The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the Oct. 15 BNSF Railway Co. coal-train derailment off a bridge over Interstate 25 near Pueblo, Colorado. A truck driver was killed in the accident. Photos taken by the Colorado State Patrol show a partially collapsed bridge with the semi-truck caught underneath. The photos also show rail cars and coal scattered […]
Continuing NTSB investigation will look at UP operating rules and condition of machine involved in January incident The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued its preliminary report on a January incident that resulted in the death of a Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) worker in Vail, Arizona. The investigation is ongoing and no cause has been determined, NTSB said. The Jan. […]
by Johan Moreno Contributor for forbes.com As shared by a Redditor on the /r/GoogleMaps subreddit, Google appears to be adding railroad crossing alerts. The notification, which appears near railroad crossings, warns drivers of possible delays, but also serves as a warning to drivers of a possible safety hazard. The same feature was added to Google’s sister traffic and navigation […]
Written by Frank N. Wilner, Capitol Hill Contributing Editor for railwayage.com The year was 1917, and on Dec. 18, President Woodrow Wilson invoked the Army Appropriations Act of 1916 to take federal control of the nation’s railroads. The U.S. had entered World War I that April, and a lack of coordination among railroads, along with labor strife, […]
Railroad communications technology and machine automation have a history of working to improve railroad operations and employees’ job performance. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI), human-computer interfaces and robots are affecting the railroad industry by replacing some workers. For example, DELAIR is an organization that uses drones to help locate problems on rail routes. The railroad industry […]
byJOSH FUNK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The railroad industry is hoping this year’s scheduled completion of an automatic railroad braking system will bolster its argument to reduce the number of crew members in most trains from two to one. But labor groups argue that such a reduction would make trains more accident-prone. The $15 billion braking […]
The railroad industry has installed safety technology on nearly 90% of tracks where it is required, federal officials said Wednesday, but “significant work” is needed to ensure the technology is completely installed by a December 2020 deadline. Federal Railroad Administration chief Ronald Batory told a Senate committee that technology known as positive train control, or […]
WASHINGTON, DC — Amtrak is failing to spot and stop drug and alcohol use among its employees who are trusted to keep passengers safe, according to newly released documents obtained by the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit. In a 33-page report issued Thursday, Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General found: Passenger railroads struggle to implement ‘lifesaving’ […]
Railroad accident investigators are warning that further delays in installing crash prevention technology will continue to put travelers at risk of deadly accidents caused by human errors. The National Transportation Board said at a safety event Monday that positive train control, or PTC, systems could have saved 303 lives and prevented 6,800 injuries over the […]
Only four of the nation’s 41 rail systems required to implement lifesaving technology to prevent train accidents met Monday’s deadline, according to the Department of Transportation. The others — including Amtrak — have either applied for or been granted extensions of the deadline. The technology, called positive train control, can prevent collisions and derailments. It […]