Rail

Advancing rail safety, reliability, and operational excellence through integrated engineering, analytics, and investigations expertise.

The rail industry is growing increasingly complex, shaped by evolving safety and sustainability priorities, automation and technological advancements, and heightened regulatory, efficiency, and investor demands. Secretariat’s rail experts and engineers bring decades of hands-on leadership and deep technical experience across Class I, Short Line, and regional railroads.

We provide rapid response, in-depth forensic investigations, using root-cause analysis to address complex injuries, derailments, and equipment issues. Leveraging in-house lab services, data analytics, and train dynamic capabilities, we help clients translate detailed forensic insights into stronger testing, evaluation, and maintenance programs. This integrated expertise drives efficient operations, builds resilient systems, and ensures long-term success rooted in safety and reliability.

Secretariat’s rail team brings nearly 200 years of combined practical experience, spanning operations, mechanical systems, transportation, engineering, safety, and regulatory compliance. Guided by licensed professional engineers, executive leaders, and seasoned rail experts, we bring a unique blend of strategic insight and real-world operational knowledge.

Our professionals deliver specialized expertise in:

  • Railroad operations, safety, and regulatory compliance related to Class 1, 2, and 3 railroads, transit, and industrial rail operations
  • Component and system-level failure analysis
  • Risk assessment and mitigation strategies
  • Litigation management and expert witness services
  • Negotiations, mediation, and contract dispute resolution
  • Comprehensive accident investigations
  • Derailment causation analysis and prevention strategies
  • Root-cause analysis
  • Visual simulations used to model events and operating conditions
  • Other operational components, including workforce training and safety programs, drug testing, labor relations, and human resources processes

Key Experts

Foster Peterson

Managing Director

​​+1 770 330 0870​

Eric Hegi

Managing Director

+1 773 230 9130

All Rail Experts

We Offer

Litigation Support and Expert Witness Services

Our experts provide clients and external counsel with rigorous, unbiased forensic investigations and root‑cause analysis for highly complex, rail‑related matters. We also offer extensive testifying experience in Federal and multi-state jurisdictions, ensuring our technical findings are delivered with clarity, credibility, and authority. Our expertise includes:

  • FELA litigation and claims
  • Accident/incident investigation and evaluation
  • Expert witness services, including independent, compelling expert reports, analysis, and testimony
  • Locomotive event data recorder and video analysis
  • Subrogation and recoveries
  • Discovery, evidence preservation & spoliation management
Risk Management

Our team helps organizations build safer, more compliant, and more efficient rail operations. We partner with clients to proactively identify risks, strengthen safety and training programs, and support everything from day‑to‑day operational needs to major incident responses. Our capabilities include:

  • Rapid-response accident and incident teams
  • Personal injury/property damage (PI/PD) investigations and adjudications
  • Evidence preservation programs
  • Facility and industry audits
  • Regulatory compliance support
  • Operations testing and program development
  • Targeted employee and management training
Integrated Lab and Research & Development Services

Our in-house laboratories and engineering experts deliver innovative technical insight, advanced testing and evaluation methodologies, and analytical rigor to every rail matter on which we are engaged, harnessing this foundation to advise on complex failures and offer actionable, data-driven strategies. Our expertise includes:

  • Failure analysis
  • Metallurgy and material sciences
  • Derailment post-incident analysis and prevention strategies
  • Operating practices, in-train forces, and simulation modeling
  • Advanced data analytics
  • Third Party Assessment (TPA) inspections (bearings, axles, wheels, rail)
  • Locomotive systems analysis, including event recorders, onboard video, Positive Train Control (PTC) systems, and integrated train management systems
Metallurgy & Materials Science

We utilize our in-house metallurgy and materials science expertise to assess failure mechanisms, evaluate material behaviors, and determine how and why components and systems fail in rail environments. These insights help clients design safer, more durable systems, improve maintenance, and mitigate future risk. Our expertise includes:

  • Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and advanced material characterization
  • Non-destructive testing, including ultrasonic testing (UT), magnetic particle testing (MPT), and radiographic testing (RT)
  • Fracture and failure mechanics analysis