FRA

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FRA

Reducing Human Error and Strengthening Hazardous Materials Tank Cars Top Rail Safety Agenda for 2007, says DOT Secretary Peters

May 22, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — The Department will issue a final rule to prevent human factor-caused train accidents and complete research for new hazardous materials tank car design standards this year to continue recent improvements in rail safety, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said as part of a progress report on a Department campaign to improve rail safety. She noted that preliminary data for 2006 shows the number of train accidents declined for the second year in a row and there were fewer highway-rail grade crossing collisions. Last year, train accidents dropped 11.3 percent over 2005 resulting in a train accident rate
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FRA

FRA Launches Two New Automated Inspection Vehicles to Detect Track Flaws; 100,000 Miles of Track to be Federally Inspected Each Year

May 16, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — Two new custom-built inspection vehicles equipped with state of the art technology to help identify track flaws that could lead to train derailments are now in service and will allow the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to triple the amount of track it inspects each year by automated means to nearly 100,000 miles, announced FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman. “Finding track problems and getting them fixed before a train accident occurs is key to safeguarding communities,” Boardman said. Boardman explained that the new automated track inspection vehicles increase the FRA’s fleet to five and are primarily used on high-volume
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FRA

FRA Issues Grant to Nevada DOT to Complete Evaluation of Proposed Maglev Train

May 11, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is issuing a $962,240 grant to the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) to complete preliminary environmental and engineering studies for a 35-mile segment of a proposed magnetic levitation (maglev) passenger train corridor between Las Vegas and Primm, Nev. Among the factors to be examined include: regional and local planning goals; current and future demographics and land use, growth and development patterns; as well as existing and planned transportation facilities and services. — Special to Railfanning.org News Wire
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CSX

FRA Releases Results of Track Inspections on CSX and Outlines Next Rail Safety Actions

April 18, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman today announced that 78 track defects and one serious violation were found by Federal Railroad Administration inspectors during a recent audit of CSX tracks in upstate New York. In addition, FRA’s ongoing review of rail safety in New York is being expanded to other railroads. Administrator Boardman added that as a result of the inspections, CSX has committed to strengthen track standards, deploy additional safety technology and develop a stronger safety culture. FRA will be vigilant in making sure CSX undertakes these preventative measures, especially improvements in the way they manage routine
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CSX

CSXT Pledges Prompt, Aggressive Safety Response

March 28, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Michael Ward, chairman and chief executive officer of CSX Corporation, has assured Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Boardman that CSX Transportation will move promptly and aggressively to address safety concerns, through heightened inspection standards and other special initiatives in response to a FRA inspection report. “Safety is our top priority, and we welcome the FRA’s inspections and insights,” Ward said. “We are committed to working closely with FRA on all safety issues.” Company officials reported that CSXT promptly took corrective action on the defects identified in the FRA focused inspection in January, many of them before the inspection
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CSX

Federal Railroad Administrator Boardman Visits Albany to Launch Track Inspection Project for New York State, Announces Additional Measures to Improve Rail Safety

March 19, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire
ALBANY, N.Y. — In the wake of several recent accidents, the federal government today is launching a rail inspection project to check nearly 1,300 miles of track across New York State for flaws that might lead to a train derailment among other new measures designed to improve rail safety in the wake of several recent accidents, Joseph H. Boardman, the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced during a visit to Albany. “A safe railroad begins with safe track, but it doesn’t end there,” Administrator Boardman said. “Railroads needs to embrace a ‘culture of safety’ and find new ways
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Commuter Rail

FRA Announces Start of Environmental Impact Statement for California High-Speed Passenger Rail Project

March 16, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire
LOS ANGELES — The Federal Railroad Administration announced it will jointly prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with the California High-Speed Rail Authority for two sections of the state’s proposed high-speed passenger rail project. The two EIS documents, covering the Palmdale to Los Angeles and Los Angeles to Orange County corridors, will involve preliminary engineering designs and assess the environmental impact associated with construction, operation, and maintenance of the proposed project. These two corridors are part of the Authority’s plan to build a 700-mile high-speed rail system from Sacramento / San Francisco to San Diego capable of speeds in excess
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FRA

FRA Denies DM&E Powder River Basin Loan Application

February 26, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman today denied a $2.3 billion Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) loan application from the Dakota, Minnesota, & Eastern (DM&E) railroad concluding it posed an unacceptably high risk to federal taxpayers. In a decision released Feb 26, Boardman found that while the Powder River Basin project met some of the RRIF program’s statutory requirements, there remained too high a risk concerning the railroad’s ability to repay the loan even with an appropriate combination of credit risk premiums and collateral. He said he was concerned by several factors, including the DM&E’s current highly
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FRA

NTSB Asks Congress to Give FRA Hours of Service Authority

February 14, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker today asked Congress to give the Federal Railroad Administration the statutory authority to revise hours of service rules for railroad workers, noting that current rules are not based on science related to fatigue. Testifying before the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials of the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Chairman Rosenker said that over the past 23 years the NTSB has investigated 16 major railroad accidents in which it established that the probable cause was crewmember fatigue. Operator fatigue has been on the Board’s Most Wanted List