Will this record hold up when the FRA asks for it?
Seven questions for anyone who keeps, signs or answers for the records a railroad owes the FRA.
The question this page asksWhich of our records would we have to rebuild if the FRA asked for it tomorrow, and what does keeping records after the fact cost us a year?
Drawn from Exposure Reads 12 · 13 · 14 · 17 · 24
Every railroad the FRA regulates keeps records because a rule tells it to: who is certified to run a train and who to conduct it, who was trained and qualified on what, who may inspect the track and test the brakes, when each signal and crossing was last tested, what each inspection found and what became of it, and how long each crew was on duty. Each rule says what its record must carry, where it is kept and for how long. None of them can say whether the record describes what happened.
The hinge is one sentence, printed word for word in both certification rules. A test not conducted in compliance with Part 240 or 242, the railroad’s operating rules or its program under § 217.9 “will not be considered a legitimate test of operational skill or knowledge, and will not be considered for certification, recertification or revocation purposes” (49 CFR 240.117(f)(3), 242.403(f)(3)). If the railroad has not done that reading first, it can be done at the hearing.
A record is easy to write and hard to live in. A record written at the time, by the man who did the work, carries its own weight. A record rebuilt for the visit carries what somebody remembers, and the person who reads it closest is the one who asked for it.
Certification. The railroad certifies its engineers under 49 CFR Part 240 and its conductors under Part 242, each through a program FRA approves (240.103, 242.103). For each man it keeps the information it relied on, among it his prior safety conduct, his motor vehicle record, his vision and hearing, his knowledge test and, for an engineer, his skill test, for six years from the decision, and makes it available to FRA representatives on request during normal business hours (240.215, 242.203). The certificate is itself a record. Among other things it names the issuing railroad and the man, with his employee identification number and a photograph or physical description; states any conditions or limitations on his authority and the effective date of each certification held; is signed by a person the railroad designates in writing or, for an engineer, by a supervisor of locomotive engineers; and, for an engineer, shows the date of his last operational monitoring event unless a supplementary document he carries shows it (240.223(a), 242.207(a)). Since 28 MAY 2026 it may be electronic, or wallet-sized as before, and it no longer has to show his year of birth (91 FR 22747, 91 FR 22758). He has it in his possession while on duty and displays it when a representative of FRA, a State inspector, an officer of the issuing railroad or, in joint operations territory, an officer of another railroad asks to see it (240.305(b), 242.209(a)).
Training. Each employer trains its safety-related railroad employees under a training program it submits to FRA (243.101), and keeps records that show each one’s qualification status, accessible at its system headquarters, and for a former employee for six years after the employment ends (243.203(a)). FRA amended Part 243 by a final rule published 15 MAY 2026 and effective 14 JUL 2026 (91 FR 27849). What the craft teaches as air brake and train handling draws on two rules, the engineer’s training rule and the brake rule. An engineer’s initial training covers train handling procedures, including use of locomotive and train brake systems, and his continuing education covers methods of safe train handling (240.123(b), (c)(4)(iv)); a conductor is trained under a program Part 242 requires (242.119(a)). Each railroad and each contractor that inspects, tests or maintains brakes runs a training, qualification and designation program (232.203(a)), with refresher training at least every three years (232.203(b)(8)); since 30 SEP 2026 the hands-on part of that refresher may be an instructor-led, computer-based, three-dimensional simulation (91 FR 55784). The record names each course and its content, the test scores, the hands-on performance and the basis for finding it sound, the tasks the man is qualified for, who found him qualified, and the date that status expires, and it is provided to FRA on request (232.203(e)).
Operating rules. Whether the book is the General Code of Operating Rules (GCOR) or the railroad’s own, the federal rule asks the same of it. A Class I or Class II railroad, Amtrak and each commuter railroad files each new amendment to its code of operating rules, each new timetable and each new timetable special instruction with FRA within 30 days after it is issued; a Class III railroad keeps a copy of each at its system headquarters, available to FRA (217.7(b), (c)). Each railroad instructs its people on the meaning and application of its rules under a written program that states the frequency of instruction and the basis for it (217.11(a), (b)(2)), and records each man’s instruction, training and examination under subpart F of Part 218 for three calendar years after the year they relate to (218.95(b)).
Testing and audits. Each railroad records the date, time, place and result of every operational test, with the officer who gave it and each employee tested, and keeps the record one calendar year after the year it relates to; the written qualification of each testing officer is kept at system headquarters and at each division where he is assigned (217.9(b)(2), (d)(1)). A Class I railroad, a railroad FRA has found to have inadequate safety performance, and a railroad that volunteers must run a risk reduction program (49 CFR 271.3). The railroad assesses that program itself once every calendar year and reports the result to its senior management (271.401), and FRA audits it from outside (271.501). A freight railroad below Class I that FRA has made no such finding against, and that has not volunteered, is not required to run one.
Records on the ground. Each track inspection record is prepared on the day of the inspection and signed by the inspector, and names its author, the track, the date and location, any deviation and the remedial action taken; the original is kept at least one year, and copies are kept or can be viewed at one location within 100 miles of each State the railroad operates in, following 10 days’ notice by FRA (213.241(b)). The track owner records each person it designates to inspect, the date and the basis, “including the method used to determine that the designated person is qualified” (213.7(e)). Each signal test record, and each highway-rail grade crossing warning system test record, shows the place and date, the equipment tested, the results, the repairs, replacements and adjustments made, and the condition in which the apparatus was left; it is signed or electronically coded by the employee who made the test and, for most tests, kept until the next record for that test is filed and no less than one year (236.110(a), (d); 234.273). Each employee’s hours of duty are recorded (228.11(a)) and kept two years (228.9). Accident and injury records are kept at least three years after the calendar year they relate to (225.27(a)), a period FRA set by a rule effective 30 SEP 2026 (91 FR 55771); where they are kept centrally by electronic means, an establishment’s records are available in hard copy within four business hours of FRA’s request (225.25(g)). Where these rules allow electronic records, they ask the same of the system: no two people share an electronic identity, a completed record cannot be altered, and an amendment is kept apart from the record it amends (213.241(j); 240.215(j); 243.203(e)).
What the record is for is left to the railroad, which is where these seven go.
Each rule cited here was read in its current published text on 13 NOV 2026, at the eCFR (current to 10 NOV 2026). The law changes after that date; read the current text before relying on any of it.
Run them yourself.
They are answerable from your own certification files, training records, test records and inspection records. Run them yourself. They take an afternoon and they require nobody’s help, which is why they are yours to run.
If the FRA asked today for the file behind one engineer’s certificate, could you hand it over complete?
Pick three engineers and three conductors at random. For each, pull what the railroad relied on: prior safety conduct, the motor vehicle record, vision and hearing, the knowledge test and, for the engineer, the skill test, and, where another railroad or a training entity did the work, what it furnished (240.215, 242.203). A certificate whose file cannot be produced is a decision the railroad cannot show it made.
For every man who tests brakes, can you show the date his qualification runs out?
The brake rule asks the record to name the courses and their content, the scores, the hands-on performance and the basis for finding it sound, the tasks he is qualified for, who found him qualified, and the date that status expires for want of refresher training (232.203(e)). Sort the roster by that last date. A qualification with no expiry date on the record is a qualification nobody is tracking.
When the rule book last changed, when did each man hear it, and where does that show?
Find the last amendment to your code of operating rules, GCOR or your own, and the date it took effect. Then find the instruction record for each man who works under it. The program must state how often it instructs and why (217.11(b)(2)). A frequency with no stated basis is a calendar, not a program, and a rule that takes effect before anyone is instructed on it is a test failure the railroad has scheduled for itself.
Can you produce every testing officer’s qualification, at both headquarters?
Each testing officer must be qualified on the rules and on the program, with field training, as necessary to achieve proficiency, on each test he is authorized to give, and the record kept at system and at division headquarters (217.9(b)). For conductors the link is written into the rule: the annual test must come from an officer who meets it (242.123(c)). A test whose officer’s file cannot be produced is a test the railroad may not get to use.
What became of the last defect your inspector wrote down?
“If the § 213.7 qualified person making the inspection finds a deviation from the requirements of this part, the inspector shall immediately initiate remedial action” (49 CFR 213.233(d)), and the record carries the remedial action taken (49 CFR 213.241(b)). From there the owner, who now has notice, brings the track into compliance, halts operations, or operates under designated authority (49 CFR 213.5(a)). Pull last quarter’s records and list every deviation, the action written beside it, and the date the track was put right. A defect written down is notice. What the owner does next is the record.
Does each signal and crossing test record say what condition the apparatus was left in?
The rule asks every test record for the place and date, the equipment, the results, the repairs, replacements and adjustments, and the condition in which the apparatus was left, signed or electronically coded by the man who made the test (236.110(a); 234.273(a), (b)). Pull last month’s records for one territory and read the last entry first. A test record that stops at the result has recorded the test and not the apparatus.
Do the hours of duty records agree with the train sheet and the event recorder?
Each employee’s hours of duty are recorded, and a train crew’s manual record is signed by its ranking crewmember (228.11(a), 228.9(a)(1)). Pick ten trips and set each recorded on-duty and off-duty time beside the dispatcher’s train sheet and the locomotive’s own event recorder. Where the three disagree, the record that was signed is the one that will be read.
A question you cannot answer from your own records is already an answer. Either the record does not exist, or it exists and nobody has read it since it was filed.
The hours your railroad spends rebuilding records an auditor or the FRA asks for, at your own labor rate.
That is the cost of a record kept after the fact, and it is paid every year until the record is kept at the time.
What arrives.
The records read against the rules
Each record the railroad keeps for the FRA, set beside the section that requires it: what it must carry, who signs it, where it is kept and for how long. What the rule asks the record to show, set beside what it shows.
The rule, the practice and the paper
FRA, STB and FTA requirements, certification and the compliance record that has to stand when it is examined. We join the written rule to the practice on the property and to the documentation that supports it.
On your railroad
The compliance, rules and safety work is done on site. We come to your railroad with our team.
Instruction, under your own programs
Engineer and conductor instruction and certification-program administration support the employing railroad; the railroad makes its own certification determinations. The instruction covers air brake and train handling, conductor and engineer training, and operating rules instruction and examination, GCOR among them.
An answer on whether the records hold
Including, on some railroads, that they do. This read finds a record sound whenever it is.
And what it is not
Not a certification: the railroad certifies, and nothing here certifies or qualifies anyone. Not an FRA inspection or audit, and no substitute for one.
The seven questions above are the test of the firm that wrote them. Run them, and judge the firm by what they find.
These seven are yours to run, and if the records hold you owe nobody anything.
If you need a second reader, one who does not report to the department that keeps the records, write and say what you found and when you need it.
Our bench of career railroaders brings better than 160 years of combined field experience. Nobody we send learns railroading on your property. That is a standard, not a résumé.
Write and say what you found.
Write and say what you found, or call 928.605.7984 and say it. Not an impression — what the seven returned on your own records: your score, and which one your records could not answer. The one your records could not answer is the finding, and on most railroads it is the whole matter.
You will have a reply within one business day, from the principal and not from a form. Writing puts you on no list. If what comes back says you have no problem, you will be told so. What comes back sets the next stage, or the work stops there.
This page is general information about railroad practice and the rules it cites, as they read on the date shown. It is not legal, engineering or financial advice, it does not replace counsel or an inspection of your property, and reading it does not engage SteelWheels.Co.
solutions@steelwheels.co · 928.605.7984 · What happens when you write back