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FRA issues US safety edicts in response to Quebec derailment
All of the suggestions in this article should have been in effect prior to the Lac Megantic accident… Obviously it takes a tragedy like this to start rethinking about the safety aspect of railroad operations. Unfortunately, too late for some.
Anybody notice that in these requirements, employes are required to do things, management is not required to specify the, here it is, the amount of brakes to set, but is asked to get a plethora of info about the securement, from an employe, self-indicting, if something goes wrong.
When applying the Megantric matrix, what good does not leaving (it) unattended until First-R persons who may have mucked things up, hazardously, have been observed not creating great risk? At Megantic, the train was unattended when they showed up, reports say. Needed: a more inclusive regulation.
How screwy would it be to create a consultansy, created by retired rail(roaders)s who when called thru’ a universally, maybe that’s to big, common number could advise things to check, adjust and question, secure at an incident scene of a train mess that they, the first at the disaster responded with no intent to do less than their best?
I’m in.
Item 6 above says a lot. "Railroads must develop procedures to ensure a QUALIFIED railroad employee " before a train is left unattended. Sounds like FRA has seen or heard information to order changes.
I found these links interesting; especially comments as to what Transport Canada has issued which influenced the FRA. It also gave examples of who is a “qualified” employee. If anyone is interested, here are the FRA links:
Safety Advisory concurrent with emergency order: Preventing Unintended Movement of Freight Trains and Vehicles on Mainline Track or Mainline Siding Outside of a Yard or Terminal
http://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L04720
Emergency Order #28: http://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L04719
Wow, they desperately worked to not ban one man crews. They probably are patting themselves on the back now, lots of gov’t speak, little change. How about fining rrs that push employees to the limit of Hours-of-service and don’tallow adequate time for tiedown or leave sleep deprived crews on a train for a day because no one can come out just now and sit on a train because they’re too busy fulfilling 50x the required FRA testing on obstructions on other sleep deprived crews?
When terrorists realize the ease in which vandals have access to the nation’s rails things should get real interesting. Then, we can evaluate if all this safety talk has merit. Vandalism as a barometer conveys little if any meaningful security.
I have NO idea what Calif. and Ind. are talking about. Have you witnessed any of these circumstances taking place or do you both suffer from severe nightmares ? Have either of you ever worked for a railroad ?
It’s been my experience in working over 40 years (not in management) that YES the management consults with the every day workers as to how to do their jobs more efficiently and more safely, as that directly effects the railroads bottom line. What a novel idea, HEY ??
I also learned recently that the unions would likely take some kind of immediate action against the management if they ever showed any insensitivity of this magnitude, so sleep well my friends !!
New regs are all common sense stuff. Sad state of affairs that the government needs to mandate it.
I think it’s time to bring back the caboose for added safety to freight trains. It just seems railroading seemed much safer when they were around. I could be wrong.
I think it’s time to bring back the caboose for added safety to freight trains. It just seems railroading seemed much safer when they were around. I could be wrong.
Sadly it takes a tragedy for things like this to get implemented in any profession.
It would seem that a simple derail device installed at the downgrade end of the siding would have obviated the tragedy - or the installation of catchpoints as is done in Britain. Either method would have derailed the train before it could have rolled anywhere. This would seem like a common sense safety precaution if trains were routinely tied down at this location.
What is missing here?? How about mandating that at least 2 qualified engineering personnel are on board at all times. Like duh.
Also engineers should be allowed to rest for at least 12 hours prior to their shift. It is ridiculous to put only one person in charge of a huge train of hazardous materials. This tragedy was an accident just waiting to happen- kind of like the Titanic. It was thoroughly preventable.
Seems absurd to put so much at stake on one man. Yet there have been plenty of accidents where multiple crew persons all either fell asleep at the same time or lost awareness of the situation. Two recent examples come to mind. The Air France plane that crashed in the Atlantic ocean, and the Asiana crash at San Francisco. I personally know of one incident where both Engineer and Conductor on a mainline freight were asleep at the same time and barely awoke in time to stop short of another train.
Also it is hard to imagine an engineer with a clean record leaving a train overnight hanging on just the loco’s independent air brake.
How could we ever know if some zealot wanting to strike a blow against oil fracking or to strike a blow against the environmentalists opposing the pipeline construction didn’t let that train loose. Kicking off a half dozen handbrakes in the dark of night would be easily done without being noticed by anyone.
Just goes to show that taking short cuts can kill you or someone else. ABTH handbrake chart shows for a grade of 1.25% a 10k ton train needs at least 28 hand brakes. Then you release your automatic brake if it doesn’t move it’s good, it it does put 20lb set tie some more. That will prevent the train from moving if the air all bleeds off. There’s no excuse for not following proper procedures. The 11 brakes he tied were inadequate and look what happens. Always take the safe course.