FRA spends on highway grade crossing safety, positive train control, passenger rail
April 22, 2015
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded eight grants totaling more than $21.2 million that invest in highway-rail grade crossing safety, Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation, and passenger rail. FRA awarded the grants as part of a Notice of Funding Availability it issued in July 2014 to distribute new FY14 Omnibus funding as well as unobligated funds from the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued four urgent recommendations calling for more robust and fire-resistant rail cars to be produced to safely carry flammable liquids such as crude oil and ethanol.
As its investigation of the smoke and electrical arcing accident in a tunnel near the L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station on January 12 continues, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is looking at another smoke and electrical arcing event that occurred in February.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued its final report on the Feb. 20, 2014 accident in Jesup, Ga., in which a crew member was killed during the filming of a motion picture.
Trains colliding with other trains, trucks and cars are high profile stories – especially within the last month or so. When trains collide with people, the results can be even deadlier, yet such accidents tend not to garner as much media coverage as the other kind.
The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates trains carrying crude oil or ethanol will derail an average of ten times every year during the next two decades. Derailments are predicted to cause more than $4 billion in damage and possibly kill hundreds of people if an accident happens in a densely populated part of the U.S.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) office of Railroad, Pipeline, and Hazardous Materials are in communication with the Federal Railroad Administration and CSX emergency response crews on Monday’s train derailment near Mt. Carbon, West Virginia.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday issued urgent recommendations to the Federal Transit Administration, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the American Public Transportation Association calling for improved ventilation procedures during smoke and fire events in tunnels.
Recent I joined the BNSF Road Way Equipment Safety Leadership Team in Dallas, Texas. They began their meeting, as many companies do, with a safety briefing. For most meetings, I hear someone give a quick safety minute talk about a general hazard. At many meetings, the emergency exits are pointed out and actions to take are shared. BNSF went way beyond that in just about the same amount of time.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued urgent safety recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration, the Association of American Railroads, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, and the American Public Transportation Association to help ensure that electronic alertness devices or “alerters” work as intended on trains.