WASHINGTON – The Federal Railroad Administration has proposed doubling the number of railroad bridge inspector program staff from eight to 16 in its 2017 budget.
The move comes after US Senator Charles Schumer pressed the agency to increase its manpower saying Upstate New York “has a clear need for more railroad inspectors, and that there is simply not enough manpower right now on the federal level to inspect and audit these bridges on schedule.”
Schumer called the FRA’s proposal to double the number of rail bridge inspectors and create a nationwide inventory to document high-risk bridges “a significant step in the right direction.”
He called it “truly alarming” that only one person is responsible for auditing some 3,000 privately owned rail bridges in New York as well as being responsible for all rail bridges in 13 other states.
Only one percent of the 70,000 to 100,000 privately owned train bridges in the country are audited in any given year.
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April 27, 2024
