Fresh off its effort to remove people who struggle with English from jobs in commercial driving, the Trump administration is now moving to boot them off the rails, too.
The Transportation Department last month proposed a new rule that would require conductors and engineers on locomotives to demonstrate they know enough English to be safe.
The rule would also bar Mexican crews from running routes beyond a 10-mile border zone.
In both situations, the department said trains already seem to observe those practices. Writing them into regulation locks things into place and blocks any “potential loophole” from emerging.
“Whether you’re operating an 80,000-pound big rig or a massive freight train, you need to be proficient in our national language — English. If you aren’t, you create an unacceptable safety risk,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
He called the new rules “commonsense steps” to make sure those operating trains can communicate with U.S. safety inspectors and understand operational bulletins.
The changes grew out of an alert where the Federal Railroad Administration said during routine checks last year it found instances where crews on trains inbound from Mexico “appeared to have difficulty” in understanding and communicating with U.S. authorities.
English is not the official language for the U.S., though most government business is conducted in it. For railroads, radio communication and essential documents are exclusively in English.
The Transportation Department said railroad firms already conduct training and testing in English for locomotive engineers and conductors. The new proposal prods the companies to evaluate their employees specifically for English proficiency.
The Association of American Railroads said it was still reviewing the proposal and didn’t have a reaction yet. The Washington Times also sought comment from the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.
The 10-mile rule applies only to the Mexican border. The Federal Railroad Administration said it has concerns about Mexico’s training, testing and certification requirements for its railway operators.
“This disparity in qualification requirements and level of government oversight represents a safety risk,” the FRA said in its regulatory filing.
The agency identified 31 daily train entries from Mexico to the U.S.
Under the proposal, train operators wouldn’t have to prove fluency but rather enough proficiency to show they can meet safety standards.
The FRA said it hasn’t identified any issues along the Canadian border, and the two nations have decades of cooperation on rail safety.
FRA’s new rule was proposed at the end of July and is now undergoing a public comment period through late September.
As of Thursday, three comments had been submitted and each of them was favorable.
Mr. Duffy over the past year has moved forcefully to try to deny driving credentials to so-called non-domiciled migrants who hold commercial driver’s licenses.
That includes audits of California and New York, where the Transportation Department announced it was withholding money as a way to force the states to do more to police who they approved for truck driver’s licenses.
In a separate regulation finalized in February, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration imposed new restrictions on which migrants are eligible for commercial licenses.
Those here on deportation amnesties, such as Temporary Protected Status or the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals are excluded, but those here on legal work visas such as the H-2A farmworker program would be allowed.
English proficiency was a major factor driving the rule, the federal agency said.
It pointed to its own work examining fatal crashes where non-domiciled commercial license holders were deemed to be at fault. It found 17 crashes that killed 30 people, and said that was not an exhaustive list.
One crash involved a driver licensed in New York who was thought to be watching a cellphone video when the bus crashed into several other vehicles. One person died; several others were injured. Authorities said the driver was unable to “communicate effectively in English.”
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