Mostly routine followup to an accident investigation, incorporating into the C.F.R. the lessons learned from NTSB research.

Also note that Amtrak has had a lot of problems getting the Northeast Corridor up to snuff for high speeds (up to 150), much of it because of having installed bad batches of concrete ties, as did many freight railroads. But most freight roads just left them there, as they weren't going so fast anyway. But many miles of of the Amtrak ties still need to be replaced (very prematurely) before the Acela can go 150 mph south of New York City.

The railway supply industry definitely needs to be better regulated. These new regs will force tie manufacturers to comply, because the railroads will no longer be able to just leave the crap under the rails - nor will they be able to just go ahead and put it there in the first place. The NTSB had found that such an act on the part of BNSF caused a 2005 Amtrak derailment in Washington State.

OPB