UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Friday, March 31, 2000

FRA finds defects in CSX tracks

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Railroad Administration has found deteriorating track conditions on many areas of the CSX Transportation rail system, including lines used by passenger trains, according to officials of the agency and the railroad.

The agency began the two-week system-wide track audit on Feb. 22 because of a 60 percent increase over five years in track-caused accidents on the 22,700-mile system.

Among other defects, the agency’s track inspection car found two areas where the distance between the rails--the gauge--had spread wide enough to risk derailments on the line used by Amtrak, Virginia Railway Express and all north-south CSX freight trains between the VRE L’Enfant Plaza station and the Potomac River bridge. The defects were repaired immediately after they were found.

George Gavalla, the agency’s associate administrator for safety, said he was less concerned about the number of defects inspectors found than he was about the type of defects. "When you look at the nature of the defects, these are conditions that should not exist on any Class One [major] railroad," Gavalla said. "We will not tolerate wide gauge on any railroad."

CSX President Ronald Conway, named to head the railroad nine months ago, called the conditions "unacceptable" and said, "Whatever is necessary to do, we’ll do."

"I’m as concerned as they are about these findings," Conway said.

The seriousness of the conditions apparently came as a surprise to top railroad officials. Under federal track standards, allowable gauge variances are measured in fractions of an inch, not as much as an inch or 1-1/2 inches. The faster the speed limit, the tighter the federal tolerances. Allowing fast passenger trains to run over numerous out-of-gauge areas is unsafe, officials said privately. In addition, these lines haul heavy tank cars of hazardous material.

Conway hinted that action may be taken against some of the railroad’s maintenance officials, but he was not specific. A CSX spokesman said later that no one has been dismissed. The spokesman said that all the defects found by the agency are being corrected, and in the meantime the railroad has ordered trains to move at slower speeds over the defects until they can be corrected.

Gavalla said CSX officials "recognized the seriousness of it right away" and that CSX Corp. Chairman John Snow called Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene Molitoris to promise action. Gavalla said CSX is also working closely with the FRA and rail unions on a road worker safety campaign.

CSX owns the track used by many passenger and commuter trains, and is responsible for track maintenance. Amtrak and commuter authorities pay CSX a fee to use its tracks.

The FRA, which regulates railroad safety, said in a draft report that "listening sessions" with CSX track workers and first-line supervisors indicated that there are worker shortages on many parts of the system, and "these reports are supported by FRA’s own observations that track conditions appear to be deteriorating on many portions of the CSX system."

FRA inspectors found "many areas of concern" including rails spread too wide, marginal crosstie conditions, rail failures, worn rails, worn switches and water-saturated subgrades. This is the second time in less than three years that the FRA has criticized CSX’s physical condition. The agency uses a track geometry car to measure rail defects. It is basically a self-propelled rail car with dozens of sensors connected to computers that allow engineers and technicians on board to monitor conditions as the car rolls along.

CSX, like other railroads, has its own track geometry car, and the report noted that in some cases CSX inspections had failed to find defects that were found by the FRA car. In some cases, the FRA car, in its regular inspections, found defects that the railroad had failed to correct.

The FRA noted that two of the three recent track-caused derailments were caused by wide gauge, including a minor derailment of Amtrak’s Chicago-Washington Capitol Limited at Connellsville, Pa., on Jan. 30.

The width between rails is supposed to be 56 1/2 inches. The inspection found numerous spots around the CSX system where the gauge was spread one inch to 1 1/2 inches too wide.

That included two spots on the CSX main line between L’Enfant Plaza and the Potomac, where the FRA test equipment found the gauge to be 58 inches--1 1/2 inches too wide.

A train can generally continue to roll over a gauge that wide, but under the right circumstances a wheel can either slip down to the ballast and ties or turn a rail over, and begin ripping up the track structure.

"A 58-inch gauge is unacceptable," Conway said. "Those things have to be corrected before they’re found by a train." A CSX spokesman said the L’Enfant Plaza problems were corrected within hours after they were found, and new rail was laid through the area.

On another CSX route used by Amtrak’s Washington-Chicago Cardinal--the North Mountain subdivision from Charlottesville to Clifton Forge, Va.--the FRA equipment found 23 locations with a gauge of 57 3/4 inches or more, poor crosstie condition and many curves with insufficient spikes to hold the track in proper gauge. Informed of the conditions, a senior CSX official inspected the track and immediately reduced the passenger train speed limit from 60 mph to 40 mph.

The FRA report recommended civil penalties for conditions found on that 97-mile subdivision.

On a line in North Florida where Amtrak’s Orlando-Los Angeles Sunset Limited travels at up to 79 mph, the agency found 23 instances of wide gauge, including three greater than 58 inches. Civil penalties were also recommended for those defects.

The agency noted that two freight trains derailed within 11 days in February at the same spot in Darby, Pa., because of the same conditions -- "noneffective ties," insufficient rail fasteners and wide gauge. The mayor of Darby gained local publicity by briefly parking a patrol car on the tracks and refusing to let trains pass.

Among other problems found by the FRA:

Some areas that had scored poorly in previous inspections seem to be in better shape now, including the heavily traveled Baltimore-Harpers Ferry-Cumberland line, which the FRA called "reasonably good." However, the report said inspectors noted areas of water saturation that would cause deterioration if not fixed with proper drainage.

The FRA had similar comments on the heavy freight line from Columbus, Ohio, to Toledo.

The report said there were many instances in which the FRA inspectors found defects overlooked by CSX inspection crews, as well as instances in which defects were present where CSX records showed they had been fixed.

CSX has been struggling to absorb 42 percent of the eastern railroad Conrail, which it split in a deal with rival Norfolk Southern, which got 58 percent. Many of the more serious problems described in the FRA report were located on the former CSX system, although some former Conrail lines were singled out for criticism.

CSX is one of two dominant railroads east of the Mississippi River, stretching from Canada to Florida and the Midwest to the East Coast. In addition to freight service, CSX operates commuter trains Virginia Railway Express and Maryland Rail Commuter Service (MARC) in the Washington-Baltimore area.

NTSB says school bus did not stop

TENNGA, Ga. -- The school bus struck by a freight train here this week did not stop at the rail crossing, according to investigators who also said drivers cannot adequately see an approaching train.

Three children died as the result of Tuesday’s collision. Four other children and the driver were seriously injured as the train ripped the bus from its chassis and dragged it for 100 yards.

"We’ve come to the preliminary conclusion that the bus did not stop at the crossing prior to entering it," said Ken Suydam, the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigator in charge.

Investigators also said Thursday that the horn on CSX train sounded for at least eight continuous seconds before the collision. They said a radio was on inside the bus and there were several conversations taking place.

Suydam said he could not say whether bus driver Rhonda Cloer tried to stop the bus. The vehicle’s brakes were being examined and Suydam said the bus’s speed had not been determined.

Cloer has refused to be interviewed by investigators, referring questions to her lawyer, Suydam said.

Using a locomotive still streaked with yellow paint from the crash, the investigators re-enacted the moments before the crash, steering the freight train through the crossing, checking its braking distance and the volume of its whistle.

NTSB Chairman Jim Hall boarded a duplicate of the school bus destroyed in the crash to observe the driver’s visibility at the crossing and to study its seat belts.

He also interviewed local residents, many of whom told him the crossing’s marking -- signs, but no crossbars or warning lights -- was inexcusable.

"The bottom line is school buses should not go over railroad crossings of this type," Hall said. "This is not a safe situation for children."

The NTSB said its final report will not be released for months.

Hall said states should have taken more seriously an NTSB report last year calling for more warning devices at railroad crossings. He promised to look into ways more crossings could be equipped with crossbars and signals.

Funeral service were scheduled today for Kayla Silvers, 6, and Daniel Pack, 9. Both died instantly in the crash. Weekend services are scheduled for 9-year-old Amber Pritchett, who died Wednesday night at T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Robust economy boosts health of retirement programs

WASHINGTON -- Thanks to the strong economy, Medicare will have an additional eight years, until 2023, before cash runs short to pay benefits to aging baby boomers. And Social Security will remain financially healthy an extra three years, until 2037, trustees of the programs said Thursday.

"The fundamental shortfall still does exist, but the good news is that the problem is a little bit more manageable," said Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who serves as trustee along with other administration officials and two private experts.

President Clinton took credit for the progress during a visit to a senior citizens’ center in Queens, N.Y.

"This means the commitment to fiscal discipline and good government can make a difference to families," Clinton said.

Administration officials tried to retain a note of sobriety, reminding that the huge baby boom generation -- those born between 1946 and 1964 -- will be retiring well into the 2020s and living longer in retirement than their parents.

"It would be a mistake, a big mistake, I believe to kick the can 20 years down the road," by delaying reforms, said Social Security Commissioner Kenneth S. Apfel.

On Capitol Hill, however, the good news prompted Republicans to renew attacks on Clinton’s proposals to commit future income tax surpluses to bolster the nation’s retirement programs.

"Instead of that failed approach, we should work on a real plan that saves Social Security and creates personal savings accounts for all Americans," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas.

In recent years, a looming financial crunch had prompted a frenzy of reform ideas. But even before Thursday’s report, the prospects for fundamental Medicare and Social Security changes this election year were dim, with members of Congress loathe to compromise.

There was little talk of major reform Thursday. Nevertheless, Democrats renewed their call to add new prescription drug benefits to Medicare.

"There is no excuse now for inaction on prescription drugs," said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

This is the third consecutive year that both Social Security and Medicare have shown improvement in their long-range financial outlook.

For Medicare, it was the best report card in 25 years. The health insurance program for the elderly and disabled had been projected to run short of cash in 2001, lending urgency to lawmakers’ struggle over historic legislation to balance the federal budget back in 1997.

Last year, trustees reported that date had improved to 2015. It was moved to 2023 in their newest estimate on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the date when Social Security will exhaust its trust fund was moved back to 2037, back three years from last year’s estimate of 2034. The trustees had pushed it off by two years in 1999 and three in 1998, from 2029.

Also significant this year, the trustees estimated that Medicare will take in more money from workers’ payroll taxes than it has to pay out in benefits until 2010, when it will have to start dipping into its trust fund to pay bills.

Before the boost from the strong economy, Medicare had already started to dip into the trust fund.

Social Security will have to start tapping its trust fund in 2015, the trustees said this year, compared to last year’s estimate of 2014.

The brightened prospects came despite action by the trustees this year that increased assumptions about how fast Americans’ life expectancy will increase in coming decades. The booming economy more than made up for that change.

Contributing economic factors included the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years. With more Americans working, more are also paying the payroll taxes that support the two programs, padding their balance sheets.

Low inflation also has saved Social Security money because yearly cost-of-living raises to retirees are smaller.

In addition, Medicare spending decreased slightly in 1999, by about 1 percent -- the first decline in the program’s history. The trustees attributed that to restrained inflation, budget cuts mandated by Congress in 1997, and a crackdown on fraud and billing errors.

Medicare spending is not expected to continue to fall, however, mainly because the nation’s elderly population is growing.

Also, Medicare’s trust fund only backs up part of the program: the core hospital benefits. Other coverage, known as Part B, including doctor’s office visits and other outpatient care, is paid for with income taxes and participants’ premiums.

Part B costs continued to climb last year, the trustees said, although administration officials noted that slower growth than expected means senior citizen’s monthly Medicare premiums were $9 lower than the trustees had projected in 1993.

Wisconsin rail crossing to get surveillance cameras, barrier gates

WAUKESHA, Wis. -- As a prelude to the installation of high-tech gates at a dangerous Waukesha train crossing this year, the state for the first time plans to use a video surveillance system to gauge how often drivers and pedestrians try to beat trains.

"This will be the first barrier gate in the state on a major railroad crossing, and the first one that will have video surveillance," state Railroad Commissioner Rodney Kreunen said.

"I think this (camera system) is going to become the standard at many of the busy intersections."

Until the barrier gates are installed at Sunset Drive, Kreunen said, he expects that the video will show "people doing the dumbest things," such as motorists trying to "skirt under the (existing) gates at the last second" or drivers and pedestrians going around the gates after they are down.

Although the video can’t be used for law enforcement, Kreunen said, it could be used to raise public awareness of the dangers at train crossings.

The cameras will be installed three months before the barrier gates are erected at the Wisconsin Central Ltd. crossing, Kreunen said, noting that he is aiming to have the surveillance system in place June 1.

That will allow state and railroad officials to see how people react to the current cantilevered gates -- typical at many rail crossings -- and the barrier gates, which will block the entire Sunset Drive intersection.

Tests have shown that barrier gates can stop a speeding pickup truck that otherwise could be on a collision course with a train.

After the barrier gates are installed, the video system also will be used to determine whether the new gates are working as promised, Kreunen said.

Glenn Kerbs, vice president of engineering for Wisconsin Central, was out of the office on Wednesday and unavailable to comment.

About 22,000 cars and 36 trains, most traveling at 60 mph, use the Sunset Drive crossing each day.

"This crossing is very dangerous," Kreunen said.

The surveillance system will be activated about 20 to 30 seconds before a train reaches the crossing, he said.

The cameras might make people think twice about trying to beat a train. "It kind of puts a caution in place -- nobody wants to be caught on tape," Kreunen said.

Should an accident occur, the video would be helpful in determining the cause, he said.

Police Lt. William H. Graham Jr. said the cameras and gates should make the crossing safer.

"I can’t see where it’s going to hurt anything," Graham said. "Anything you can do to improve the safety is beneficial."

He said there is a "big problem" with people trying to beat automated signals. "If you go around a gate, you could be in a position of not getting out in time," he said.

The new barriers and cameras could cost as much as $200,000 and are to be paid for with federal and state funds.

Barrier gates are different from ordinary railroad crossing bars in that they are made of two arms that come down from each side of the street and lock into a solid base in a center median.

Inside the arms are three cables made of the same type of steel used to stop jets on aircraft carriers. When a barrier gate is struck, the aluminum arms break away and the cables hold back the vehicle.

Kreunen was here in December to observe the Sunset Drive intersection. After watching a vehicle maneuver around the signal gates as a train approached, he said he was more convinced than ever about the need for the state-of-the-art gates there.

The only other rail crossing in the country using barrier gates is along Whitney Way in Madison, Kreunen said.

Because of that, Kreunen has ordered that the existing gates remain at the Waukesha crossing for two years after the barrier gates are installed to provide an adequate testing period for the new device.

EDC loaned Amtrak $145M last year

OTTAWA -- The federal Export Development Corporation’s secret $1-billion loan package to U.S. railroad agency Amtrak shot up another $145 million in the past year, the corporation’s annual report reveals.

Tabled in the House of Commons yesterday, the 1999 report shows that the corporation supported more than $40 billion in sales and foreign investments in 1999 including more financing to Amtrak for the purchase of train equipment from Bombardier Inc.

Under the category "allowance for losses on loans," the agency report has a single line revealing "a single counterparty loan receivable of $1.151 billion with a ground transportation entity in the U.S." In the 1998 report, the amount on the same line was only $1.006 billion -- a difference of $145 million.

"The reason why there is an increase is because there was more business done, more exports supported to Amtrak. It is not one loan, it is many loans," explained Jayne Watson, a spokeswoman for the corporation.

She said Amtrak continues to maintain interest payments on the loans and "we fully expect to be repaid every penny."

Amtrak, a debt-plagued agency, was unable to get a funding request past the U.S. Congress in 1996. In 1997, it received a $2.2 billion U.S. grant from the Clinton government to purchase equipment, but failed to obtain an additional $2 billion it said it needed. Amtrak has run large annual deficits for decades.

Ms. Watson acknowledged that the loan package could increase again if Amtrak does more business with Canadian companies.

"People sort of forget that’s what Parliament mandated us to do, is to provide support for Canadian companies selling abroad," said Ms. Watson.

Canada’s passenger rail advocacy group, Transport 2000, has criticized the Chretien government for secretly lending funds to Amtrak while slashing funding for Via Rail service in Canada.

Annual funding for Via has been cut since 1993 from $348 million to $178 million per year, almost the amount lent out to Amtrak last year.

Export corporation officials confirmed to the Citizen that the series of loans were mostly for Amtrak purchases from Bombardier of train sets and cars, including for the $2.6 billion U.S. "Acela Express" high-speed train project. As well, the loans financed purchases by Amtrak of locomotives from General Motors in Canada.

In a short summary of EDC’s ground transportation and shipping team, the 1999 report says the Crown corporation was "proud to support its first sales of freight cars to a U.S. buyer and locomotives to Mexico."

The report also says that 1999 "marked a significant step for EDC as it began to actively support Canadian companies in the ship-building sector." The agency says it financed transactions involving a floating oil platform, new ship construction and ship repairs.

The report also reveals "joint business development initiatives" between the agency and Canadian shipyards are being pursued to obtain more business abroad.

But the report does not name a single company involved in the transportation or shipping transactions supported by the export agency. The agency team did $1.9 billion overall in business volume in 1999, with 55 per cent of that in North America and the Caribbean, including Mexico.

The report shows that the agency served 5,182 customers in 1999, an increase of about 16 per cent from 1998. The corporation reported a profit of $118 million during the last year while helping Canadian companies in 171 countries.

Technology could stop bus-train collisions

WASHINGTON -- If trains and school buses were equipped with relatively inexpensive radio signal devices, collisions like the one in rural Georgia this week that killed two children and injured five others might not happen, a school bus safety advocate said Wednesday.

Most of the attention following Tuesday’s crash in Tennga, Ga., has focused on whether more should be done to prevent accidents at ‘‘passive’’ railroad crossings where there are warning signs but no signal lights or gates.

But for years safety advocates have also unsuccessfully urged federal and state regulatory agencies, school systems and the school bus industry to equip trains and school buses with radio signal devices that warn school bus drivers of approaching trains, said Dr. Alan Ross, head of the National Coalition for School Bus Safety.

"We are very upset that the technology that could have prevented this accident has not been utilized," Ross said.

Basically, a transmitter on the train sends out a radio signal that is picked up by a receiver on the bus, triggering either a warning siren or flashing lights to alert the driver that a train is approaching.

"The technology is very simple," Ross said. "Companies haven’t marketed this stuff because there is no market for it. The (school bus) industry isn’t going to go out and spend money unless mandated" and federal regulatory agencies have ignored the issue.

It would cost less than $1,000 per train and $500 per bus to install the warning systems, Ross estimated. Since new school buses cost between $40,000 and $70,000 each, the warning systems would add roughly 1 percent to the price of a new bus.

Nationally, there are about 450,000 public and private school buses on the road. Collisions between school buses and trains are unusual but do happen occasionally. Seven students were killed in Fox River Grove, Ill., in 1995 when their bus was struck by a train.

Charles Gauthier, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, which represents the state officials who regulate school bus service, said the key to the Georgia accident would appear, based on initial press reports, to be a bus driver who failed to "stop, look and listen" before venturing through the railroad crossing.

"I’m not totally convinced that you can continually put more items, more warning devices on motor vehicles to compensate for obvious errors in human judgment," Gauthier said.

Safety advocates have also fought for over three decades to require that school buses be equipped with seat belts or lap/shoulder belts, swing arms and undercarriage sensors. They have usually met with opposition from industry and federal and state regulators, who insist school buses are the safest vehicles on the road and that some safety proposals -- particularly lap belts -- may do more harm than good.

However, the once-formidable opposition to seat belts on school buses appears to be waning. Measures to phase in seat belts were introduced in more than 30 state legislatures last year and were enacted into law in three states -- California, Florida and Louisiana. Two states, New York and New Jersey, already required that school buses have seat belts. Additionally, about 300 school districts nationwide require them.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to release a study this summer on whether the safety benefits would outweigh the disadvantages of equipping buses with lap/shoulder belts.

Some studies indicate that lap belts alone can lead to back and intestinal injuries in certain crashes. Safety advocates argue that those risks are offset by the more serious injuries that can occur to unbelted students.

The risk of injury from lap/shoulder belts is less, and the belts can prevent passengers from being ejected from buses or thrown around inside the bus. But in order to attach the belts to seat backs, bus seats may have to use less padding and become more rigid.

Higher seat backs to help contain passengers in their seats during crashes and increased padding have been the primary strategy for reducing deaths and injuries aboard school buses for more than 20 years. That strategy might become less necessary if students wear lap/shoulder belts, but less padding and more rigid seats might also leave students who refuse to wear the belts more vulnerable in crashes.

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