How Does FRA Random Drug and Alcohol Testing Work?

FRA random testing rules are in Subpart G of 49 CFR Part 219. Each railroad makes sure a regulated employee is subject to random selection whenever the employee performs regulated service on its behalf (49 CFR 219.601(b)). Under Part 219, an employee includes a volunteer, a probationary employee, and an employee of a contractor or subcontractor to a railroad (49 CFR 219.5). Subpart G does not apply to a small railroad, which has 15 or fewer employees covered by the hours of service laws and no joint operations other than for interchange, and a small railroad may not conduct FRA random testing (49 CFR 219.3(c)). Regulated employees include covered service and other employees.

The main program elements are:

• Plan. Each railroad submits a random testing plan for FRA approval that addresses its regulated employees (49 CFR 219.603(c)).
• Pools. Entries may be names, identification numbers, train symbols, or job assignments, but a field supervisor may not have discretion over who is tested. A pool may not have fewer than four entries, and entries are updated at least monthly. An employee who performs regulated service on average less than once a quarter is de minimis and does not have to be in the program (49 CFR 219.611).
• Selections. Each regulated employee has an equal chance of selection through a method such as a computer program or random number table. Tests are spread reasonably through the calendar year, and each pool has at least one selection in each three-month period. Records documenting randomness are kept at least two years (49 CFR 219.613).
• Notice and collection. An employee is notified only during the duty tour in which the collection will occur, and the collection begins within two hours of notice unless there is an acceptable reason for delay. A collection not completed within the employee's hours-of-service limits ends and is not rescheduled, except a directly observed collection, which proceeds to completion (49 CFR 219.615).
• Participation. An employee performing regulated service when notified stops and goes to the collection site without adversely affecting safety. A railroad may excuse a selected employee only for a documented medical emergency involving the employee or an immediate family member (49 CFR 219.617).

Testing rates. Each year the FRA Administrator publishes minimum annual random testing rates in the Federal Register, based on industry data reported to the FRA Management Information System (49 CFR 219.625). For calendar year 2026, the minimums are 25 percent for drugs and 10 percent for alcohol for covered service and maintenance-of-way employees, and 50 percent for drugs and 10 percent for alcohol for mechanical employees. Railroads and contractors may test at higher rates (91 FR 759).

If an employee performs functions under more than one DOT agency, the employee is tested at or above the rate set by the agency that regulates more than 50 percent of the employee's DOT-regulated functions, and the railroad may not place the employee in more than one DOT random pool (49 CFR 219.601(d)).