Safety – Page 17 – Railfanning.org

2007: A Strong Year For Railroad Safety

June 27, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — Last year was another strong year for safety on the nation’s railroads, with records being set in two key safety measurements while a third fell just shy of setting a record. “Over the years, the railroad industry has developed a strong safety culture,” said Edward R. Hamberger, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) at the annual E.H. Harriman Awards luncheon which honors railroads with the best employee safety records for the previous year. “Last year the train accident rate was the lowest in history,” he said. “So was the grade crossing accident rate. The

Patriot Rail Corp. Railroads Win Short Line ‘Jake’ Safety Awards

May 30, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Two Patriot Rail Corp. railroads won the prestigious 2007 “Jake” Safety Awards awarded by the American Short Line Railroad Association (ASLRRA) earlier this month. The award, presented to short lines and regional railroads with outstanding safety records, are named after Copper Basin Railway President and Chief Operating Officer L.S. “Jake” Jacobson, who created the award in 1994. Patriot’s Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway (BAP) earned the ASLRRA’s Jake Award with Distinction for the second year in a row. In 2007, the BAP completed 34,590 man-hours with no reportable injuries. Based in Anaconda, Montana, the BAP operates

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

Rosenker: Safety Up, but Still Room for Improvement

May 14, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark V. Rosenker told members of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) that, while grade crossing accidents and railroad employee fatality rates have declined in the past quarter century, there is still room for improvement. Addressing rail executives at the AAR’s annual safety awards luncheon, Rosenker called upon attendees to move more quickly on safety improvements by adopting new technology, such as positive train control and electronically controlled pneumatic braking, two of the technologies that show great promise for improving safety. “As many of you know,” Rosenker stated, “I strongly believe that the

CSXT and Brewton First Responders to Hold Safety Blitz and Safety Class

May 6, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

BREWTON, Ala. — CSX Transportation will hold several railroad safety awareness activities on May 6 in conjunction with the Brewton Police Department, the Brewton Fire Department as well as Alabama Operation Lifesaver Volunteers. A safety blitz will take place at the CSXT railroad crossing at Mildred and Deer Streets from 9-11 a.m. Drivers in that area will be greeted by CSXT employees, Operation Lifesaver volunteers and area first responders, who will distribute safety flyers to drivers while they are stopped at the red lights on either side of the street approaching the crossing. In addition, CSXT will conduct a Railroad

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 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