Railway Track & Structures - November 2007 - (Page 44)

CHICAGO PERSPECTIVE Good news on safety S tatistics can be very useful at times. They can tell us if things are getting better or worse, how our efforts compare with others, how we rank on a standard scale and so on. I’ve also seen them skewed to make certain things look far better or worse than they really are, as in Mark Twain’s, “Lies, damn lies and statistics.” I’m always happy when statistics give us a positive picture of events. That’s why the latest accident numbers from the Federal Railroad Administration really elevated my mood. According to Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Boardman, railroad safety continued to improve significantly during the first half of 2007 as 34 states experienced fewer train derailments and collisions as compared to the same period last year. A review of the preliminary statistics compiled by the FRA for January through June 2007 reveals that railroads had 246 fewer train accidents, or a 16.8percent reduction, when compared to the first six months of 2006, Boardman said. In addition, highway-rail grade-crossing safety improved as collisions between motor vehicles and trains fell by 122, or 8.5 percent; and grade-crossing fatalities decreased by 21, or 11.5 percent. “We are making real progress when it comes to improving safety on the nation’s rail system,” Boardman said, noting that full-year data for 2006 showed it to be one of the safest years on record. “To continue this success, railroads must step up their efforts to ensure trains, tracks and grade crossings are even safer,” he said. Boardman explained that the train accident rate decreased by 15.5 percent to just 3.07 per million train miles during the first half of 2007 even with a slight decline in the overall number of train miles traveled. Specifically, derailments went down by 14.3 percent and train-to-train collisions fell 12.1 percent. A total of 11 states saw a decrease of 12 or more train accidents, including Texas (-49), California (-31), Pennsylvania (-20), New York (-18), Oregon (-16), Montana (-15), Maryland (-14), Ohio (-14), Kansas (-13), Alabama (-13), and Wyoming (-12), he added. The preliminary data show that the two leading causes of train accidents—human error and track issues—declined 13.9 percent and 15.7 percent, respectively. Incidents caused by equipment failure fell by 10.3 percent and those caused by signal problems declined by 37.0 percent. In addition, trespass fatalities fell by 5.9 percent. Boardman said that aggressive implementation of FRA’s National Rail Safety Action Plan, launched in 2005, was a contributing factor in the overall improvement in railroad safety. The Action Plan targets the most-frequent, highest-risk causes of train accidents; increases the use of data to focus the FRA’s inspection and enforcement resources; and accelerates research and development activities that have the potential to mitigate the largest risks. I’m not going to argue with FRA tooting its own horn about safety improvements. I’ll sing the praises of anyone or any organization who successfully strives to improve safety and the FRA certainly falls into that category. I have only two points to add to the FRA release. One, I want to give credit to the railroads, the supply companies and individual railroaders whose efforts helped make these safety improvements real. Railroads take safety seriously and work to help their employees work more safely. Suppliers know railroads insist on safety, so they build increasingly safer tools and machines. But without individual railroaders, who must take care of themselves amidst moving machinery and other dangers of the railroad environment, no safety improvements are remotely possible. My second point is that these are not just numbers we’re talking about, but flesh-and-blood people, your family, your friends or even yourself. When safety improves, thousands of people get to enjoy life who otherwise would have been injured, perhaps even fatally. That’s really what safety efforts are all about. George S. Sokulski Associate Publisher 44 Railway Track & Structures November 2007 www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - November 2007 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Seattle Retrofits Downtown Transit Tunnel Switch Stand, Switch Machines Planning M/W with Modern, High-Tech Tools Products & Literature People Calendar Advertisers Index Sales Representatives Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - November 2007

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