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FRA fines CSX, Sperry; calls for added training
I pity the maintenance forces that have to follow behind the Sperry Car now!!
Hmm, odd, fine the railroad for something that a private company contractor employee did…does the FRA even realize that makes no sense what so ever. No CSX employee was involved, it was an employee of Sperry Rail Services…but of course, since Sperry is not a RR, the FRA can’t fine them directly, let alone do anything to them as a contractor, so you go after the entity employing the contractor…that’s going to work.
It is my understanding that if something occurs on a section of tested track within a certain time frame of being tested, because of a missed defect, that Sperry is responsible ( or at least partially responsible) for any damages caused by a missed defect.
Was this break visable? How exactly was it missed? Not sure how a inspector in a speeder beats Sperry at this job
If the Sperry Car registers a “hit” then the Sperry technician is supposed to visually inspect the hit. He also has a hand-held sensor that can be plugged into the computer on board Sperry that he can use to check the rail at eye-level. I worked in the maintenance dept. of a class 1 for 32 years and we followed behind the Sperry Car several times a year changing out defective rail. Sometimes the computer will register a false hit but the technician always visually inspects them.
Gerald,
Just a guess as to why Sperry is responsible, but CSX is being fined (since I’m not a lawyer,) but I don’t think hiring a contractor, in lieu of having your own employees inspect and maintain a railroad right of way, in any way lessens a railroad’s responsibility to comply with FRA and DOT regulations. I won’t bore you with the details, but there was a time when railroads had section gangs for every 10-20 miles of track. The foreman, who oversaw the gang, was held totally responsible for the ride quality, as well as compliance with Federal regulations. Bottom line, he knew every foot of track, and saw to it that when a bad cross tie or rail was detected, it was immediately replaced.
In the name of cost savings, and in the face of mechanical advances that made such meticulous care of the railroad costly and [according to the railroad] burdensome, section gangs were replaced with vast mechanized super gangs that were able to renew miles of track in a single day. Maintenance has been replaced with risk management. The cost of an accident is now viewed in context with the profit that can be realized with a smaller work force. Hiring a contractor, even a reputable one, such as Sperry, is no guarantee of perfection in railroading, as it is in any business. I think the message that this penalty was meant to send to the railroad was that no matter WHO does the work, it’s YOUR railroad, YOUR responsibility and YOUR neck, if something happens.
How often has this happened? I may be wrong, but it seems relatively rare.