(The following appeared on the Progressive Railroading website on May 4, 2010.)
Yesterday, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) presented its President’s Awards, Jake Awards with Distinction and Jake Awards — which honor small railroads’ safety achievements — during its annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
More than 300 railroads received the awards, which are sponsored by Genesee & Wyoming Inc., OmniTRAX Inc., RailAmerica Inc., the National Academy of Railroad Sciences and Zurich.
ASLRRA presented President’s Awards to the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad Inc. for the most hours of injury-free operations and for maintaining the best safety rate in the more than 250,000 manhours category. Willamette & Pacific Railroad Inc. was honored in the 150,000-to-250,000 manhours category; Illinois & Midland Railroad Inc. won a President’s Award in the 50,000-to-150,000 manhours category; and Central California Traction Co. took top honors in the less than 50,000 manhours category. In addition, the Panhandle Northern Railroad Co. received a President’s Award for achieving the greatest improvement in safety over the previous year.
ASLRRA also bestowed Jake Awards with Distinction to 254 railroads that achieved a zero injury rate in 2009 and Jake Awards to 38 railroads that last year attained an injury rate equal to or better than the industry average of 3.0. The Jake Awards are named after Lowell “Jake” Jacobson of the Copper Basin Railway, who created the short-line safety awards and has been a long-time advocate of short-line and rail safety.