BNSF Can Expand Track Inspection Technology, Fifth Circuit Says

One of the largest freight railroad networks in North America won its bid to expand the use of automated track inspection technology after the Fifth Circuit determined the US Department of Transportation arbitrarily denied the company’s waiver request.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a Federal Railroad Administration’s reconsidered decision to deny BNSF Railway an expanded waiver after concluding the federal agency again failed to provide a valid reason to deny the waiver.

“We need not doom BNSF to an endless loop of regulatory activity,” Judge Jerry E. Smith wrote. “In such circumstances, it is appropriate ...