Congress and federal regulators are weighing how railroads should combine human track inspectors with automated technology to prevent derailments. A new report from the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) adds 25 years of federal accident data to that discussion.

The debate has increasingly focused on the limits of Automated Track Inspection (ATI). BMWED has emphasized that automated geometry systems address six of 23 track-condition inspection requirements – about 26 percent. Aii’s new report asks a different question: how significant are those conditions in the derailments track inspections are intended to prevent?

Analyzing Federal Railroad Administration accident records from 2000 through 2025, Aii found that Track Geometry accounted for 38.8 percent of derailments reported with Track, Roadbed and Structure as the primary cause – nearly two in five. Of the derailments reported with Track Geometry as the primary cause, 96.2 percent involved conditions measurable by track geometry systems.

“Six of 23 tells policymakers how the requirements are counted, not how significant they are in actual derailments,” said Aii Executive Director Benjamin Dierker, coauthor of the report. “Good regulation should maximize safety performance while encouraging innovation, and better data helps policymakers strike that balance.”

The findings arrive as FRA implements a five-year nationwide ATI waiver intended to expand testing and data collection, while House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen and Railroads Subcommittee Ranking Member Dina Titus have pressed FRA for greater transparency around waiver data. Congress is also considering legislation that would prescribe both human and automated track-inspection frequencies.

The report does not conclude that automated systems should replace human inspectors. Visual inspection remains necessary for conditions ATI is not designed to detect, and the analysis does not claim that automated technology would necessarily have detected or prevented every derailment involving a measurable geometry condition.

Instead, Man/Power: Overview of the Role and Impact of Visual Inspections and Track Geometry Technology on Derailments provides additional context for policymakers deciding how people, technology, and regulation should work together to improve rail safety.