FRA told to sharpen its focus on safety

Railway Age, March, 2005

The Federal Railroad Administration is refocusing its safety, programs in the wake of a finding that "significant safety problems persist despite a significant increase in FRA enforcement." A 16-page memo signed by U.S. DOT Inspector General Mead--dated Dec. 16 but not made public until Feb. 9--suggested that greater emphasis on penalizing the railroads for safety infractions, and less on the "partnership" approach, may be sometimes called for. Mead's memo released to newspapers under the Freedom of Information Act did nothing to relieve the tense atmosphere that has built up since The New York Times began publishing a series of articles critical of railroad salem One of the Times's investigative reporters--using highly selective anecdotal evidence, and helped by an unusual cluster of high-profile railroad accidents--was able to leave the impression that the railroads, through incompetence or indifference, were endangering the lives of people who ventured near their property, especially highway motorists.

The report came out after an investigation of allegations that the FRA had been lax in the handling of safety matters involving Union Pacific, partly because Acting Administrator Betty Monro was a long-time friend of UP Washington representative Mary McAuliffe. Mead absolved Monro of any wrongdoing though he suggested she had been ill-advised to give the appearance of a "closer than arm's length" relationship with the largest company her agency regulates. (Monro resigned effective Dec. 31.)

Mead went on to say: "With fewer than 450 safety inspectors responsible for overseeing the nation's vast network of 230,000 miles of rail, it is critical that FRA's inspection and enforcement efforts be carefully targeted to address those safety problems that are most likely to result in accidents and injuries." Mead recommended a safety program, put in place by this fall, that would "(a) focus field inspection activities; (b) assess when a partnership approach is no longer effective and more traditional enforcement (i.e., fines) is warranted; mad (c) determine appropriate numbers and fines, factoring-in prior safety/enforcement history and trends. FRA's plans should include specific milestones for measuring progress."

A few days before the Mead memo surfaced, FRA announced that it had assessed fines totaling $298,000 against CSX Transportation for "multiple violations of highway-rail grade crossing safety regulations related to a Feb. 3, 2004, accident in Henrietta, N.Y., where a train struck a vehicle and killed an elderly couple." CSXT was cited for failing to repair in a timely manner grade crossing warning systems "known to be malfunctioning." FRA's new acting administrator, Robert Jamison, commented that with rail traffic at record levels, FRA will take "every step necessary to make sure railroads keep these systems in proper working order."

Meanwhile, there was more fallout from the Jan. 6 tank car accident in Graniteville, S.C. (RA, Feb., p. 13). The Washington, D.C. City Council voted (and the mayor approved) a ban on the movement of hazmat by rail within 2.2 miles of the Capitol building. CSXT asked a federal court to declare the ban unconstitutional.