FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway and The American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA), along with the Federal Railroad Administration, have reached an agreement to participate in a one-year pilot program of the FRA’s Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS).
As part of the C3RS pilot program, the approximately 650 BNSF train dispatchers represented by ATDA can report unsafe events confidentially while protected from BNSF disciplinary action and FRA enforcement.
C3RS is an FRA-sponsored program that improves railroad safety through a confidential and non-punitive reporting process. FRA has partnered with NASA to operate C3RS as an independent third party. The program will permit train dispatchers to confidentially report close-call events (which include unsafe practices, behaviors, or situations that cause railroad safety concerns) and details of those events to NASA through a secure website or a written form.
NASA will de-identify the reports and share them with a Peer Review Team (PRT) composed of ATDA, BNSF, and FRA representatives. The PRT will then review the reports and develop recommended corrective actions that can help improve railroad safety.
