Federal railroad officials have announced that a proposal to install video cameras on trains to monitor their drivers may be in place later this year.

The proposal calls for cameras to be installed in train cabs to record dangerous behavior by drivers, plus outward-facing cameras that scan the tracks.

The National Transportation Safety Board has been urging the Railroad Administration to boost the use of safety cameras since a train collision in California in 2008 killed 25 people.

On Dec. 1, an early-morning train flew off the tracks in the Bronx when it entered a curve at nearly three times the allowed speed. Officials said the engineer told investigators he experienced a "nod" or "daze" at the controls. Four people died.

Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo said in his late-December letter to the senators that the Association of American Railroads has been conducting a pilot program involving inward- and outward-facing cameras during the past year. The Railroad Administration has been monitoring that study and evaluating the safety benefits.

AP wire services contributed to this report.