Wednesday, October 19, 2005 () The nation's railroads have been given 30 days to fix a growing safety problem with an increasing number of train crashes due to track switches left in the wrong position, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta announced today.

Mineta said his department's Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has set a Nov. 22 deadline in an emergency order mandating all railroads take specific and immediate steps to end the problem, which has led to nine serious train crashes, ten fatalities and injuries to more than 600 people since January.

The accidents have occurred when employees working in areas not equipped with remote electronic signal monitors failed to follow track-switching procedures, Mineta said. In every case, the failure to reset the hand-operated switches has led to trains running onto the wrong tracks and derailing or colliding with locomotives or rail cars or both, he added. “Railroads must put an end to these avoidable and deadly mistakes,” Mineta said.

Any railroad company, supervisor or employee who violates this emergency order may be liable for a civil penalty of up to $27,000, according to the order. “There is absolutely no excuse for a switch to be left in the wrong position,” said FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman. “This dangerous, preventable, and increasingly frequent situation must stop, starting now.”

The emergency order mandates that railroads retrain and periodically test employees on switch operating procedures and increase communication among crewmembers regarding the position of the switch. Specifically, employees must be briefed on the use of switches and provide written documentation every time a switch is moved. In addition, locomotive engineers must acknowledge that switches are properly set before trains can be operated.

The nine switch-related crashes in 2005 occurred in Graniteville, SC; Bieber, CA; Banks, AL; Mt. Juliet, TN; Sheridan, OR; Florence, MN; Nickerson, KS; Heber, CA; and Shepard, TX.



Click here for the Emergency Order