For Short Lines, Contractors and Shops
FRA Part 243 refresher training is due by December 31, 2026.
Railroads covered by Part 243, other than Class I and large passenger railroads, and railroad contractors must deliver refresher training on their FRA-approved training program by that date, for employees whose last training came before FRA approved the program.
Contact usThe Rule
What the rule requires
Class I railroads and intercity or commuter passenger railroads with 400,000 or more total employee work hours a year had a December 31, 2024 date. For every other employer under Part 243, including railroad contractors, the date is December 31, 2026, for employees whose last training came before FRA approved the employer's program. Otherwise refresher training is due within three calendar years of the last training event.
Refresher training by December 31, 2026
If an employee’s last training event came before FRA approved the employer’s training program, an employer that was operating on May 1, 2023 must give that employee refresher training no later than December 31, 2026. After that, refresher training is due at intervals of no more than three calendar years from the employee’s last training event.
One test-out per occupational category
An employer may offer each employee a single test-out for an occupational category or subcategory. If the employee passes, it counts in place of refresher training. If the employee fails, there is no second attempt: the employee must take the refresher training.
Training records
Each employer must keep records showing the qualification status of each safety-related employee, make them available to FRA on request, and let employees see their own. Electronic records are allowed if the system meets the conditions in 243.203(e).
Deadlines for Class I and large passenger railroads: 49 CFR 243.201(e)(1)(opens ecfr.gov). Contractors are employers under Part 243: 49 CFR 243.5(opens ecfr.gov).
Lasso Learn
How Lasso Learn helps
FRA approves your training program. Lasso Learn delivers it and keeps the records.
Your program, as mobile courses
We turn your own approved program materials into short courses with exams that employees take on their phones.
One course per occupational category
Each category in your program gets its own course, so every employee trains on what their job covers.
Records and certificates
Who completed what, when and with what score. Each certificate carries a verification link anyone can open to check it.
English and Spanish
Courses can be built in English and Spanish, so each employee trains in the language they read best.
Email, QR code or PIN sign-in
Employees sign in with their email, a QR code or a PIN, so crews without a company email can still train. No app to download.
Beyond Part 243
Other rail safety training we can deliver
The same courses and records work for RWP training online, blue flag safety training and the other rail training your employees need.
Roadway Worker Protection (RWP)
49 CFR Part 214, Subpart C(opens ecfr.gov)
Roadway workers, including those who work for a railroad contractor, must be trained on the on-track safety rules once every calendar year.
Blue signal (blue flag) protection of workers
49 CFR Part 218, Subpart B(opens ecfr.gov)
Subpart B sets the protection rules for workers who inspect, test, repair or service rolling equipment while they are on, under or between it, including on car shop repair tracks and in locomotive servicing areas. It is not a separate training mandate: blue flag safety training is taught under your own program and your operating rules instruction.
Operating rules instruction
Railroads must periodically instruct each covered employee on the meaning and application of their operating rules under a written program, with initial instruction for new hires.
Hazmat employee training
49 CFR Part 172, Subpart H(opens ecfr.gov)
Hazmat employees need general awareness, function-specific, safety and security awareness training, with recurrent training at least once every three years.
Drug and alcohol supervisor training
49 CFR Part 219 (219.11(g))(opens ecfr.gov)
Supervisors responsible for regulated employees must be trained on the signs and symptoms of alcohol and drug influence, intoxication and misuse.
New hire and reassignment training
49 CFR 243.201(c)(opens ecfr.gov)
New hires, and employees taking on new safety-related duties, must complete formal training for their occupational category, including any required exams, before they are qualified.
These lines describe what each rule requires. Your own program sets the procedures, and your courses teach yours.
For Contractors
One set of records for every railroad you work for
If your crews work on several railroads, keep one set of training records for all of them instead of a binder per customer. Each certificate carries a verification link, so a railroad can check an employee's training without calling your office.
Talk to us before December
Tell us about your program and your occupational categories, and we'll show you how your refresher training would look on an employee's phone.
Contact usWe're a training company, not a regulator or a law firm. Check your obligations against the regulations and your approved program.