Fort Worth and Denver Railway Company v. Andrew L. Lewis, Jr., Etc., Railway Labor Executives Association, Intervenor-Appellee

In resolving the question of whether section 209(a) of the Railway Safety Act allows the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate regulations with a strict liability standard, a historical perspective is helpful. The Railway Safety Act (RSA) of 1970 is the most recent statute in a succession of railroad safety laws which date back to 1893. Its predecessors, which dealt with specific aspects of railroad safety,1 all im*437posed a standard of strict liability on the railroads.2 Faced with a long-standing policy of a strict liability standard in the field of railroad safety legislation, Congress…