FRA – Page 22 – Railfanning.org

STB to Hold Hazardous Materials Hearing

June 4, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board will hold a public hearing next month to discuss “issues related to the common carrier obligation of railroads—the duty of railroads to provide transportation or service on reasonable request—with respect to the transportation of hazardous materials.” The hearing follows one held in April on the general topic of the common carrier obligation of railroads. The July 16 hearing “will provide a forum for a more detailed discussion of issues specifically pertaining to the railroads’ common carrier obligation regarding the movement of toxic by inhalation hazards and other hazardous materials,” the STB said in a

FRA: Train Crews in Wrecks Have Better Chance of Survival

June 3, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — Train crews involved in a locomotive collision will have a better chance of survival with reduced injuries as a result of the first-ever federal freight locomotive crash worthiness standards issued, Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman said. The regulation is intended to prevent the locomotive cab from being crushed during a head-on collision with another locomotive, or when it strikes the rear of another train, a shifted load on a train on an adjacent track, or a vehicle at a highway-rail grade crossing, Boardman said. “This regulation will give engineers and conductors a better chance to walk away

DOT: Action Plan Contributes to Nearly 25 Percent Decrease in Train Accidents

May 30, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The number of train accidents has decreased by 23.3 percent in the past three years in part because the Department of Transportation has completed an ambitious plan designed to improve safety on the Nation’s railroads, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters says. “We’ve seen how much can be done when you combine good data analysis, sound strategies, and focused decisions to tackle persistent safety problems,” Peters said, stressing the achievements resulted from the Department’s National Rail Safety Action Plan, the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) comprehensive freight and passenger rail safety programs and the work of railroads, rail

FRA Awards Two Grants to Washington State DOT

May 3, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded two grants to the Washington State Department of Transportation to improve rail safety and upgrade infrastructure. A $1.5 million grant for the Tacoma Rail Mountain Division will be used to upgrade four bridges and repair rail, crossties, and equipment on several highway/rail grade crossings between Tacoma and Morton. These safety improvements will benefit freight as well as passenger excursion operations to Mt. Rainier National Park. In addition, $360,943 has been granted for the Olympia Infrastructure Enhancement Project to improve safety at the Market Street highway/rail grade crossing adjacent to the Port of

Trains Transporting the Most Toxic Hazardous Materials Must Use Safest, Most Secure Route

April 28, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — Railroads will be required to route every train carrying the most toxic and dangerous hazardous materials on the safest and most secure route under a new federal rule announced by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters. “This strong measure better ensures that rail shipments of hazardous materials will reach their final destinations safely and without incident,” said Peters, noting the rule applies to trains hauling Poison Inhalation Hazard (PIH) commodities such as chlorine and anhydrous ammonia which are heavily used in farming, water purification, and manufacturing. Beginning June 1, the rule requires railroads to conduct a comprehensive

Second Railroad Joins FRA “Close Call” Risk Reduction Pilot Program

April 3, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — A second railroad is now participating in a major federal rail safety pilot program designed to allow employees the ability to voluntarily and anonymously report “close call” incidents that could have resulted in an accident but did not, announced Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman. “This risk-reduction program provides an indispensable opportunity to analyze ‘close-call’ events to help identify and correct potential safety problems across the industry,” said Boardman, adding that the pilot program is a key element of his agency’s National Rail Safety Action Plan. Under a waiver granted by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Canadian

FRA Train Accident Investigation Reports Now Publicly Available Online

April 3, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — To increase public awareness about the causes of specific train accidents and to reduce the need for individuals to submit Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is for the first time making its investigation reports of major train accidents and other incidents available online, FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman announced. “There’s no reason that anyone who’s interested shouldn’t be able to find out the probable cause of a train accident,” said Boardman, explaining that formal FRA accident investigation reports generally focus on high-consequence train-to-train collisions, derailments, certain highway-rail grade crossing collisions, and all

FRA Announces Guide for Managing Gap Safety at Passenger Rail Platforms

April 3, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has issued a guidance document to help minimize accidents due to gaps between the edge of a passenger station platform and the threshold of a passenger train door. FRA Approach to Managing Gap Safety addresses the use of engineering evaluation and analysis to establish gap standards and the application of strategies to prevent and reduce gap accidents. While most gap incidents involving rail passengers result in relatively minor injuries, FRA believes the most effective way to address the potential risks is for railroads to develop and adopt a comprehensive program to manage gap

FRA Releases Demographic Report on Rail Trespasser Fatalities

April 3, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — Trespassers account for the largest number of fatalities in the railroad industry — approximately 500 per year. In order to better understand who is trespassing, their locations, and the reasons they are on railroad property, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued a report using three years of reported trespasser fatalities. Medical examiners and coroners across the country were surveyed, and based on the best information available from those who elected to participate in the study, the average trespasser is most often a 38-year-old white male under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, with a median household income of

DOT: Proposal Revolutionizes Rail Hazmat Tank Car Safety

April 3, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The safety of rail tank cars that carry the most dangerous hazardous materials will be dramatically improved under the most sweeping and revolutionary proposal in decades, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters announced. “This proposal is designed to significantly reduce the hazard of hauling hazardous materials by rail,” Peters said, explaining the performance-based standard will increase by 500 percent on average the amount of energy the tank car must absorb during a train accident before a catastrophic failure may occur. The proposal requires tank cars carrying Poison Inhalation Hazard (PIH) commodities such as chlorine and anhydrous ammonia