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Norfolk Southern Corp.
and its rivals said Thursday they have agreed to join a federal system that lets employees confidentially report close calls, a program the biggest freight railroads had refused to join for years.
Transportation Secretary
Pete Buttigieg
on Monday had asked the chief executives of the seven so-called Class 1 railroads—
Union Pacific Corp.
, Norfolk Southern, BNSF Railway,
CSX Corp.
,
,
and Kansas City Southern—to join the Federal Railroad Administration’s close-call reporting system.
“The industry absolutely shares your commitment to establishing effective mechanisms to help prevent future accidents like the derailment in East Palestine,”
Ian Jefferies,
president of the Association of American Railroads, said in a letter to Mr. Buttigieg Thursday.
Safety regulators and investigators have said that having a system where rank-and-file workers can anonymously file reports of minor incidents and close calls has greatly benefited the aviation industry, and that a lack of participation from most companies in the railroad industry has stymied safety. The railroads said that they intend to continue with their own internal close-call programs, which they said allow them to respond more quickly.
Currently, only 22 railroads out of more than 600 are part of the voluntary program.
Some railroad workers said they would rather not report close calls to their respective employers, fearing discipline including losing their jobs if it emerges that the worker had violated a rule.
“The lynchpin of C3RS is confidentiality,” said
Vince Verna,
vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, referring to the close-call program by its acronym.
“It was sort of a ‘don’t shoot the messenger’ type of thing, where this person wants to tell you a story about how an accident almost happened but didn’t, and in exchange for their honesty and being forthright, they’re not going to be punished for for telling you what happened,” Mr. Verna said.
The derailment of a train last month in East Palestine, Ohio, placed more scrutiny on railroad safety practices. State senators have called for more regulations, and the federal government has also pushed for more accountability.
In his letter to the railroads on Monday, Mr. Buttigieg told the railroad executives that the program encourages employees to report safety hazards, including conditions that could lead to derailments, by protecting these workers from reprisal when they come forward. The program has worked to reduce collisions, injuries and deaths because it encourages corrective action, Mr. Buttigieg wrote.
He also said that while Amtrak and many commuter railways are part of the program, none of the Class 1 freight railroads are.
“By refusing to take this common sense step, you are sending an undesirable message about your level of commitment to the safety of your workers and the American communities where you operate,” Mr. Buttigieg’s letter said.
In its letter Thursday, AAR added some recommendations to improve the FRA’s close-call system, including having more information for railroads to develop practical corrective actions and a speedier reporting mechanism.
Write to Esther Fung at esther.fung@wsj.com
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