Railway Track & Structures - September 2008 - (Page 5)

INDUSTRY TODAY FRA urges railroads to join in a new safety program Improving upon the historic levels of safety achieved in recent years by the nation’s railroads will require the use of a new risk-based approach to identify and correct safety issues before they result in train accidents and employee injuries, Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Boardman told industry leaders at a Rail Safety Summit. “Fixing something after it breaks or writing rule violation notices is increasingly unlikely to result in significant additional gains in rail safety,” Boardman said in discussing the Risk Reduction Program, which is aimed at supplementing current federal regulations, inspection requirements, and other compliance and enforcement activities. Boardman said the FRA has recently sponsored several risk-reduction pilot projects and now is moving toward establishing the RRP as a formal agency safety program. In addition to input from rail management and labor, the FRA will be accepting public comment this fall on the RRP and how to make it most effective, he said. The RRP initiative will develop innovative methods, processes and technologies to address the contributing risk factors that result in train accidents and employee injuries. For example, a conventional approach to prevent train derailments is to search for and fix any broken joint bars that connect two sections of track. A risk-based strategy will focus on identifying the precursors that indicate a joint bar might break, followed by proper preventive maintenance before it fails, he said. Boardman said the RRP framework encourages voluntary participation of railroads and labor on projects that target specific risk categories such as confidential close call reporting systems, peer-to-peer accident prevention strategies, and fatigue risk management programs. In addition, the RRP supports the strategic use by railroads of technology such as trackside equipment to monitor trains as they roll by to identify potential safety problems. And, it will be necessary for railroads to develop and strengthen their safety cultures so that the risk-based approach to safety eventually becomes second nature, he pointed out. At the Rail Safety Summit in August, Boardman presented awards to Union Pacific, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the United Transportation Union for their partnership with the FRA Office of Railroad Development on two effective risk-reduction demonstration projects. The first is for the Changing At-Risk Behavior project that resulted in an 80-percent reduction of the targeted behavior in less than two years. The other is for the ongoing Safety Through Employees Exercising Leadership project that has thus far removed over 75 barriers to safety. Also, five federally-designated highspeed rail corridors in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin will share $5,640,174 in federal grant funding to make safety improvements at approximately 25 highway-rail grade crossings. The funds will support the installation of grade-crossing warning lights and gates, the closure of crossings and other engineering solutions to help prevent motor vehicle-train collisions along rail lines where high-speed passenger trains are intended to operate in the future. The grants are jointly managed by the Federal Highway Administration and the FRA and complement the significant investments and ongoing efforts made by these states to improve the safety of intercity passenger and freight rail www.rtands.com Railway Track & Structures September 2008 5 http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - September 2008 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Larry Etherton Rounds Out Successful Term as President of AREMA Remote Bridges Present Challenges New Mexico Rail Runner Express Making Tracks for Santa Fe Products and Literature People Calendar Sales Representatives Advertisers Index Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - September 2008

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