Railroad Safety: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Second Session, July 10, 2002 |
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Administration agreement Amtrak Auto Train Blakey BNSF brakes Chairman collisions Committee communities compliance CONG CONGRE CONGRESS THE LIBRARY crew develop efforts enforcement ensure equipment fatalities fatigue Federal Federal Railroad Administration FRA's freight railroads funding grade crossing Gunn hazardous materials high-speed rail highway highway-rail hours of service implementation improve increase infrastructure injuries inspectors investigations involved issues JOHN MCCAIN LIBRARY OF CONGRESS loan Locomotive Engineers ment million monitoring National Northeast Corridor NTSB Operation Lifesaver passenger rail percent PLCT positive train control prevent problem PTC system rail industry rail labor rail safety railroad industry railroad operations railroad safety recent reduce regulations result risk RSAC RUTTER Safety Board safety program safety recommendations scheduled Senator BREAUX Senator MCCAIN signal specific speed standards tank cars tion track inspection track safety traffic train control systems train derailments train horn Transportation warning devices work/rest yard
Popular passages
Page 58 - No driver shall operate a motor vehicle, and a motor carrier shall not require or permit a driver to operate a motor vehicle, while the driver's ability or alertness is so impaired, or so likely to become Impaired, through fatigue. illness, or any other cause, as to make it unsafe for him to begin or continue to operate the motor vehicle.
Page 47 - Despite the fact that accidents continue to occur at crossings with active warning devices, it is clear that at crossings with higher accident potential, an active warning device can improve safety. However, the high cost of current active warning devices — approximately $ 1 50,000, on average, per installation — has limited the number of crossings at which they have been installed.
Page 47 - Research and Special Programs Administration. Railroads, though, are not satisfied with the status quo. and will continue their efforts to address rail-related safety problems. The most critical rail-related safety problems are collisions at highway-rail grade crossings and incidents involving trespassers on railroad rights-of-way. In 2001, these two categories accounted for 96 percent of rail-related fatalities. Although these incidents generally arise from factors that are largely outside of railroad...
Page 15 - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Page 80 - System (Interstate and all other principal arterials) are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. A structurally deficient bridge is closed or restricted to light vehicles only because of deteriorated structural components. Structurally deficient bridges are not necessarily unsafe. Strict observance of signs limiting traffic or speed on bridges will generally provide adequate safeguards for those using the bridges.
Page 48 - Union (UTU), worked out an agreement with Amtrak to eliminate the traditional time/mileage pay formula under which train crews had received a day's pay for each 100 or 150 miles traveled, and to replace that formula with hourly wages and a 40-hour work week, with time and a half for overtime. These agreements also...
Page 73 - A slang term for the excessive lateral rocking of cars and locomotives, usually at low speeds and associated with jointed rail. The speed range at which this cyclic phenomenon occurs is determined by such factors as the wheel base, height of the center of gravity of each individual car or engine, and the spring dampening associated with each vehicle's suspension system.
Page 82 - ... to prevent imminent injury, death, or property damage. (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this part, including provisions addressing the establishment of a quiet zone, limits on the length of time in which a horn may be sounded, or installation of wayside horns within quiet zones, this part does not preclude the sounding of locomotive horns in emergency situations, nor does it impose a legal duty to sound the locomotive horn in such situations. (b) Nothing in this part restricts the use...
Page 47 - ... roadways — has risen sharply. Thus, on a per unit of exposure basis, the reduction in grade crossing related incidents and casualties has been even higher. Nevertheless, the number of grade crossing accidents is still far too high. Perhaps most regrettably, the vast majority of grade crossing accidents are preventable, because they are caused by a driver's proceeding through a crossing in error. Consequently, grade crossing accident prevention efforts have centered on improved warnings and...
Page 60 - Increase track maintenance staffing levels to facilitate proactive track maintenance and repair, improve employee training, develop more thorough track inspection and defect repair procedures, and improve conditions under which track inspections are conducted. These are the steps necessary to reverse the dangerous trend of deteriorating track conditions, escalating train accident rates, and track related railroad accidents.