For many springtime sun seekers who have Florida dead in their sights, Amtrak’s Auto Train offers an easy way to cruise south with one’s car—minus the stress usually associated with Interstate travel. Yet, it was not a relaxing respite for the 394 passengers on the night of March 28th when their train came to a stop after leaving the tracks just outside of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The Auto Train has been an eastern seaboard institution since the 1971, carrying as many as 240,000 passengers a year along the 855-mile route from Lorton, Virginia –just outside Washington, D.C. –to Sanford, Florida near Orlando. Originally a privately owned railroad, several derailment incidents in the late 1970s led to the company shutting down service before being revived by Amtrak—the only current provider of medium- and long-distance intercity rail service in the U.S. While the partial derailment did not produce any injuries, four railcars filled with travele...

April 6, 2018

One of the nation’s leading rail-based suppliers of transportation logistics, CSX Corporation, has experienced an alarming rise in its number of train accidents, collisions and derailments during the past 12-months—most of which could be attributed to negligence, worker fatigue and lax safety procedures. Even more disturbing for the Jacksonville, Florida-based company, this escalating trend comes during a time when train accidents nationwide have been on the decline for other Class I railroads (carriers with operating revenues of $250 million or more in 1991 dollars—approximately $460 million today). Specifically, the national accident average has decreased by about six percent during the past four years; while CSX has seen a 59 percent increase in accidents since 2013. In 2017 alone, CSX was involved in more than 205 accidents, resulting in a rate of 3.17 accidents per million miles traveled—an unacceptable number that is well above the indus...

March 13, 2018

According to statistics from the Federal Railroad Administration, 2,059 highway-rail grade crossing collisions were reported in 2015 – and a full 67 percent of them occurred in 15 states. Leading the nation for the deadliest incidents were Texas, California and Illinois. Here's how the top 15 most dangerous states fared:  Texas: 224 collisions, 19 deaths, 98 injuries California: 148 collisions, 32 deaths, 42 injuries Illinois: 140 collisions, 24 deaths, 79 injuries Indiana: 118 collisions, 12 deaths, 39 injuries Georgia: 98 collisions, 9 deaths, 46 injuries Alabama: 90 collisions, 5 deaths, 34 injuries Ohio: 83 collisions, 12 deaths, 35 injuries Louisiana: 78 collisions, 13 deaths, 35 injuries Florida: 76 collisions, 10 deaths, 39 injuries North Carolina: 67 collisions, 8 deaths, 95 injuries Kentucky: 57 collisions, 6 deaths, 32 injuries Pennsylvania: 56 collisions, 5 deaths, 24 injuries Iowa: 50 collisions, 2 deaths, 10 injuries Michigan: 50 collisi...

November 18, 2016

The Federal Railroad Administration recently issued a railworthiness directive to all owners of Department of Transportation specification 111 general purpose tank cars known to have been manufactured with a particular design found to pose an accident risk. The directive is aimed at certain DOT-111 tank cars built by St. Charles, Missouri-based American Railcar Industries, Inc. and ACF Industries, LLC. using welding practices that fail to conform with federal regulations and Association of American Railroads welding specifications. At issue is the 300 stub sill design that employs a two-piece cast sump and bottom outlet valve skid. Non-compliant welding practices have been proven to cause weld defects at the sump and BOV skid groove attachment welds that can affecting a tanks ability to safely and securely hold its contents during transportation. The move was prompted by a May 2014 incident in which a Canadian Pacific Railway tank car leaked denatured alcohol in an Illinois rail y...

November 4, 2016

In May, the US Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration launched a joint effort to gather input on ways to best prevent railway and roadway accidents caused by workers with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), an issue that affects some 22 million adults nationwide. OSA is a respiratory disorder that can cause frequent breathing interruptions during sleep, robbing victims of restorative rest. This can cause problems with concentration, focus and alertness, significantly boosting the risk of accident and injury. America answered the call, with a total of 593 comments submitted representing a wide range of viewpoints about whether the agencies should regulate the diagnosis and treatment of OSA for transportation workers in safety-sensitive positions. Most respondents agree that OSA is an important issue that needs to be addressed. But many criticized the option of mandating that carriers pay for tests and treatment that ...

October 25, 2016

Three Ways the FRSA Protects You Known as the rail industry’s Whitleblower Act, the Federal Rail Safety Act was enacted to afford legal protections to rail employees who report existing or potential safety issues or who assist in investigations by other individuals or agencies into those issues. But it isn’t just about safety. It’s also about assuring that railroads operate honestly, efficiently and legally. Here are three key ways that the act, informally known as FRSA, protects you: FRSA prohibits a railroad carrier or its officer, employee, contractor or subcontractor from discharging, demoting, suspending, reprimanding or otherwise discriminating against any worker who provides information about or assists investigations by appropriate individuals or agencies into “any conduct which the employee reasonably believes constitutes a violation of any Federal law, rule, or regulation relating to railroad safety or security, or gross fraud, waste, or ab...

October 10, 2016

Since 2008, when Congress mandated implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on certain railroad main lines, the Federal Railroad Administration has worked to assist rail companies in that directive. Informally known as PTC, the technology is designed to monitor locomotive operations along 60,000 miles of track and to help keep trains from derailing by automatically slowing or stopping a train when the system senses a potentially dangerous situation. A recently released progress report details the agency’s efforts, including: Establishing the PTC Implementation Task Force, which manages and monitors railroads’ progress and ensures that the FRA has real-time information on PTC implementation status; Working directly with the Federal Communications Commission and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to resolve issues related to spectrum use and improve the approval process for PTC communication towers; Approving more than $650 million in gran...

September 22, 2016

The Federal Railroad Administration recently released an update on the Congressionally-mandated installation of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems by America’s freight and passenger rail companies. While some progress has been made, officials say it’s critical that all rail companies boost efforts to become compliant by the extended December 2018 deadline.  PTC is a highly effective technology designed to monitor locomotive operations along 60,000 miles of track and to help keep trains from derailing by automatically slowing or stopping a train when the system senses a potentially dangerous situation. The FRA mandated installation of PTC in America's trains in 2008, prompted in large part by a deadly accident that year in Chatsworth, California. A westbound Metrolink Ventura County Line Train collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 and injuring 135. That incident, along with an additional 15 freight train and 10 passenger train accidents o...

September 11, 2016

Over the past few months, three tragic accidents at railroad crossings devastated three families. A mother and three-year-old child were killed in an incident in San Leandro, California; a mother, son and two other children in Arkansas; and a mother, father and three of their four young children on their way to church in Colorado. These heartbreaking deaths added to the other 87 fatalities and 236 injuries suffered at railroad crossings nationwide this year alone.    The news prompted an address by Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah E. Feinberg, calling for improved safety at the nation’s more than 200,000 railroad crossings. “While many of these incidents are still under investigation, we know that incidents like these are almost always preventable. And yet, they still happen,” Feinberg said. “We all must do more to protect drivers and their passengers – many of whom are children. The responsibility to improve safety at railroad cros...

August 14, 2016

In an effort to improve safety on America’s passenger railways, the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) recently issued a new, final rule requiring all passenger railroads to more proactively identify and address potential safety hazards across their full operations. Dubbed the System Safety Program (SSP), the rule mandates that passenger railroads nationwide meet with directly affected employees within eight months of its publication to discuss options and plans. Among the features that must be developed and implemented with each customized SSP plan are: A defined and measurable safety culture; A process for identification of potential safety hazards in all operations; A strategy to reduce or eliminate those hazards; And policies governing how they’ll document and demonstrate compliance with FRA regulations.  FRA officials say the agency will provide technical assistance in setting, achieving and measuring sa...

August 14, 2016