Action
Notice of Safety Advisory.
Summary
FRA is issuing Safety Advisory 2015-06 to notify freight railroads of the circumstances of a head-on collision at Hoxie, AR, and the risks automated inputs that reset alerter warning timing cycles pose. A small number of Union Pacific Railroad (UP) locomotives were equipped with alerters that the horn sequencer reset without direct engineer action, reducing the alerters' effectiveness. UP has appropriately modified its locomotives to resolve the issue and FRA is not aware of any other locomotives equipped with alerters that automatically reset without direct engineer action. However, all freight railroads should review the operation of their locomotives equipped with alerters, and modify them as necessary, to ensure no system resets the alerter warning timing cycle without direct engineer action.