What is the rule for this (if there even is one)…about swinging on and off of moving trains in the course of doing your job as a train employee. Is the train supposed to be completely stopped or do the rules allow employees to hop on and off of slow moving trains?
Depends on the railroad. Many railroads now prohibit getting on and off moving trains. Where it is permitted, there’s a very specific way to do it safely which is actually counterintuitive. You get on and off with the TRAILING foot, not the leading foot. The reason is that, if you do it the right way and slip, you’l likely be spun away from the train, rather than into it.
This is one of the eight deadly sins–the ones you don’t want to break and if you do its a automatic level S per BNSF policy. Unless otherwise authorized or in the event of an emergency, workers are not allowed to get on or off moving equipment. This is a test in which company brass audit all the time and can be conducted in any location duties require getting on or off equipment but only applies to workers that have been in position to do such. The test is a failure when a worker is observed geting on or off equip not stopped except again when authorized or in an emergency. I really have no problem w/ this rule. I hired in rr service in 1998 and the rule had been in effect since the early 90’s. To be quite honest, I probably would not have seeked rr employment if you still had to bail on & off while moving. Just the impact alone on your the body takes a toll after yrs & yrs of the pounding. Nope, I’m not into tearing up my body for the sake of the rr.
It is completely verboten at my company, except in an emergency. The new hires are not trained to mount/dismount moving equipment, so how they actually do it is a mystery,
Many moons ago, when I hired, the practice was officially banned, but everyone looked the other way. We were taught to mount/dismount with the leading foot.
Nick
What’s a level S?
I have seen it on an IC&E local in recent times. It used to be common, nearly universal, on local switching on the C&NW back in the day. You see some fairly hair raising film examples of it on older vids, even company publicity and training films. The most amazing footage I ever saw was on a Mexican railroad.
Years ago a friend and I were railfanning the BN at Yates City IL while a local switched a small yard there and the engineer yelled out “want to ride for a while? climb on next time I come by”
He didn’t stop for us because that would have alerted his conductor at the end of the train – so we had to get on and off a moving train. First and last time I have ever done it and I tried hard to remember that leading foot/trailing foot rule. Either way has its risks, and the ballast at Yates City was not tamped and flat like a yard would be. Somehow saying no the invite for a cab ride never occured to either of us …
Dave Nelson
About 25 years ago I was involved in some litigation by a ConRail trainman who injured his foot or knee when he swung off a slowly moving locomotive into some rather large ballast - like 2’’ to 3’’ size - at the Martin’s Creek Generating Station of PP&L. I can’t recall if that was prohibited by the CR rules at the time, but as I do believe the claim was settled for like $100,000 - the injury was legitimate. At the time I wondered how on earth the railroad was ever going to be able to operate efficiently if each move had to come to a full stop before a crewman boarded or dismounted. Well, that’s how it’s been now for a while, and the world hasn’t come to an early demise either . . . [:-^] . . . so it can be done. Which is good, because I’m sure the costs of the injuries and litigation like that outweighed the few seconds of time saved - though perhaps a hundred times a day - over a long-term perspective.
Someplace I have a very short movie clip on 16mm color film from the late 1960’s of a C&O crewman boarding a caboose as it went by him at about 10 MPH someplace in southern Virginia - all in 1 smooth motion - something else that’s gone by the wayside and not to be seen again.
One technique that I was told back then was to attempt to board moving equipment at the leading end, not the trailing end. The rationale was that if it was going too fa
That’s what I thought…under the careers section on CN’s website they have a clip of what the conductor’s job entails…and in the clip they show a couple of crew members jumping off a moving train… CN is probably in line with the rest of the industry as far as that practice goes…this may just be a gaffe on their part. It did catch my attention though as I was under the impression that getting on/off a moving train was against the rules…
Some forty years ago, I was told by Frisco/AT&N men to get on with the leading foot–it seemed more natural to get on with the trailing foot.
Nope. I believe CN is the last Class 1 that allows boarding moving equipment. Not that hard, and when done right really saves time.
Well… I can’t argue with their safety record…CN is right up there at or near the top.
From my time on the ground…they stirrup on the car is higher than it appears. You really have to get you leg up to get the stirrup, all the while holding onto the hand holds.
Practice is VERBOTTEN on my carrier and the officials no longer look the other way or they may be looking for a new job.
We do it all the time. We do a lot of switching, so stopping for every mount-dismount would cost too much time, and we would only get one days work done, instead of 1.5 or 2. There is a fairly big passage in the safety manual on the proper method (trailing foot). If you don’t feel comfortable, or there is snow-ice-bad footing, it is perfectly fine to stop the move.
You guys got it right: Board with your lead foot first, dismount with your trailing foot first. As noted, most railroads now bar the practice. Paul, I heard the same thing you did about mounting the head end of any piece of equipment, excepting the last car of the train, for the same reason you note.
Our safety and training guy told us a lot of injuries resulted from boarding and dismounting moving equpiment. I also wonder about repetitive stress. Even if done correctly, is this not the type of thing that could wear out the cartilage in your joints after years of practice? Not a doctor and wouldn’t say one way or the other, but it seems like it’d be a concern.
But I tend to agree with what several people have said: It does save a lot of time. Even if the engineer slows down a lot to let you off, it keeps the train’s momentum going. In addition to the time, I wonder about the cumulative impact of all the additional starts and stops on draft gear wear, fuel usage, brake shoes, etc. Then again, it’s a lot easier to fix or replace worn-out railroad equipment than it is worn-out knees or ankles, and surgery is a lot riskier and costlier than welding.
Best,
Lead foot…would that be the right or the left?..[:P]
Although slightly off topic in the sense that this isn’t about getting on an off an engine it is about getting on and off a train. Until less than ten years ago a good few suburban trains in south London and Kent/Surrey and Sussex had slam doors that could be opened from the inside when the train was still moving. There are videos of trains arriving at London terminal stations with about 200 people on the platform before the train’s actually stopped.
Getting on was also possible, but less easy as the trains tended to accelaerate quite sharply (they were mostly EMUs esp towards the end).
Never recomended by the authorities, but difficult to ban - didn’t do much for the structural intergrity of train if it did hit the buffers either. Now all history as the only slam door trains in regular service have door locking which means the door can’t be opened until the guard (conductor) has released the doors.
The very first thing we were taught, even before hand signals, even before they issued us radios, was how to entrain and detrain moving equipment.
We were informed that if we could not do this, we could not work at the PTRA, which is a Class III switching/terminal railroad.
Its easy, actually, and for me, a lot less wear and tear on the knees and ankles.
If the train is approaching you from right to left, you face the movement, grab the grab iron, place your right foot,(trailing foot) in the stirrup and just stand up, the momentum of the train simply picks you up.
You dismount in the reverse.
Select where you wish to detrain, crouch down some in the stirrup with your trailing foot somewhat out and behind you, then step off facing the movement, placing the trailing foot down first, then releasing your hand hold…the momentum will pivot you away from the train, so if you slip or stumble, you fall away, not towards the train.
It looks easy, and it is, especially when done by someone who has been getting on and off this way their entire career.
Personally, I prefer getting on moving equipment, all it requires is a small amount of common sense, if the train is moving too fast to do so safely, you tell the engineer to slow down.
Less stress on your legs, the train does all the work.
Go back and research the FRA website for personal accidents, and you will find more men hurt on cabooses because of slack action than were hurt getting on and off moving equipment.
Its as easy as stepping on and off an escalator.
Of course, in the name of risk management, we too can no longer entrain/detrain this way.
Gee whiz! What a bunch of wimps are on this forum. Oh the shame of it all. Back when we could get on or off moving equipment, even the men at retirement age could swing on and off with the best of 'em.
I guess if the new guys with their “walkie-talkies” had to give hand signals instead of talking into the microphone, they wouldn’t have signed on either.
Folks, the “Golden Age of Railroading” is long gone!
I have seen this practice frequently in Swiss and other European stations or yars. However, it would be exstremely dangerous to between cars to couple them before both cars stands still.
Getting on and off a tramway (not a train). We did it regularly in Zurich with older rolling-stock with open vestibules. The newer one had doors that closed before the car began to move / did not open until it stood still.
Personally I wouldn’t do it…because there’s nothing in it for me. Sure, the railroad saves in terms of time, maybe a little bit of fuel and wear and tear on equipment, but why risk life and limb if there’s no benefit to YOU? Do you get paid more for thae added risk? Of course not. So it would make sense to only get on and off when the train is completely at a stand still…even if your employer does allow you to mount/dismount while the train is in motion…you shouldn’t do it. In my 25 years in transportation I’ve seen enough accidents…all of them could have been prevented…many involved lifelong injuries over something stupid…like climbing down from equipment properly… note that the president of the carrier or the managers aren’t the one’s injured.