(The Associated Press circulated the following article on November 17.)
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are increasing safety checks of Union Pacific Railroad in response to five accidents since May that have killed four people and spilled hazardous materials.
Retraining managers who test workers on safety rules and taking other steps to improve safety are part of a compliance agreement between Union Pacific and the Federal Railroad Administration.
The FRA also reassigned federal inspectors from nine other offices to supplement its inspection staff in San Antonio, where the accidents have occurred. Federal regulators stated in the agreement that they continue to find deficiencies in Union Pacific train and engine crew compliance with operating rules.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said Tuesday that because there are too few railroad inspectors — the rail administration has 415 nationally — cooperation with private companies is necessary.
The Federal Rail Administration budget for the 2004 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was $130 million. The agency has asked for an increase to $142 million, some of which would pay for nine new safety inspectors.
The agreement signed last week is in effect until Dec. 15, 2005. If regulators at any time determine Union Pacific isn’t complying, they can take tougher action 48 hours after giving notice.
The railroad administration could have taken a tougher stance, such as ordering Union Pacific to take certain steps or imposing civil penalties. Robert Johnson, a Transportation Department spokesman, said safety improvements might have taken longer if regulators had issued a compliance order.
“This is not something we do lightly or the railroad takes lightly,” Johnson said. “An agreement is a good alternative. We achieved all the points in the agreement that we would have gotten in an order.”
Union Pacific spokeswoman Kathryn Blackwell said the railroad, based in Omaha, Neb., already is retraining managers and applying improvements to its 19 regions around the country.
“We are looking at every single action of our operation down there to find out what the root cause of our problem was,” Blackwell said.
Three people died in June when two freight trains collided in a rural area southwest of San Antonio and released a plume of toxic fumes. In November, a man died when a rail car smashed into a San Antonio warehouse.