Depending on how you look at it…
http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/PubAffairs/EmergencyOrder26.pdf
Been on its way for a while, the LA wreck just tied up the loose ends for them.
New bulletin order next time I work…
This doesn’t really do any more than provide federal sanctions for what our railroad already prohibits…
Mine too…
Although I think some roads will prohibit the use completly unless it is a company issued phone on company business.
time to get a trak phone…one of them pay as you go with calling cards…cant trace the use of them… totaly anunomuse and still be able to use them to call yard masters and other crews to give them heads up on where the white hats are at so they can be on there toes…use one of your calling plan phones and something happens…your F-ing toast now…
csx engineer
Do you think some will also prohibit it while the train is in motion even if it is company business, unless it is an emergency? Maybe a Nextel/two way could be exempt, but prohibit any other use while in motion? I mean isn’t that what radios are for? Just curious.
Mike
I wouldn’t count on those phones not being traceable. Every phone leaves a mark on the system that can be reviewed. It is called a “pen register” and has been around since there were dial phones. The cops use it all the time and phone company security is required to keep the records.
Also, FRA is having a pretty easy time catching people using cell phones without even needing a trace. I know the Emergency Order is 30 pages, but you should read it, especially the many anecdotes of how FRA has caught employees using cell phones and PDAs improperly in violation of company rules including:
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An Engineer applying for an inspector’s job at FRA while running (FRA heard his horn being blown for a crossing and asked if he was running and he admitted he was)
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Several employees calling to complain about management while running and also admitted same to FRA.
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Various examples of Engineers having their phones or PDAs on their desktop or within easy reach while running.
Sadly, also cited were seven (7) fatal accidents where an engineer using a cellphone was identified as a contributing factor including the recent MetroLink vs UP collision in Chatsworth, CA.
It looks like we can’t be trusted with our own cell phones anymore and it’s a shame because most of us use them responsibly.
LC
It sounds like the old adage has found this discussion:
“It only takes a few bad apples to spoil the whole barrel.”
I guess I don’t necessarily understand why this is a bad thing. They are distracting and depending on your comm system, create interference. CA has a hands free law now for drivers as do many states. Cell phones are banned from use on aircraft (and for good reason…).
As for the tracing of throw away prepaid phones. The phone is traceable, simply by virtue of how the networks work. Attributing it to an owner is the difficulty.
Dan
the last statement is the point i was trying to make with the pay as you go cell phones…
csx engineer
With this, not only can you be disciplined by the railroad, you could also be fined by the FRA.
Jeff
I still think this is simply a common sense issue. Simply don’t do distracting things while operating machinery. That’s all there is to it. Cell phones should still be permitted for use on the job as needed. People have been wrecking their cars into poles and other cars all across the US for some time, doing stuff like putting on makeup, eating a bowl of cereal, combing their hair, and reading books, all while driving. Yes, I have actually seen each of these happening, among other bad things drivers do that are obvious no-nos. Yet they’ve been doing these for a long time, and governments have been slow to act on it. The only reason this incident made national headlines is that a bunch of people died at once, and many more injured, instead of “just a family dying in an oncoming vehicle that was struck.” Cell phones are communication tools that should always be available to the employees. Simply using them in a distracting manner would be an obvious thing not to do, as the engineer who was texting while running the train did, and he paid the way many before him have. He simply took a lot more than the usual number of people with him.
It’s not just train service people who are killed while using cell phones. We’ve had at least one fatality on the MoW side this year that was directly linked to cell phone use. We are repeatedly warned against it yet it is nothing out of the ordinary to see machine operators on the phone, texting, etc.
The fines are nothing new. The FRA goes after this kind of stuff already. Use of electronic gadgets is already a big hitter.
I’ve always assumed most transportation systems have had some sort of communication system at the operator’s post, and I’ve assumed it was some sort of radio. If this is so, while an engineer is operating a train what’s the difference between using this company supplied and sanctioned communication system and a cell phone to contact someone for job related business?
Technically, I see no difference. Just because a cell phone isn’t company supplied doesn’t mean it isn’t being used for a company purpose, so I’m not sure why they seem to have a problem with them used that way.
turn off the cell phone and leave it in your grip or locker. railroaders have been able to run trains without cellphones for a hundred plus years now. problem solved.
Several reasons they differ.
A train radio is tuned to one channel most of the time…you don’t have to adjust it or “dial” anything, simply push the PTT button or key a microphone to talk, you don’t even have to hold it up to your mouth, simply talk and it picks it up.
Your eyes never leave the road, and it is not as distracting as a cell phone, plus you don’t hold it to your ear, so your hands are free.
Most railroads record their radio transmissions, and it is on an open frequency, other crews can hear you, so there is no chance any trainman or engineer would use the radio for anything other than railroad business.
Verifying what the radio is used for is easy, verifying what is being discussed, and with whom, on a cell phone is difficult. Plus you have to dial the phone to use it, even with speed dialing you still look down at the phone to see it is working correctly, and it creates a distraction, plus you have to open most phones to use them.
That said, using a cell for the railroads business isn’t the problem, you stay focused on what you are doing, because you are discussing that very thing…it is when you use the phone for personal business that’s when the distraction occurs, you lose focus on your surroundings, and lose you place in the routine of your job.
In train and engine service, when the radio squawks, that’s part of the job, you expect it to do so, and using it is the normal routine, it creates no distraction, because it is always there, always on, always making noise.
But when a cell phone rings…well, we are trained just about from birth to answer the phone, ignoring it is hard to do, even when you are occupied with a task, and the process of answering the phone alters your focus and awareness, you get caught up in the phone conversation and forget what you are doing.
And all of us who do this for a living know how fast things can go south…a few seconds distracted is all that is nee
The FRA can now compliance test on-duty engineers by calling their cell phone. If it rings, automatic rule violation.
I suspect that the most basic reason for why cell phone usage is frowned upon by the FRA even for “job related business” is that a cell phone call is a one-on-one conversation between two persons, instead of as a brief exchange of standardized format information that everybody else on the same radio channel will hear.
That has a few drawbacks:
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people tend to be more informal and more long-winded in a one-on-one conversation. You need typically to focus on the conversation for a longer time to process a more free form conversation than to exchange brief messages in a standardized format.
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other people (like other crew members on the same train, or other train crews) are not necessarily hearing what you are saying or what is being said to you - ie they are not automatically getting the information cc:'d as you speak
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Since your cell phone conversations cannot be overheard by everybody else around, the temptation is stronger to use the cell phone for a few other non-authorized things as well - like taking calls as union representative, texting railfans to alert them to when your train is coming, checking in with your sick old mom or your kids or whatever, taking part in a FRA job interview for the job as a safety inspector (!), phoning in complaints about management or whatever.
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Cell phones also tend to be more mobile than a cab radio. It is easier to take your cell phone and walk off a little bit during a lull in the work to better be able to concentrate on the phone
still on my comment about what’s the difference between cell phones, usually personal, and company issued radioes
advantage and disadvantage. I think I remember stories about confused communication because one crew didn’t know if the dispatcher on the radio was talking to their train or another train. Of course if I was one of 2 trains approaching milepost xx and I heard on my radio “bridge out at milepost xx” I’d be grateful that it was a broadcast message.
Some of the replies have mentioned push to talk, speakers, and chirping for incoming messages for radio, as opposed to dial, put phone to ear, and ringing for cell phones. It is possible to have your cell phone set to have the dispatcher on voice dial, some cell phones have speaker options, and most have customizable ring tones.
How’s this for a scenario: a crew has the dispatcher on voice dial, a decent set of speakers, a cradle to hold the phone on the dash, a ring that sounds just like the company’s radio, and voice activation to pick up incoming calls? The railroad can record any calls on their phone number.
PATCO Philadelphia-Lindenwold single person crew, there’s only a waist high partition to separate the operator’s position from the passenger area. The operator has to pick up an old fashioned telephone style handset. To announce stations they only have to speak into the mouthpiece, they don’t have to put the earpiece to their ear. There’s also a speaker radio, and passengers can hear incoming radio messages from dispatchers, but I have seen train operators switch over to the telephone handset for back and forth talk with dispatch. PATCO also has quite a bit of automatic train operation.
NJ