(The following appeared on the Progressive Railroading website on April 7.)
Six rail labor unions have asked the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to reconsider a planned April 14 imposition of civil penalties against rail employees proven guilty of violating certain operating rules.
The civil penalties are part of an FRA final rulemaking that establishes individual liability for failure to properly position switches and derails, protect the point on shoving movements, and leave cars clear of adjacent tracks and crossovers.
A joint labor-management working group that participated in drafting the new rule could not reach consensus on all provisions contained in the final rule, according to the United Transportation Union (UTU), which is seeking the reconsideration in a joint petition with the American Train Dispatchers Association, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen and Brotherhood Railway Carmen Division of the Transportation Communications Union.
The FRA issued the rulemaking in response to Norfolk Southern Corp.’s January 2005 train accident in Graniteville, S.C., and a similar BNSF Railway Co. accident that both involved an improperly aligned switch, the UTU said. The six unions believe civil penalties aren’t “good public policy” for improving rail safety.