Qualification and Certification of Locomotive Engineers and Conductors; English Language Proficiency and Other Requirements

The record

Publisher

Federal Register

Agency

Transportation Department; Federal Railroad Administration

Source

Federal Register

Kind

Federal Register: proposed rule

Jurisdiction

United States

Topics

Transport

Importance

Notable, the middle of three tiers Kresmion sets by fixed rules from the source's own fields

Published (source time)

2026-07-31 (the source gives a date only)

First seen on Kresmion

2026-10-26 18:24 UTC

The original

• PDF (Federal Register)

Source: Federal Register (federalregister.gov). U.S. government work, public domain.

The publisher's summary

FRA proposes to amend its regulations governing the qualification and certification of locomotive engineers and conductors to establish English language proficiency as a requirement for a railroad carrier to certify and recertify locomotive engineers and conductors. FRA also proposes that each railroad carrier conducting a triennial examination of skill performance, and an annual operational monitoring observation for locomotive engineers, which are current requirements, conduct those examinations and observations without engaging energy management systems that limit the need for a locomotive engineer to operate the throttle or braking systems. Further, FRA proposes to codify limitations on operations at the southern border, including a 10 route-mile geographic limitation, to ensure domestic training, testing, and certification requirements for Mexican crew members are adequate. In addition, FRA proposes changes to clarify that a locomotive engineer or conductor's territorial qualification is limited to the specific direction of travel traversed during the qualification process.

The publisher's words, as published.

Federal Register document

Document number

2026-15605

Document type

Proposed Rule

Status

Published