January 3, 2006:
Jackassville, FL:
CSXTransposition Corp. (NYSE:CSX) announced today that
they would implement changes on a 130-mile line in New
York and Northern New Jersey. CSX spokesman Casey
Jones explained “We will make changes to the River
Subdivision to better integrate it into the CSXT
network, and to bring it more in-line with company
standards and practices.”
The new changes include improved safety practices,
including two “Continuous Whistle Zones”, one each in
Rockland and Ulster Counties in New York State. Along
the line, which runs from Jersey City, NJ to Selkirk,
NY, the zones will run from Clarkstown to Valley
Cottage, NY and from Esopus through Kingston to the
Lake Katrine, NY town line. “Continuous Whistle
Zones” are areas where trains will frequently or
continuously sound their horns to make sure residents
and visitors are awake and aware of each train, which
passes through their area, especially during overnight
hours and on Sunday mornings. To compliment each
“Continuous Whistle Zone” CSX has also launched a
safety incentive program.
The incentive in the Kingston area will be a
$25-dollar Dunkin’ Donuts gift certificate for each
crewmember whose train strikes a paid member of the
Kingston Fire Department. A similar arrangement will
be in place in the Town of Clarkstown; where employees
will receive three-days off for hitting an occupied
Clarkstown Police cruiser.
Additional changes to the line will include a new
“Deferred Maintenance Program” designed especially to
help track conditions become more uniform with the
rest of the CSX System. In the past five years CSX
favorably tested the results of Deferred Maintenance
Practices on several random stretches of track,
particularly in Little Ferry and Teaneck, NJ as well
as West Point and Catskill, NY.