On the Railway age website the FRA is reporting that CSX in NY has 199 voilations in regulations in all aspects of the railway. The total defects noted were 3,518 and this was in the period of Jan 19-22 I would not want to be in Jacksonville when the head of the FRA gets there. Let alone be there when the head of NY State gets there to hit them with any fines.
Careful there, defect does not automatically equate to violation. (FRA semantics)…Yellow press will have a field day with this, but then OSHA could be turned loose on them with similar results…Says nothing about Code 1’s or defect density per mile inspected and that’s what would be telling. (Anyone remember NWP’s FRA “death sentence”???)
I hear that down in Covington Ky they are refering to CSX bridges as “weapons of mass corrosion” posing a direct threat to our children on their way to school.
Won’t be long now, and we’ll have to go in and 'liberate" Jacksonville.
Seriously, 199 violations for a system as big as CSX’s, given that the inspectors were most likely on a witch hunt to start with, is not a huge surprise. The other class ones are probably doing a rather frenzied look at their own systems right now, and are thankful the limelight is not on them.
There’ll be a flurry of activity, a few hundred miles of track rehabbed, tons of assurances made, and then a year from now it’ll be business as usual, like none of this ever happened
Mudchicken you get A+ for your reply It amazes me how often somebody posts stuff they know nothing about This is one problem with the internet where people are sticking their nose in someplace.
Remember this is due to the fact that CSX keeps derailing in NY state and the FRA wanted answers. Do you see NS or CP always making the news for derailments up there NO. Yes 199 voilations is not alot for a system the size of CSX but in one state alone it is. I also listed the total number of defects noted as 3518 so I posted the results of the entire inspection and the atricle I quoted stated that was in the trackwork, haz-mat regualtions and locomotive maintance issues combined. There are some major issues at CSX right now and heads need to roll starting with the CEO on down. As to not knowing anything about the transportation field I am a former OTR truck driver with 1+ million accident free miles hauled loads that would make even the RR’s squeamish on how dangerous they were. I had a couple loads I was told the enviromental cleanup was cheaper than what it would cost than the damage if the load exploded.
Go back and read my first post. I do not see any heads rolling.
New York’s DOT would probably be in bigger trouble if FHWA and OSHA got turned loose on them. Right or wrong, it’s all a matter of perception.
Wow Ed, I don’t disagree with you, I’m glad you posted this. Some folks are clearly going to be defensive about this subject, as we’ve already seen.
One point to clarify, not all 199 violations were in one state. New York had 13 in the stories I’ve read.
Just in my limited corner of the universe, it definitely appears that NS expends more time, effort, and resources toward maintaining their plant than CSX does. This latest round of attention seems to be ready to bring the skeletons out of the closet, once and for all. And if it does the naysayers and appologists will just have to shut up for once and take a few punches.
One positive thing likely to come from this is that CSX might finally start to budget funds for cosmetic issues, since appearance is only going to get more attention as this thing goes on.
Being a realist, however, I tend to think that a flurry of activ
AG- you’re back, and it almost appears as if you’re mellowing a bit. Any guess on how many of the 199 are for paint flaking off bridges?[;)]
This will be an interesting story to track. My own unscientific observations in my local area show me that CSX seldom, if ever, wash their locos or rolling stock, let alone let them near something called “paint” Does this make the railroad unsafe? Not on its own no, but it does call into question the maintenance schedules. I must say on the other hand, at least what I can see, CSX does a good job of maintaining the rails.
This is a great issue to leave to the professional inspectors. After all it’s their job to find and report all deficiencies to the proper authorities. CSX would be wise to accept the findings, correct the problems, and continue on with operations. This will do more for public opinion and confidence than any amount of tap dancing around the problems.
I really don’t think that is possible. There are just some subjects that I care a whole lot less about than others.[{(-_-)}]
Actually, I came upon this story independently, and just thought it might be fun to see how the old gang had polarized around the issue.
Wasn’t it CSX that took Katrina damage insurance reimbursements, and declared a dividend with the proceeds? Now they have their teat in the wringer over matters of maintenance.
Not even I could have envisioned this one a coming.
never liked csx,what negligence on thier part throw their rear ends in jail,kick out the top idiots from the csx railroad ,for bieng such dumb stiff ,give csx to a competing railroad.
Drip, drip, drip…the beat goes on…the moniker CSX makes for a perfect monolithic corporate identifier…fits with post on toxic contamination of river water…nice companion piece…Remember Treasure of The Sierra Madre? CSX sez; “Badges? We dont need no stinkin badges!..”
The CSX response to the recent FRA inspection report follows. The company just posted this on their CSX Express newswire.
Mark
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - March 28, 2007 - 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,” said Ward. “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 concluded. In addition to several initiatives
under way in New York State, CSXT also plans to tighten standards for
geometry car track inspections to exceed FRA thresholds. The track
geometry inspection compares the track profile to standards for safe
operation.
The FRA released its findings from the January inspection on Tuesday,
and is currently conducting a track geometry inspection on the company’s
lines in New York State.
In 2006, CSXT reduced train accidents 24 percent.
I don’t know the number of defects in New York or any other state for that matter. What I do know is that when a railroad is written up for a defect we have 30 days to make the repairs before the track is taken out of service. A defect might be a spike under a rail (Something that takes five minutes to repair) or loose bolts in a joint bar. Being in violation means that repairs were not made in thirty day period in which the repairs had to be made and the track will be taken out of service. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if there are 199 defects in New York alone because it’s not that hard to find problems especially in yards.
Given the breadth of CSX’s territory, those 3000+ defects translates into what, 3-400 per state? The violations were also system wide.
I’m more than certain that there is room for improvement at CSX, but I would imagine if the inspectors looked hard enough, they could get similar results on any of the Class I’s. Anyone who was ever in the military and had a commander looking to cancel the weekend pass can attest to that.
I agree , if you look hard enough anywhere you will eventually find what you are looking for . The CSX has an outstanding record for accidents per ton mile. CSX is one of the industry leaders as far as maintenence and the shops that I have been in, have an outstanding reputation for quality and a dedicated group of employees. The FRA findings in no reflect badly on the employees of the CSX.
CSX is paying for not having enough track maintainers! That and nosy NYSSR politicians![banghead]
March 28, 2007 - 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,
In 1998 CSX was found wanting by DOT because of employee intimidation…lack of safety reporting…They made an action plan…9 years ago! Give me a break.
Flash forward to 2000…
CSX Corp. Chairman John Snow said yesterday that he will personally lead an internal review of the railroad’s maintenance practices following a Federal Railroad Administration audit that found deteriorating track conditions on many parts of the railroad.
“There can be no compromise on any safety condition on our railroad,” Snow said in a statement. “We recognize some problems and openly welcome the FRA’s draft report in the spirit it is offered - a genuine and sincere interest in assuring even greater safety on our railroad.”
The draft report said inspectors had found many areas of the railroad’s 22,700-mile system with rails spread too wide, marginal cross tie conditions, rail failures, worn rails, worn switches and water saturated subgrades. Snow said CSX crews have repaired or are repairing all the defects, and “where work is in progress, operations have been modified to ensure safe movement of trains.”
Flash forward again…2007
Inspection reveals 3,500 problems on tracks
Rochester derailment prompted review; Oneida probe ongoing
A 23-state inspection of railroad tracks and procedures after the Jan. 16 derailment of a CSX train in East Rochester yielded thousands of defects or evidence of noncompliance.
Although 3,518 problems were detected from 583 inspections from Jan. 19-22, many would not indicate an imminent hazard, but correction is needed to comply with the F
Witch hunts find Witches…real or imaginary. The circumstances of the FRA inspection mandated they would have to find defects and violations or the FRA itself would be come the witch and be politically dealt with. A similar Witch Hunt on any other property would generate similar results.
And Hillary Clinton pipes up too … I must be the ignorant one .