On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio The train was carrying toxic chemicals. The officials in charge chose to burn off some of those chemicals to keep the train cars involved from exploding. No people were killed in the accident. There are reports of fish dying from the pollution and other animals dying. So what happened?<\/p>\n
In October 2021, Freight Waves<\/a> posted an article titled, “The perils of precision scheduled railroading.” Precision Scheduled Railroading is a practice put in place to increase the efficiency of the railroad (and increase their profits).<\/p>\n The article reports:<\/p>\n But the unions representing craft employees and train and engine crews \u2014 the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, SMART-TD, Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, among others \u2014 generally have been skeptical of PSR, in large part because the operational model also seeks to cut costs, and one way to cut costs is to reduce employee headcount<\/a>. Since 2016, the yearly average of those employed by the U.S. operations of the Class I railroads has fallen roughly 25%, according to data submitted to the Surface Transportation Board<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Many of the employees that were cut were involved in various types of safety inspections. The remaining employees have had to deal with increased work loads that may have ultimately contributed to safety issues.<\/p>\n The article includes the following anecdote:<\/p>\n As a signal maintainer, Randy conducts monthly and quarterly inspections of the signals at railroad crossings and at other areas within his assigned territory. The inspections involve adhering to standards developed by the FRA.<\/strong><\/p>\n When Randy first started, the railroad treated him and his colleagues well.<\/strong><\/p>\n “Everything was great. I really can\u2019t say enough good things about how they treated us in the beginning,\u201d Randy said.<\/strong><\/p>\n Things started to change when his railroad implemented PSR, according to Randy. One of the biggest changes has been the declining number of employees working for the railroad, coupled with greater responsibilities for each remaining worker. The territory that each signal maintainer was responsible for grew, while the managers overseeing the work of the signal maintainers are also responsible for ensuring that a greater amount of territory is being properly inspected, according to Randy.<\/strong><\/p>\n Another change is PSR\u2019s impact on the timing of the inspections, according to Randy. Because the trains run on a fixed schedule, the dispatchers are reluctant to give the signal maintainers the time they need to conduct a thorough inspection because they don\u2019t want to delay the trains. Meanwhile, the signal maintainers feel pressure to get all their inspections completed, Randy said.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhen you stretch them thin, in my eyes \u2026 a lot of those maintainers are going up to those gates and saying, \u2018It was working fine the last time. Let me just write the paperwork up.\u2019 Because you just ain\u2019t got time to get it all done,\u201d Randy said. \u201cWe all know that things aren\u2019t getting done.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Randy believes that the railroads will start to hire more employees again because they need more crews to ensure that tracks and the network are functioning well.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, railroads that are running PSR \u2014 it\u2019s just a matter of time before the track is in such disrepair that they just don\u2019t have a choice but to hire more people and start going back. \u2026 Me personally, I just see PSR as a temporary thing because it just can\u2019t work,\u201d Randy said. When a train that weighs 20,000 tons is running across the rail, \u201cit\u2019s going to break stuff eventually.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Please follow the link above to read the entire article. I realize that some of this may simply be union gripes because the union members did not feel that they got a big enough cut of the increased profits, but it does sound as if there are some serious safety issues that are not being adequately addressed.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio The train was carrying toxic chemicals. The officials in charge chose to burn off some of those chemicals to keep the train cars involved from exploding. No people … Continue reading