggered debate between rail unions and their critics.
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— DOT is moving forward with two rulemakings on automated vehicles, starting with collecting input from the public.
— Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the top Republican on the House Transportation Committee, shot back at a Seattle Times story that was critical of his stance on the recent Boeing crashes.
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“It won’t be a stylish marriage, / I can’t afford a carriage. / But you’ll look sweet, / Upon the seat, / Of a bicycle made for two.”
LISTEN HERE: Follow MT’s playlist on Spotify. What better way to start your day than with songs (picked by us and readers) about roads, rails, rivers and runways?
DEBATE RAGES OVER FREIGHT CREW SIZES: The FRA’s decision to abandon a rule that would have mandated two-person freight train crews has triggered a fight between rail workers unions and their critics (much of which has gone down in your host’s mentions. I’m not complaining, it’s interesting!).
SMART Transportation Division, an AFL-CIO affiliated union which represents rail workers, says the announcement will hurt safety, particularly because it preempts state laws on crew sizes. “President Donald Trump, DOT Secretary Elaine Chao and FRA Administrator Ron Batory have taken sides, and it’s with the railroads that want to eliminate operating crew members to the detriment of rail safety,” said national legislative director of SMART John Risch. The union is considering legal action, he said.
But Marc Scribner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, argues that the original proposed rule was a “giveaway to railroad labor unions, who fear that future automation will make their members’ jobs redundant.” He claims that the argument for a two person train crew is part of a long history of protecting “featherbedding” or make-work jobs.
DOT ADVANCING AV REG PROCESS: DOT is scheduled to publish two advanced notices of proposed rulemaking on autonomous vehicles Tuesday, our Tanya Snyder reports. One is from NHTSA, seeking comment on how to remove regulatory barriers to testing the crash avoidance features of automated driving systems in cars without manual controls. The other is from FMCSA, and asks for input about how to safely introduce automated trucks.
HAPPENING NEXT WEEK: A conference to seek public comment on vehicle-to-everything communications, Tanya writes. The June 3 meetup will aid DOT “in identifying areas of common ground that can assist deployers and investors in V2X technologies in advancing the use of the 5.9 GHz spectrum for traffic safety and congestion mitigation,” according to a Federal Register notice. The federal government has sent mixed signals lately about whether it plans to continue holding the 5.9 GHz band for the exclusive use of vehicle safety technologies.
TRUMP TAKES ON AVS: Trump talked self-driving cars during his trip to Japan over the weekend. “I guess self-driving cars are becoming a bigger and bigger thing. What do you think? Yeah? That’s the future,” he said. “If you say that’s the future, I’m OK with it. It seems very strange when you look over and there’s nobody behind a car going 60 miles an hour … but when you say it, I’m good with it.” Trump was praising Toyota for its investments in the U.S., including work with Uber on developing self-driving cars.
GRAVES HITS BACK: Graves took to Twitter Friday to criticize a Seattle Times story from earlier in May which he said had insulted him. The story, written by Dominic Gates on May 15, had delved into the question of pilot error in the recent Boeing 737 MAX crashes, which Graves has focused on as a possible cause. He’s said that pilots trained in the U.S. would have been able to prevent the crashes with basic training and stick-and-rudder skills, even without specific training on the anti-stall feature at the center of crash probes.
Gates’ story implies that Graves, a pilot with a commercial rating, was repeating talking points written by two U.S. pilots in a report commissioned by Boeing investors. But the House Republican has consistently focused on pilot error in his comments about the crashes, inclding immediately afterward.
The Times story does, however, note that two flight simulator sessions contradict Graves’ contention that better-trained pilots would have escaped the situation. And it quotes an unnamed veteran U.S. airline captain as being “disappointed” with the Republicans’ comments.
“My views that came under attack in a recent @seattletimes article by @dominicgates are based on my 38 yrs experience as a pilot, my review of accident reports & talks with gov’t official, pilots, engineers. To insinuate otherwise is wrong and insulting,” Graves wrote on Twitter. He said he wasn’t given the chance to comment, and shared an unpublished letter to the editor.
ADD ANOTHER INVESTIGATION TO THE PILE: The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a probe into how much Boeing told shareholders about problems with the 737 MAX, Bloomberg reported. The story says that the agency’s enforcement division is conducting the investigation, and that the agency is also looking at the company’s financial statements to ensure that they’ve appropriately reflected the potential impacts of the problems with the plane.
Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren took Boeing to task over the weekend as she was talking about the power of big corporations. “Boeing was self-inspecting its own planes,” said the Massachusetts Democrat at an event in Iowa. “How’d that work out?”
COMING SOON: Customs and Border Protection is aiming to issue a new rule expanding its use of facial scanners and other biometrics technology on foreign travelers later this summer, our Stephanie Beasley reported Friday. The interim final rule, expected in July, would allow CBP to expand its collection of foreign nationals’ biometric information beyond the airports and other ports of entry currently participating in pilot programs, as well as extending the agency’s authority to use facial recognition.
In the auto world, DOT is proposing to move forward with a long-sought rule that would allow automakers to get rid of side mirrors, using cameras or interior screens instead. Other rules coming soon, Tanya reports, include a pilot program allowing states to conduct their own environmental assessments of infrastructure projects, proposals to revise trucking hours-of-service provisions, and more.
LINDSEY’S TAKE: Trump ally Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wants the president to push ahead with an infrastructure plan, and not let Democrats “goad” him into “not doing good things for the country.” Graham told “Fox and Friends” Friday that Trump “has got to do infrastructure.” It’s yet to be determined whether the White House will push forward with an infrastructure plan after talks with Democrats broke down spectacularly last week, but given that Trump has signalled repeatedly that he wants Congress to take the lead on the issue, seems unlikely.
— “The Apprentice has the gavel: Peter DeFazio, Trump and a $2 trillion infrastructure bill.” The Oregonian.
— “The Ghosts of Flight 191.” Chicago Magazine.
— “1,600 Miles, 85 Hours: A migrant family takes a Greyhound across America.” The New York Times.
— “FAA investigating two airports where Chick-fil-A restaurants were excluded.” CNN.
— “Fiat Chrysler and Renault pursue $35 billion merger to combat car industry upheaval.” Reuters.
DOT appropriations run out in 125 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,586 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 494 days.
