Aar updates Rail Industry Highlights Best Safety Practices at Annual Leadership Forum

 

Washington, D.C., April 30, 2014 – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today recognized highlights in best safety practices from around the industry at the annual Railroad Safety Leadership Forum, in Atlanta. The event brings together railroad teams from AAR’s full-member railroads to underscore achievements in personal safety and injury prevention and provide a venue to share best practices.

“Safety is at the core of the railroad industry, driving every day decisions and operations from offices in headquarters to the cab of locomotives moving across America’s 140,000 mile rail network,” said AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger.  “Through innovation and hard work, our employees continue to make the railroad industry one of the safest in which to have a career. We will continue to innovate and invest, and bring together teams from around the industry to listen and learn and take every opportunity to improve safety.”

The 2014 Safety Forum Groups are as follows:

 

BNSF Railway: Safety Employees of the Year (across BNSF network)

These employees represent the many facets of BNSF Operations and were instrumental in fostering peer-to-peer programs that proactively identify risk to exposures and reinforce safe behaviors with positive feedback. They have demonstrated a significant and consistent leadership role in safety programs and initiatives at a high level and have modeled the desired attitudes and actions to support personal ownership of safety. They initiate an atmosphere that promotes superior safety performance for others with their innovative ideas and programs and contributed off-duty time to activities involving safety efforts as well as promoting safety within their families and communities.

With more than a year since the last reportable injury, the Harrison Hump Yard Safety Team’s strong leadership, focus on employee engagement, teamwork, and commitment to safety are the core values that have made this achievement possible. The joint management/union local safety committee assumed a key role within the terminal by effectively engaging and leading safety outreach through peer conversations focusing on top causes of injuries and accidents. Management within the terminal focused activities on critical rules, top causes of injuries and accidents in the yard.  Specifically, they held safety summits and town hall meetings where open conversations with employees were encouraged. Additional time was devoted to new hires in the field to ensure proper understanding of safety rules. Senior management took steps to be more visible in the terminal and interactive with employees. The result has been developing a more collaborative environment that promotes a culture of safety for all.

The Chase Avenue Roadway Equipment Shop and Operations Team, in Milwaukee, Wis., passed more than 5,000 days (more than 14 years) without a FRA injury and is still going strong. The small shop employs seven full time employees plus 15-20 additional workers in the winter. The shop repairs almost all equipment used in maintenance of way activity.  Employee skills include welders / boilermakers, electricians, machinists and mechanics. The shop’s safety culture is unsurpassed. Two key factors to their success are daily safety briefings and a collaborative approach to safety. If an employee sees something that isn’t quite safe, they are not afraid to bring it up with a supervisor or coworker. Various safety initiatives are being used to encourage a personal responsibility for safety. This kind of “buy-in” at Chase is a big part of that safety culture and has translated into a safety record worthy of admiration.

The Rule Simplification Project was designed to address employee needs to more easily understand operational rules. A joint labor/management team reviewed every rule with a mandate to reorganize and rewrite rules using a structure that would make the rules shorter and easier to teach and understand.  Previous rule books lacked consistent formatting, uniformity of wording and terms, and structure that allowed task related rules to be scattered across many sections and books. Now, rules have been streamlined in a hierarchical “cookbook” fashion using an organizational structure that groups all relevant rules by task. Rules are written in a standard format that dissects common tasks into step by step processes. Team members also identified opportunities to strengthen critical safety rules and address new operating practices and technology. This collaborative effort created tasks and employee-centric rules that are clear, concise, and support uniform application across the network. Since their introduction on January 1, 2014, employee response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Despite the challenges of being a start-up organization handling both passenger and freight operations, the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay (SCMB) team has managed from day-one to be injury and accident-free for 525 days and counting.  This has been achieved with a very limited budget and a “from scratch” team of individuals that were completely new to this railroad.  While getting underway, the railroad field tested the company’s new conductor certification training program and other part 230-compliant training programs.  Since start-up, the team located a new customer (a biofuel manufacturer) and increased business from existing customers by 30 percent.  The SCMB team’s efforts to operate two seasons of passenger events and grow the freight business have been successful.

Last year, Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) committed to an expansion of its training program for all craft employees in a new facility to be housed in a former customer service center in Shreveport, La. Beginning with conductor training, new computer classrooms were set up as well as static displays of equipment to allow trainees to practice their skills before moving to a live yard. Students build confidence as they learn proper techniques for mounting and dismounting equipment, radio, and hand signals.  KCS employees designed and installed the equipment in a matter of months and the facility’s role is expanding to include training for mechanical and engineering personnel.

The Elgin SIM team has been credited with many accomplishments over the years, making METRA a safer system for employees and passengers. The team has adopted a proactive approach in promoting safety by eliminating or reducing exposure thereby reducing the risk of injury or incident. The secret of the team’s success is their professionalism and ability to build good working relationships with employees of other crafts and departments who are needed to correct or repair potential safety hazards. For example, the team identified the need for a safer walking surface other than ballast in the Elgin Yard, particularly during the winter months. The ballast surface provided a hazard for carmen performing inspections.  After working with the engineering department, the team decided that using a metal grate style walkway system affixed to the ties provided the best option.  As a result, 2,000 feet of metal walkway was installed before winter. Not only has the new system reduced exposure to injuries, it has proven to have an added benefit of allowing the snow to fall through the grates, eliminating the need for crews to clear the snow for comfortable walking. The walkway also can be easily removed and replaced if track work is being done in a way which is less costly than replacing a traditional asphalt walkway. Because of the safety benefits of this new walkway, METRA is planning on expanding its use as future walkways need replacement.

The Safety and Service Committee has focused on recognizing safety behaviors and coaching employees for peak safety performance. The team enthusiastically boasts that they are “changing the world” through developing a safety culture and implementing peer-to-peer interaction. They believe that each person can make a positive impact on safety. The committee has put safety in action by establishing best practices. For example, the committee identified a potential exposure when rail wheels were damaged by handbrakes left applied.  The committee conducted an audit to educate employees on the consequences of the improper use of handbrakes.  The committee also brought customers into the safety process by providing safety “check-ups” with customers to educate and benchmark safety best practices. Believing that safety is every employee’s responsibility, the committee consistently looks for new opportunities to improve the safety of their employees, customers and communities they serve.

The Derailment Prevention Team demonstrated their commitment to safety through the implementation of UP Way problem solving tools.  They used data from an eight step problem solving process to identify the top three causes of human factor derailments: shoving, behaviors around a switch, and employees with less than five years of service. These findings resulted in the successful implementation of several new safety tools at the Houston Service Unit: a new job briefing book written from the employee’s perspective, visual management job aids, and a two-day derailment prevention class for employees with less than five years of service. The result has been a reduction of human factors from an average of 5.5 per month to an average of 2.0 per month. Implementation of these prevention countermeasures has yielded sustainable results and enhanced employee engagement in safety improvement. These new tools are being deployed throughout the Southern Region.

“Freight railroads have for years worked with emergency responders and personnel to educate and inform them about the hazardous materials moving through their communities. These open and transparent communications will continue as railroads do all they can to comply with the Department of Transportation’s Emergency Order.”

"We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Chairman Jim Oberstar, who has been a true leader on transportation issues on Capitol Hill. Mr. Oberstar was a thoughtful and knowledgeable lawmaker with almost unparalleled influence in the transportation world, with an appreciation for planning for the long term. He was the leading infrastructure expert of our time who focused on the most effective ways to move people and goods, including the adoption of intermodalism. Congressman Oberstar will be remembered as a dedicated and loyal servant to the American people."

Download the bill text: http://goo.gl/vZ3PDk

[Download report from the Rail Safety Forum on the Transportation of Crude Oil and Ethanol] (MAYPDF2)

 

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 23, 2014 – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) responded to steps announced today by Transport Canada aimed at improving the safe movement of hazardous materials by rail, including crude oil and ethanol. 

“We are pleased that Transport Canada has recognized the safety benefits of the voluntary action items already implemented by railroads in the U.S.,” said AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. “Railroads also have been in the vanguard of those calling for the aggressive retrofit or phase out of older tank cars currently in service moving flammable liquids, including crude and ethanol.  Transport Canada has indeed recommended an aggressive timeline and we are confident that the industry will do all it can to meet it.”

To learn more about voluntary steps freight railroads agreed to with DOT earlier this year, visit www.aar.org.

“Everyone in the industry is greatly frustrated at the inability to move forward and do what we need to do to advance PTC installation,” said Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. “It’s been two steps forward, three steps back for months and we simply don’t have the certainty we need to move ahead and get PTC tested, fully functioning, certified and ready to go.”

Causing the timing for installation to be delayed significantly, Hamberger said, was an FCC directive to suspend installation of approximately 20,000 communications antennas necessary to for PTC to work until the antennas are assessed through the FCC’s environmental and historical evaluation process. The problem, Hamberger noted, is that how the thousands of antennas are to be reviewed has yet to be determined.  The majority of the antennas at issue are between 10- to 60-feet tall, and roughly 97 percent are located on railroad property, he added.

The freight rail industry is expected to install PTC on approximately 60,000 miles of mainline track and has spent approximately $4 billion to date implementing the automatic braking system Congress called for as part of the 2008 Rail Safety Improvement Act.

AAR’s report to FRA summarizing the freight railroad industry’s progress, available here, includes an in-depth look at issues, such as delays in availability of critical back-office-server software, complexities of mapping an ever-changing nationwide rail network, and taking a phased approach to testing and implementing PTC on each railroad’s PTC network.

Hamberger noted that despite the challenges, railroads so far have been able to make progress in some areas of PTC implementation, including:

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  Installing or partially installing PTC equipment on 50 percent of the locomotives on which it will be required;
  
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   Deploying one third of the wayside units that will be required;
  
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  Replacing half of the signals needed for implementation, and
  
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  Mapping most of the track that will be equipped with PTC.
  

 

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 10, 2014 – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today issued the following statement in response to recent questions about rail service issues, and in light of today’s related hearing at the Surface Transportation Board.

“There have been recent rail service challenges in parts of the country and railroads are working around the clock to mitigate them. Those challenges result from a confluence of events that were concentrated in particular regions. These events include a winter that was far worse than usual and forced railroads to dramatically shorten train lengths and crew exposure to the elements; a record grain harvest and unexpected surge in grain exports; and higher coal volumes as utilities sought to replenish stockpiles they consumed when they generated additional electricity to keep all of America warm this winter.

“Despite regional service issues, railroads continue to move vast volumes of goods safely and efficiently. In March 2014, U.S. railroads originated nearly 39,000 more carloads and nearly 93,000 more containers and trailers than in March 2013. They transported higher average weekly intermodal volume than any in March in history and the fourth highest of any month in history. Average weekly U.S. rail carloads of coal in March were the highest in six months; carloads of chemicals (the category that includes ethanol) were the highest in 23 months; motor vehicles were the highest in 12 months; lumber was the highest in 67 months; and nonmetallic minerals were the highest in six months.

“It remains the railroads’ goal to provide service at the high levels their customers expect.”

The Board is statutorily required to annually determine which railroads are revenue adequate. Since standards were established in 1981, the Board has made adjustments to its methodology to improve the agency’s ability to accurately determine revenue adequacy. However, during the past decade, both the structure of the rail industry and the flow of commerce have continued to change substantially. The Board believes a new examination of revenue adequacy is in order, and today has begun a proceeding to begin that process.

The Board's Notice seeking comment, announcing a subsequent hearing, and providing details and due dates for the submission of filings in Railroad Revenue Adequacy, Docket No. EP 722, and in Petition of the Western Coal Traffic League to Institute a Rulemaking Proceeding to Abolish the Use of the Multi-Stage Discounted Cash Flow Model in Determining the Railroad Industry’s Cost of Equity Capital, Docket No. EP 664 (Sub-No. 2), may be viewed and downloaded at the Board's website, www.stb.dot.gov, under "E-LIBRARY / Decisions & Notices / 04/ 02 / 14".

[View the STB news release]


Damage Prevention & Freight Claims Update
2013 Freight Loss & Damage Report Released
The amount paid for loss and damage by U.S. and Canadian railroads decreased from $100.3 million in 2012 to $99.4 million in 2013.  Loss and damage as a percent of revenue remained at 0.13%, tying the all-time low mark set in 2010 and 2012.  Also of note is the percent of claims settled by carriers within 30 days during 2013 – 83%, the greatest percent over the past nine years.
[Download the 2013 Freight Loss & Damage Report] (MayPDF1)





Environment, Hazardous Materials & Tank Car Concentration Area Update

Online Registration open for the BOE Seminar

The Bureau of Explosives will be hosting the 27^th Annual AAR/BOE Hazmat Seminar on May 20-22, 2014 in Addison, TX at the InterContinental Dallas.

Attendee, exhibitor and sponsor registration is now open on the event website – http://www.boe.aar.com/boe-hazmat_seminar.htm

For more information, contact BOE Manager Sam Chapman at sam_chapman@aar.com or 719-584-0749.

Subsequent to the Lac Mégantic derailment RSAC formed three Working Groups to address the following:

Discussions included items such as product classification, handling of residue shipments and securement of cars on private trackage. Labor advocated extensive training language for employees handling or in proximity to haz mat shipments; carriers felt such matters are already sufficiently addressed in existing regulations. RSAC recently voted to recommend proposed regulatory text to FRA

The RSAC reached consensus and the industry subsequently filed a Petition for Special Approval asking FRA:

FRA believed a rule is warranted with the premise that a two-person crew is the norm but that limited allowances be made for specific exceptions in the rule along with a process to consider future exceptions.  FRA presented no data to support this and AAR’s analysis of ten years of data showed no main line accidents that would have been prevented by a second crew member. Consensus was not reached at the final Working Group meeting on March 31. On April 9 FRA issued a press release stating, “In light of the working group's failure to reach consensus on crew size, the FRA took action today to move forward with a rulemaking.”

In response to NTSB recommendations FRA offered and RSAC accepted a new task whose purpose is to develop:

FRA expects to initiate a new Working Group in June.

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  Risk Reduction Programs, NPRM expected by May / June 2014
  
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  Training Standards, Final Rule expected May / June 2014
  
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  Critical Incident Stress Plan, Final Rule published March 25
  
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  §219 Testing for MW Employees, NPRM expected by May 2014
  
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  Emergency Escape Breathing Devices, Final Rule expected late 2014
  
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  Passenger System Safety Rules, Final Rule expected May / June 2014
  
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  Rules for Non-Signaled Territory, Set aside until Risk Reduction Programs completed
  
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  Revisions to §240, NPRM expected May / June 2014
  
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  Revisions to Roadway Worker Rules, Final Rule expected May / June 2014
  

You can view the latest reports from key AAR committees submitted by your associate member representatives by visiting to the members’ area, Click here to access Committee Reports and Descriptions.

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  Arbitration & Rules Committee
  
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  Brake Systems Committee
  
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  Car Repair billing committee
  
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  Intermodal Car Performance Committee
  
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  Locomotive Committee
  
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  Mechanical & Vehicle Track Systems Committee
  
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  Specially Equipped Freight Car Committee
  
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  Wheels, Axles, Brakes, & Lubrication (WABL) Committee
  
  
  

Bombardier Confirms Value of Contract with Transnet Freight Rail for Locomotives in South Africa

GE Transportation Showcases Rail Software Technology at the Annual ASLRRA 2014 Meeting

Rockwell Collins receives 2014 Career and Technology Education Award from the Maryland State Department of Education

Shell lifts first crude oil from the Majnoon oilfield

Timken Acquires Schulz Group, Further Expanding Services Offering

Timken Awards Scholarships Valued at $790,000 to 38 Employees' Children

Wabtec Signs $16.6 Million Contracts to Provide PTC Equipment/Services for Alaska Railroad

Westport delivers first LNG tender to EMD
Parsons Announces Updated Corporate Social Responsibility Report
The Association of French Regions (ARF), SNCF and Alstom introduce Régiolis, the next-generation TER regional train which is gradually entering into service in the French Regions.

Monthly Traffic Report
AAR Reports Increased Traffic for April, Increased Traffic for the Week
WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 8, 2014 – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported increased U.S. rail traffic for April 2014, with both carload and intermodal volume increasing compared with April 2013. Intermodal traffic in April totaled 1,316,176 containers and trailers, up 9 percent (108,485 units) compared with April 2013, and the 53rd-consecutive year-over-year monthly increase for intermodal volume. The weekly average of 263,235 intermodal units on U.S. railroads in April 2014 was easily the highest for any April in history and was the second highest for any month in history.
Meanwhile, U.S. carload originations totaled 1,481,586 in April 2014, up 6.4 percent (88,801 carloads) over April 2013. Fourteen of the 20 commodity categories tracked by the AAR each month saw year-over-year carload increases in April. Commodities with the biggest carload increases included coal, up 34,502 carloads, or 6.4 percent; grain, up 22,683 carloads, or 27.6 percent; crushed stone, sand and gravel, 10,194 carloads, or 9.5 percent; and petroleum and petroleum products, up 5,316 carloads, or 7.6 percent.
Commodity categories with carload declines last month included metallic ores, down 8,408 carloads, or 27 percent; and food products, down 972 carloads, or 3 percent.

Excluding coal and grain, carloads were up 31,616 carloads, or 4.1 percent in April, the biggest such percentage increase in six months. 

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  May 20, 2014 (Dallas, TX) 27^th Annual AAR/BOE Hazardous Materials Seminar
  
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  May 28, 2014 (San Francisco, CA) North American Association of Rail Shippers (NARS) 2014 Annual Meeting
  
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  May 28-30, 2014 (Teleconference) ConnectMEX U.S.-Mexico Transport and Telecom Conference
  
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  June 16-18, 2014 (Charleston, SC) 2014 Railroad Accounting Officers & Internal Audit Division Training Sessions
  
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  June 23-25 (Vienna, Austria) 4^th UIC Global Rail Freight Conference
  
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  June 30, 2014 - July 2, 2014 (Orlando, FL) 2014 Damage Prevention & Freight Claims Conference
  
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  September 10-12, 2014 (Kansas City, MO) Railroad Insurance Management Association (RIMA)
  

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  2014 AAR Member Directory (AAR.org login required)
  
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  AAR Committee Reports from Associate Member Representatives (AAR.org login required)
  
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  2013 Edition of Railroad Facts & Other AAR Statistics (AAR.org login required)
  
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  AAR Circular Letters (subscription required)
  
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  AAR/TTCI Publications Website