The Surface Transportation Board announced today that it will hold a public hearing on April 10, 2014, to provide interested persons the opportunity to report on recent railroad service issues, review proposed solutions to existing service problems, and discuss additional options to improve service.
The Board has been closely monitoring the rail industry’s performance metrics and is concerned about service problems across the nation’s railroad network, particularly on the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CP) and BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) systems. The Board Members have written to and met with the leadership of BNSF and CP to discuss these concerns.
The Board’s Office of Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs and Compliance has been working with affected parties to better understand the problems shippers are facing and to help facilitate service solutions. Board staff recently held a meeting in North Dakota with shippers from multiple states and the agency anticipates additional meetings in other affected areas.
The Board will hold a public hearing beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 10, 2014, in the Board’s Hearing Room at the agency’s headquarters located at 395 E Street, S.W., in Washington, D.C. The Board will direct BNSF and CP to appear at the hearing, and the agency encourages impacted shippers and other Class I carriers to appear as well. The hearing will be open for public observation.
The Federal Railroad Administration issued a final rule requiring certain major railroads to develop critical incident stress plans that provide for appropriate support services to be offered to their employees who are affected by a “critical incident.”
Critical incidents refer to events such as a highway-rail grade-crossing accidents or a train striking another employee or pedestrian. Railroad employees who witness such incidents are often affected psychologically and some suffer issues of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The final rule contains a definition of the term ‘‘critical incident,’’ the elements appropriate for the rail environment to be included in a railroad’s critical incident stress plan, the type of employees to be covered by the plan, a requirement that a covered railroad submit its plan to FRA for approval, and a requirement that a railroad adopt and comply with its FRA-approved plan. It is effective June 23, 2014.
The final rule requires each Class I railroad, intercity passenger railroad and commuter railroad to establish and implement a critical incident stress plan for certain employees who are directly involved in, witness, or respond to, a critical incident.
“Critical incidents have the potential to affect each and every one of us who work in the transportation industry,” said SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich. “The requirement that railroads develop and submit a plan to address such incidents is an important first step to help our members, not only in the rail industry, but also those who work for bus and air carriers. The effects of a critical incident on our members can be devastating, no matter the industry, and we will do everything in our power to extend and improve these programs whenever possible.”
Although the FRA has never regulated critical incident stress plans, many railroads have had some form of critical incident stress plan in place for many years. This rulemaking responds to the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 mandate that the secretary of transportation establish regulations to define “critical incident” and to require certain railroads to develop and implement critical incident stress plans.
The FRA wants all relevant railroad personnel to be aware of the relief available pursuant to a railroad’s plan.
The FRA reviewed the applicable science and information received through the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) – in which the SMART Transportation Division participates – in its final rule. The final rule defines a “critical incident” as either “an accident/incident reportable to FRA under 49 CFR part 225 that results in a fatality, loss of limb, or a similarly serious bodily injury; or … a catastrophic accident/incident reportable to FRA under part 225 that could be reasonably expected to impair a directly-involved employee’s ability to perform his or her job duties safely.”
“The required set of minimum standards for critical incident stress plans include allowing a directly-involved employee to obtain relief from the remainder of the tour of duty, providing for the directly-involved employee’s transportation to the home terminal (if applicable), and offering a directly-involved employee appropriate support services following a critical incident. This final rule requires that each railroad subject to this rule submit its plan to FRA for approval.
The final rule contains minimum standards for leave, counseling, and other support services. These standards would help create benefits by providing employees with knowledge, coping skills and services that would help them: recognize and cope with symptoms of normal stress reactions that commonly occur as a result of a critical incident; reduce their chance of developing a disorder such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder as a result of a critical incident, and recognize symptoms of psychological disorders that sometimes occur as a result of a critical incident and know how to obtain prompt evaluation and treatment of any such disorder.
The FRA anticipates that implementation of this final rule would yield benefits by reducing long-term healthcare costs associated with treating PTSD, ASD, and other stress reactions, and costs that accrue either when an employee is unable to return to work for a significant period of time or might leave railroad employment due to being affected by PTSD, ASD, or other stress reactions. In addition, safety risk posed by having a person who has just been involved in a critical incident performing safety critical functions is also reduced.
The majority of the quantifiable benefits identified by FRA’s analysis are associated with railroad employee retention and a reduction of long-term healthcare costs associated with PTSD cases that were not treated appropriately after a critical incident.
The FRA expects that this final rule would decrease the number of employees who leave the railroad industry due to PTSD, ASD, or other stress reactions, as early treatment for such conditions following exposure to a critical incident would reduce the likelihood of developing the conditions.
In addition, if a railroad employee involved in a critical incident did develop PTSD, ASD, or other stress reaction despite the initial relief afforded by a railroad’s critical incident stress plan, the FRA expects that this final rule would decrease the duration of the condition as the chances for early identification of the condition would be increased and more immediate healthcare would be provided to the affected individuals.
Overall, FRA finds that the value of the anticipated benefits would justify the cost of implementing the final rule.
To view the complete final rule as published in the Federal Register, click here.
Members planning to attend the 2014 SMART Transportation Division Convention, June 30-July 2 in San Diego, as a guest are asked to please complete the guest registration form and return it to the Transportation Division office in North Olmsted, Ohio.
It is requested that all members attending the convention as guests (non-delegates) register themselves and their family members so that convention planners have an accurate count of the number of individuals attending.
Please complete the entire form, including arrival and departure dates, and mail to:
SMART Transportation Division 2014 Convention Registration 24950 Country Club Blvd., Ste. 340 North Olmsted, OH 44070-5333
Trainmen and engineers represented by the SMART Transportation Division and employed by Chicago Rail Link have ratified a new six-year agreement, with 95 percent of the affected employees voting in favor of the deal.
The agreement provides for annual wage increases with full back-pay, retoractive to Oct. 1, 2010; limits employee health and welfare contributions rates; freezes co-pays and deductibles for the life of the contract; improves working conditions; provides bereavement leave, pay for training, rule classes and boot allowances; establishes single-day vacations and preserves guaranteed extra boards.
Transportation Division Vice President Dave Wier, who assisted with the negotiations that were concluded in mediation, congratulated GO-CRL General Chairperson Bob Campbell, Vice Chairperson Chris O’Connell and Secretary Rod Truszowski for “the exceptional effort put forth over the past three and one-half years in presenting the members concerns at the bargaining table and negotiating an agreement with improvements in wages, working conditions and the health and welfare package. The wage increases provide the membership with outstanding daily rates of pay, with daily straight time increases of $28.24 over the life of the contract.”
Chicago Rail Link provides switching and terminal services over 72 miles of trackage in Chicago and customized intermediate switching services through the Chicago Terminal complex. In addition to serving the Port of Chicago, it is the contract-switching operator for CSXI at the Bedford Park Intermodal Facility and also provides storage to railcar owners such as Chicago Freight Car and Helm. It is owned by OmniTRAX, Inc.
Carstens Former Burlington Northern Railroad Associate General Chairperson Harold “Jack” Carstens, 94, died March 19. Carstens, a member of SMART Transportation Local 1637 at Wishram, Wash., was the conductors’ griever for General Committee of Adjustment GO 386. Born Dec. 27, 1919, in Portland, Carstens proudly served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He worked for the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway as a conductor and brakeman, and later became involved in the affairs of his union. He loved the game of baseball and pitched for the Portland Babes. Carstens was preceded in death by his wife, Hope, his brother, Leo, and his grandson, Steve Olin. He is survived by daughters Shirley Olin and Janet Sattler, five grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Friends who wish may contribute in his name to the Wounded Warrior Project at www.woundedwarriorproject.org. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Skyline Memorial Gardens Funeral Home at 4101 N.W. Skyline Blvd. in Portland. A memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday, April 1 at 11 a.m. The funeral homes telephone number is (503) 292-6611.
CHICAGO – The operator of a Chicago commuter train that crashed at O’Hare International Airport acknowledged she dozed off before the accident and had also done so last month when she overshot a station platform, a federal investigator said Wednesday (March 26).
Before the crash, the operator had been running trains on the nation’s second-largest public transportation system for just two months. In Monday’s accident, which injured more than 30 people, she woke up only as the eight-car train jolted onto the platform and barreled up an escalator leading into the airport. The accident occurred around 3 a.m., as the driver was nearing the end of her shift. The woman had an erratic work schedule and investigators were looking to see if that played a role in her evident fatigue.
Last month in Olympia, Wash., passengers on a city bus witnessed their driver being brutally beaten in an attack that was caught on video for the world to see. The footage is alarming and sickening. It was not, unfortunately, uncommon.
From sexual and physical assaults to verbal abuse, the nation’s bus drivers are facing an epidemic of hostility. In the New York area alone there are seven attacks per month on average that range from spitting to beatings to stabbings, according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Other cities see the same level of hostility against drivers, meaning it is time to address this problem at the national level.
Last fall, the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, called on the Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration to hold a summit on bus driver assaults. Today, with the blood-soaked face of the Olympia bus driver fresh in our minds, we renew that call.
We must evaluate new measures, and new technologies, being used successfully in parts of our country and abroad to protect drivers and their passengers, who often get dragged into the fray. The installation of Plexiglas partitions to separate drivers from passengers or other changes to a driver’s seating area, are options to consider. Another is the presence of uniformed police officers on buses, and tougher penalties for those who do attack drivers. Other steps include video surveillance and better training for drivers. In New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has started offering rewards of up to $2,000 for information that leads to the arrest and indictment of those assaulting drivers.
The solutions to curb violence against bus drivers are out there – we have simply lacked the will to implement them. This must change, and we can start by holding a national summit with transit unions, public transportation leaders, local law enforcement and the appropriate federal government agencies.
Let’s not wait until statistics on physical attacks become numbers of fatalities. The men and women who help keep America moving deserve better. They deserve the safest working environment this country can offer.
The Federal Railroad Administration is proposing to improve the integrity of passenger train exterior side door safety systems and promote passenger train safety overall through new safety standards relating to the safe operation and use of passenger train exterior side doors.
This proposed rule is based on recommended language developed by the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee’s (RSAC) General Passenger Safety Task Force and includes new requirements for both powered and manual exterior side doors and door safety systems on passenger trains.
Proposed operating rules for train crews relating to exterior side doors and their safety systems on passenger trains as well as new definitions are also included in this NPRM. In addition, the rule proposes to incorporate American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) “Standard for Powered Exterior Side Door System Design for New Passenger Cars,” which contains a set of minimum standards for powered exterior side door systems and door system functioning on new rail passenger cars and locomotives used in passenger service.
Other proposed requirements include, but are not limited to: Equipping new passenger cars with powered side doors with an obstruction detection system and a door by-pass feature; connecting new passenger cars with either manual or powered exterior side doors to a door summary circuit to prohibit the train from developing tractive power if any of the exterior side doors are open; safety briefing for train crews to identify crewmember responsibilities as they relate to the safe operation of the exterior side doors; operating passenger trains with their exterior side doors trap doors closed when in motion between stations, except in limited circumstances or if prior approval has been received from FRA; and railroads developing operating rules on how to safely override a door summary circuit or a no-motion system, or both, as well as how to safely operate the exterior side doors of a passenger train with incompatible exterior side door safety systems.
Through this rulemaking, FRA intends to limit the number and severity of injuries associated with the use and operation of passenger train exterior side doors and increase the overall level of safety for passengers and train crewmembers.
FRA analyzed the economic impacts of this proposed rule against a “no action” baseline that reflects what would happen in the absence of this proposed rule. The proposed operating rules and adopted APTA standard for new equipment are expected to prevent about 19 injuries and 0.20 fatalities per year in the future on average, based on similar incidents in the past. The estimated benefits from these prevented casualties over a 20-year period total $81.9 million undiscounted; these estimated benefits have a present value calculated using a 7 percent discount rate of $42.4 million, and a present value calculated using a 3 percent discount rate of $60.3 million.
Given that some procedural and equipment errors may still occur in the future, the analysis assumes a 50 percent effectiveness rate in preventing these types of injuries and fatalities. In addition, there may be other benefits from the proposed rule, such as fewer passenger claims for personal property damage, maintaining passenger goodwill and trust (by reducing these low-frequency but typically highly-publicized incidents), and by lowering future maintenance costs (through encouraging the replacement of older equipment with new passenger cars equipped with more reliable door safety systems).
FRA also quantified the incremental burden of the proposed rule upon commuter and intercity passenger railroads. The primary contributor to the estimated costs is the train crew’s task of verifying that the door by-pass devices on the train are sealed in the normal non-by-pass mode, a requirement in the proposed operating rules. The door by-pass devices are used to override door safety systems in certain circumstances, for example, allowing a train to develop tractive power and complete its route.
The second greatest cost factor is the estimated cost to implement some of the proposed door safety features on new passenger cars and locomotives used in passenger service with either powered or manual doors. The estimated costs over the 20-year period of analysis total $15 million undiscounted, with a present value calculated using a seven percent discount rate of about $8 million, and a present value calculated using a three percent discount rate of about $11.2 million. The proposed rule incurs relatively small costs because most of the initial burdens are expected from changes to railroad operating rules.
The design standards for door safety systems apply to new passenger cars and locomotives used in passenger service where they can be installed cost-effectively.
These costs and benefits result in net positive benefits over 20 years of about $67 million.
CHICAGO – An emergency track-side braking system activated but failed to stop a Chicago commuter train from jumping the tracks and barreling to the top of an escalator at O’Hare International Airport, a federal investigator said Tuesday.
The events that led to Monday’s accident, which occurred around 3 a.m. and injured more than 30 passengers, might have begun with the train operator dozing off toward the end of her shift, according the union representing transit workers. But Tuesday’s announcement that a piece of emergency safety equipment might have failed was the first indication the accident could have been caused by human error and mechanical failure.
WASHINGTON – The nation’s freight rail industry this week will outline for the Surface Transportation Board (STB) the various negative impacts of a proposal to force non-market based requirements on railroads at the request of the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL). The proposal calls for the STB to override market forces by forcing Class I railroads to turn over to their competitors substantial portions of rail traffic which moves across tracks they own and have spent billions to build, maintain, and upgrade so taxpayer’s don’t have to.
Specifically, the NITL proposal would give a small group of shippers the right to demand that in some cases where one railroad serves their facility, the serving railroad must transfer or “switch” loaded rail cars to competitors. In addition to increased operating and infrastructure costs, other impacts of the proposal would include things such as: an increase in the number of locomotives and rail cars needed; increased dwell and delay time; increased fuel use; reduced network efficiency; and increased risk for employee injury due to additional handling and switching requirements.
“This proposal is a solution looking for a problem,” Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger stated. “Railroads already voluntarily switch traffic when it makes economic sense for all parties.”
Hamberger also noted that other existing STB regulations provide various options if a shipper believes its rates are unreasonable. In fact, of the 46 shipper complaints filed with the STB since 1996, 37 of the complaints were decided in favor of shippers or settled through commercial negotiations.
“Freight railroads are among those American industries with very high fixed costs, as they operate on infrastructure they own, maintain and continuously upgrade,” Hamberger said. “Since 1980 alone, average inflation adjusted rail rates are down 42 percent, while railroads have spent more than $550 billion to build, maintain and upgrade track, signals, bridges, tunnels, and equipment. But this proposal would undermine the benefits all rail customers have seen thanks to these investments, and would all but ensure a return to the days when most rail customers were unhappy.”
Under the NITL proposal, the freight rail industry could lose about 13 percent of its annual net income – roughly equivalent to what the industry spent in 2010 on capacity expansion projects designed to benefit all shippers. If the proposal were adopted, it would ensure that railroads could not recover all of their fixed costs, which would lead to postponed maintenance, deferred capital upgrades and expansion programs, service quality declines, and negative impacts to all shippers.
“Railroads work with their customers and find market-based solutions that serve American businesses all across the country, and help ensure freight rail lives up to its mission to power our economy,” Hamberger said. “This proposal ultimately would serve the interest of a small group of shippers, but have far-reaching and long-term negative impacts on all rail customers. As American businesses and our economy are coming back from the recession, we just can’t afford to get this wrong.”
The Surface Transportation Board announced today that it will hold a public hearing on April 10, 2014, to provide interested persons the opportunity to report on recent railroad service issues, review proposed solutions to existing service problems, and discuss additional options to improve service.
The Federal Railroad Administration issued a final rule requiring certain major railroads to develop critical incident stress plans that provide for appropriate support services to be offered to their employees who are affected by a “critical incident.”
Last month in Olympia, Wash., passengers on a city bus witnessed their driver being brutally beaten in an attack that was caught on video for the world to see. The footage is alarming and sickening. It was not, unfortunately, uncommon.
WASHINGTON – The nation’s freight rail industry this week will outline for the Surface Transportation Board (STB) the various negative impacts of a proposal to force non-market based requirements on railroads at the request of the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL). The proposal calls for the STB to override market forces by forcing Class I railroads to turn over to their competitors substantial portions of rail traffic which moves across tracks they own and have spent billions to build, maintain, and upgrade so taxpayer’s don’t have to.