Notice2026-19031
Safety Advisory 2025-02; Track Is Clear Determination During Shoving or Pushing Movements Across Highway-Rail Grade Crossings Equipped Only With Flashing Lights or Passive Warning Devices (Supplement)
Primary source
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Published
September 17, 2026
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentFederal Railroad Administration
Abstract
On December 12, 2025, in response to a series of accidents involving operations requiring crew members to make "track is clear" determinations before shoving or pushing movements across highway-rail grade crossings (crossings) equipped only with flashing lights or passive warning devices, FRA published Safety Advisory 2025-02. Since publication, two additional accidents have occurred under similar circumstances, resulting in one fatality and one severe injury. FRA is issuing this Notice to provide details of these recent accidents, to reinforce the existing recommendations in Safety Advisory 2025-02, and to add two recommendations. Specifically, this notice adds recommendations 5 and 6, which recommend railroads conduct in-person briefings with all operating employees performing or overseeing shoving or pushing movements and review and evaluate internal instruction, training, and examination programs for such employees.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 179 (Thursday, September 17, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 179 (Thursday, September 17, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58951-58952]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-19031]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
Safety Advisory 2025-02; Track Is Clear Determination During
Shoving or Pushing Movements Across Highway-Rail Grade Crossings
Equipped Only With Flashing Lights or Passive Warning Devices
(Supplement)
AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of Safety Advisory; Notice No. 2.
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SUMMARY: On December 12, 2025, in response to a series of accidents
involving operations requiring crew members to make ``track is clear''
determinations before shoving or pushing movements across highway-rail
grade crossings (crossings) equipped only with flashing lights or
passive warning devices, FRA published Safety Advisory 2025-02. Since
publication, two additional accidents have occurred under similar
circumstances, resulting in one fatality and one severe injury. FRA is
issuing this Notice to provide details of these recent accidents, to
reinforce the existing recommendations in Safety Advisory 2025-02, and
to add two recommendations. Specifically, this notice adds
recommendations 5 and 6, which recommend railroads conduct in-person
briefings with all operating employees performing or overseeing shoving
or pushing movements and review and evaluate internal instruction,
training, and examination programs for such employees.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christian Holt, Staff Director,
Operating Practices Division, FRA Office of Railroad Safety, 1200 New
Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20590; telephone (202) 366-0978; email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0142697368727568606f2f496e6d7541656e752f666e77"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="490a213b203a3d202827670126253d092d263d672e263f">[email protected]</span></a>.
Disclaimer: This Notice is considered guidance pursuant to 49 CFR
part 5, subpart C. Except when referencing laws, regulations, policies,
or orders, the information in this Notice does not have the force and
effect of law and is not binding in any way. This Notice expands upon
the guidance in Safety Advisory 2025-02, published December 12, 2025
(90 FR 57811).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Safety Advisory 2025-02 described four fatal accidents between
April 2020 and December 2025 involving railroad employees providing
point protection during shoving or pushing movements over crossings
equipped only with flashing lights or passive warning devices. To
address the risks of these types of moves, the advisory recommended
that railroads take four specific actions involving job briefings,
operating rules, operational testing, and crossing-by-crossing
evaluations. The advisory emphasized that railroads should identify and
assess specific conditions that impede the performance of a complete
visual assessment of a crossing, including road layout, physical
obstructions or environmental conditions, and recommended that
railroads use a designated and qualified employee stationed at the
crossing to provide protection in these situations.
Since publication, two additional accidents currently under FRA
investigation have occurred during shoving movements across such
crossings, one fatally injuring a contractor operating a highway
vehicle and the other seriously injuring a railroad employee. Both
accidents may have been averted or the severity reduced, if the
recommendations of Safety Advisory 2025-02 were implemented fully by
railroads and railroad employees. FRA is issuing this notice to
reinforce the importance of
[[Page 58952]]
ensuring that operating rules, job briefings, training and operational
testing, and crossing hazard evaluations are performed to ensure that
the required ``track is clear'' determination is made before rail
equipment enters a crossing as part of a shoving or pushing movement.
Recent Significant Accidents
On June 13, 2026, at 7:48 a.m., in Bensenville, Illinois, the
operator of a commercial fuel truck was fatally injured when the
leading railcar of a Canadian Pacific Kansas City shoving movement
struck the truck at a passively protected yard access crossing. A two-
person remote control operator crew was conducting an eastward movement
inside a remote-control zone. The truck turned off a parallel road onto
the crossing without stopping, moving directly into the path of the
shove movement.
On August 6, 2026, at approximately 10:17 a.m., a CSX
Transportation conductor was seriously injured during a shoving
movement at an industrial facility in College Park, Georgia. The
conductor was riding the leading end of a boxcar and directing the
movement over a passively protected industry crossing. A truck driver
had departed the facility's loading dock and was positioning his
vehicle to back into a staging area when the leading railcar and
passenger side of the truck collided. The collision pinned the
conductor between the railcar and the truck, causing injuries that
required a below-the-knee amputation.
Safety Advisory 2025-02
As originally issued, Safety Advisory 2025-02 included four
recommendations which are summarized as follows:
1. Rule Compliance and Job Briefings. Railroads should review their
rules related to 49 CFR 218.99, Shoving or pushing movements, to ensure
compliance with the comprehensive job briefing requirements of 49 CFR
218.99 (including procedures for establishing and verifying that a
track meets the ``track is clear'' criteria in 49 CFR 218.93).
2. Operating Rules. Railroads should review and update, if
necessary, operating rules required by 49 CFR 218.99(a)(1) to ensure
they account for all physical and operational factors necessary to
determine if ``track is clear.''
3. Targeted Operational Testing. Railroads should review and
evaluate operational testing data related to shoving or pushing moves,
prioritizing testing at crossings equipped with only flashing lights or
passive warning devices.
4. Crossing Hazard Evaluations. Railroads should implement a
program to evaluate whether operational, environmental and
infrastructure conditions at crossings equipped with only flashing
lights or passive warning devices permit employees to safely determine
if the track is clear. If an evaluation demonstrates that it is not
feasible for a riding employee to determine the ``track is clear'' as
required by 49 CFR 218.99(b)(3), the railroad should update its
operating rules and bulletins to require stop-and-flag protection at
the crossing.
Additional Recommended Railroad Actions
FRA is revising the recommendations included in Safety Advisory
2025-02 as published on December 12, 2025, to add recommendations 5 and
6 as follows:
5. Direct Employee Briefings. Railroads should immediately
distribute Safety Advisory 2025-02 and this notice to all operational
supervisors, safety committees, and field personnel. Railroads should
also conduct direct, face-to-face briefings with all operating
employees who perform or oversee shoving or pushing movements. The
briefings should emphasize 49 CFR 218.99(b) (specifically the point
protection requirements under paragraph (b)(3)), the ``track is clear''
criteria of 49 CFR 218.93, and related operating rules or bulletins.
6. Immediately Correct Training and Qualification Program
Deficiencies. Railroads should immediately review their written
instruction, training, and examination programs required by 49 CFR
218.95 for employees who perform duties subject to subpart F--Handling
Equipment, Switches, and Fixed Derails, including employees who direct,
control, or provide point protection for shoving or pushing movements.
The review should determine whether those programs adequately address
the point-protection requirements in 49 CFR 218.99(b)(3), the ``track
is clear'' determination in 49 CFR 218.93, the consequences of
noncompliance, and applicable operating rules. Railroads should
immediately correct any program deficiencies, provide supplemental
instruction, training, and examination as necessary, and verify from
the records required by 49 CFR 218.95(a)(5) and (b) that each affected
employee has been qualified on the applicable rules within the previous
three years, as required by 49 CFR 218.95(a)(4).
Conclusion
FRA encourages railroads to take actions consistent with Safety
Advisory 2025-02, as originally published, the additional
recommendations in this notice, and any other complementary actions
necessary to ensure the safety of rail transportation. Further, FRA
will maintain continuous oversight regarding adherence to the
requirements set forth in 49 CFR 218.99. This includes verifying
compliance with the mandatory ``track is clear'' determination
specified in 49 CFR 218.99(b) and defined under 49 CFR 218.93,
conducted through systematic field inspections and the detailed
analysis of railroad operational testing records. FRA may modify Safety
Advisory 2025-02, issue additional safety advisories, or take other
action necessary to ensure the highest level of safety on the Nation's
railroads, including pursuing other corrective measures under its rail
safety authority.
Issued in Washington, DC, under authority delegated in 49 CFR
1.89.
John Karl Alexy,
Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety, Chief Safety Officer.
[FR Doc. 2026-19031 Filed 9-16-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P
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