Commentary

“Civil War-era” technology? You’re joking, right?

I’ve heard some pretty disingenuous (that’s a polite word for “dopey”) things said about railroads in my nearly 25 years at Railway Age. Nearly all of them have come from uninformed generalist reporters who are mostly clueless about what we do, how we do it, and the technology we employ—and that they don’t take the time to understand.

FRA directive on 111 tank cars

On Sept. 30, 2016, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued a Railworthiness Directive (Directive or RWD) to all owners of Department of Transportation (DOT) specification 111 general purpose tank cars.

Event recorder, camera recovered from NJT Hoboken wreck

The NTSB has recovered the event recorder and Railhead Corp. video recorder from the control cab of the lead car of New Jersey Transit Pascack Valley Line train no. 1614, which crashed Sept. 29 in Hoboken Terminal. Data from both devices will be analyzed at the NTSB’s laboratory in Washington D.C.

Commentary

While we’re waiting, Administrator Feinberg

While we’re waiting for the NTSB to analyze the event recorder data and forward-facing camera video on the NJ Transit cab car involved in the Sept. 29 Hoboken Terminal crash, assuming there is useable information (there is no data from the locomotive event recorder, because it was non-operational), let’s jump ahead a year or two and anticipate the conclusion of the NTSB’s investigation and the list of forthcoming recommendations.

Redefining medical fitness for duty

FRA-regulated railroads are the only U.S. transportation mode that do not have comprehensive, federally mandated medical fitness-for-duty standards and monitoring protocols. Only vision and hearing are covered by FRA regulations. That leaves railroads free to fashion standards and impose them, at will, on employees.

FRA’s quarterly PTC whip-cracking

A quarterly status update released Aug. 17, 2016 by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) “underscores the need for railroads to implement Positive Train Control (PTC) as quickly and safely as possible.” The update also “highlights the Administration’s repeated calls for Congress to provide more significant funding to assist commuter railroads in implementing PTC.”

FRA awards $25 million for PTC implementation

Eleven projects across six states and the District of Columbia will receive grants from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to assist in the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC).

ASLRRA receives DOT Technology Grant for PTC implementation

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) announced on August 16 that it has received a grant from FY2016 Railroad Safety Technology Grant Funds, made available through the Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration. The $2.5 million grant will support the development and implementation of a back-office product that delivers Positive Train Control (PTC). The product will be made available to all short line and regional railroads.

AAR doubles down on FRA crew size proposal

In comments submitted August 16 in response to a July 15th public hearing, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) again urged the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to withdraw its proposed rule mandating two-person crews on railroads. The AAR also called on the FRA to disclose the data sources it has used to inform its proposal, which AAR says is not supported by any publicly available safety data.

Chugging forward: FRA releases NEC Comment Summary Report

In 2012, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) launched NEC Future, to focus on upgrade possibilities of the critical Northeast Corridor (NEC). On July 28, as the process chugs along, FRA released its Comment Summary Report on the project.

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