Only 7 federal railroad bridge inspectors are trained to assess the nation's 100,000+ rail bridges, and DOT is scrambling to train 163 more

The United States has over 100,000 railroad bridges, many built in the early 20th century, carrying freight and passenger trains that are heavier than anything their designers anticipated. As of 2025, the Federal Railroad Administration has exactly seven employees trained to assess bridge safety. Seven people for 100,000+ bridges. The Department of Transportation announced a plan to train 163 track inspectors to spot critical bridge problems, but this is an expansion of the track inspector role — not the creation of dedicated bridge engineers. The gap between the number of structures requiring expert assessment and the workforce available to perform it is not a shortfall; it is a chasm. The consequences of this inspection deficit are measured in derailments and near-misses. When a rail bridge fails, the result can be a train derailment carrying hazardous materials through populated areas — as the nation saw in East Palestine, Ohio in 2023. Rail bridges are not subject to the same federal inspection standards as highway bridges; railroad companies largely self-inspect using their own employees and standards. There is no equivalent to the National Bridge Inventory for rail bridges, meaning the federal government does not have a comprehensive, standardized database of rail bridge conditions. Without consistent, independent inspection data, there is no way to systematically prioritize which bridges are most dangerous or to hold railroad operators accountable for deferred maintenance. This problem persists because of a regulatory framework that treats railroads as private infrastructure owners responsible for their own safety, dating back to an era when railroad companies were the most powerful and well-capitalized entities in America. Today, Class I railroads have focused on cost-cutting through Precision Scheduled Railroading, reducing maintenance-of-way crews and deferring capital expenditures on bridge rehabilitation to boost quarterly earnings. Federal regulation has not kept pace: the FRA's bridge safety standards (49 CFR Part 237) require railroads to have bridge management programs but place minimal requirements on inspection frequency, inspector qualifications, or public reporting of findings. The result is a system where the entities responsible for bridge safety have financial incentives to minimize maintenance spending, and the regulator lacks the staff to verify compliance.