(The following appeared at CNN.com on January 3.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government has imposed $349,265 in civil penalties on CSX Corp. (CSX) for violating a number of federal rail-safety regulations.
The amount was reached in a settlement conference on 141 violations; 25 violations are pending and may be resolved at a second settlement conference this year.
Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman said CSX “has made strides in the short term to lay new rail, increase its own inspections of track and equipment, and install trackside detection systems in more locations to identify potential problems early.”
But Boardman emphasized that the railroad must make “long-term investments in infrastructure, technology and employees that will strengthen its safety culture and performance.”
CSX said in an emailed statement that it cooperated fully with the administration and is committed to improving safety through investments in infrastructure and technology, and via inspections and training.
CSX’s shares closed at $42 on Thursday, down 3.3%.
Transportation officials found the violations during an inspection of CSX track in January 2007 after a number of train accidents and other incidents from November 2006 to January 2007 in Ohio, Maryland, New York and Kentucky.
The accidents include one in January 2007 in Brooks, Ky., in which a CSX train derailed, igniting a massive chemical fire that forced evacuations south of Louisville. The fire sent thick black clouds of smoke into the sky, prompting officials to evacuate residents and shut down a major highway. About two dozen people near the crash site checked themselves into a hospital for symptoms related to the fire and were released.
In November 2006, a derailment of CSX freight cars in the northwestern Ohio city of North Baltimore, about 40 miles south of Toledo, injured one person.
A number of accidents occurred in upstate New York, including a derailment and fire in Oneida that forced several thousand people to evacuate their neighborhoods.