Rail safety in America depends on a balance: the government sets the framework, and private railroads, in partnership with labor, do the work of keeping supply chains running safely and efficiently. As technologies and practices emerge, companies frequently seek waivers from the Federal Railroad Administration to test these innovations under real-world conditions. The waiver process is meant to validate safer practices, generate valuable data, and feed a continuous cycle of learning and improvement.

When the process slows or fails to deliver a timely resolution, opportunities for safety advancement pause, existing regulations often preserve longstanding practices that were the best available at the time, but are slow to update as technology evolves. That can mean fewer incidents and smoot

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