Officials with the Federal Railroad Adminstration recently issued a directive to private railroad companies, calling for improved transparency about the safety of their railways, particularly those that cross bridges. The move was prompted by a television news station's investigation of a crumbling, corroded railroad bridge in Milwaukee.

The city's FOX6 news team showed footage of the aging and ailing railroad bridge on 1st Street in Milwaukee's Fifth Ward. The bridge is owned by Calgary, Alberta-based Canadian Pacific Railway, which owns nearly 14,000 miles of track that stretches across Canada and into multiple US markets including Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago and New York City.  But despite several requests, Canadian Pacific officials refused to release records that would show when and how often the bridge has been or will be instected for safety.

The investigation caught the attention of Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, who turned to the FRA, asking officials to intervene. The result? A written directive calling for all private railorads operating in the US to update lawmakers and the public about the condition and maintenance of its railways and bridges. That's critical because there are some 100,000 privately-built and privately-owed railroad bridges nationwide.

These companies must "provide timely information to assure the community that the bridges in their communities are safe and structurally sound," the directive reads.

You can bet that we here at RailJustice will be looking for these reports to help assure that railroad employees, passengers and others are safe when traveling by or working on trains.