FRA Technical Report Examines Fatigue and Safety in Locomotive Engineers and Conductors.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has issued a technical report concerning fatigue and its effect on safety for locomotive engineers and conductors. The report is based on an online survey sponsored by the FRA and developed and conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

The goal of the study was to better understand fatigue, particularly the effects of commute time on fatigue, which can help inform decision making and develop fatigue-mitigation strategies. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and Sheet Metal, Air, and Rail Transportation Workers – Transportation Division (SMART-TD) labor unions distributed the surveys to their members. There were 9,084 responses split almost evenly between locomotive engineers and conductors.