Investigative Report (Long) - Derailments - New York Times

The New York Times leaves no stone unturned in its investigative reporting - and has a catalog of Pulitzer's to show for it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/natio ... LS.html?hp

The article is paged; it won't take forever, even with dial-up, to open it.

I'll comment once I had the opportunity to do the article justice. The Times' carrier "missed me" this AM; simply had to replace this one.

I've gone over the front page of this article...seems blatantly one-sided. Not to mention that the NY Times now sheds its "liberal rag" image, presenting an extremely right-wing slant on this reporting, not to mention (if my sources are correct) some flagrantly false info.

Trucks, at least where I come from, are required to stop at all grade crossings. The sole thing that tells me, as an automobile driver at least, that a train is coming, is the horn—nothing else.

While my own authorship, I acknowledge that I have posted the following material elsewhere and will fully understand should the Moderator choose to kill it:

I've now had a chance to review the long article. The Times assumes its readers have greater attention spans than gnats - something I think papers such as USAToday presume.

Two points come to light. First, the railroad CAN be at fault in a grade X-ing incident, and second, did English Common Law really better our contemporary society formulating the Tort system ("you injured my property or person, you pay"). Lest we forget, Common Law could just as easily been built around a No-Fault pholosophy ("you got injured. sorry 'bout that"). But even Hammurabi, who lived where present day Iraq is located and thought to be the first developer of a code of law, even proceeding the Roman Empire, held in favor of Torts.

When I was in the industry 25 years ago, one point I learned from Engineering Dept contacts was that failure to properly clear brush - the railroad's responsibility - is a point in favor of a plaintiff and that a railroad could be held liable for damages.

Further, while rare, X-ing signals do not always work. But most of the incidents reported, at least those that stuck with me, were at unsignaled X-ings. Unfortunately, "Stop Look Listen" really is only law for vehicles carrying persons for hire, and for those carrying Red HAZMAT. It's common sense for others, but that is often quite the uncommon virtue.

As for incidents regarding possible suppresion of evidental matter, this is a sorry byproduct of our adverserial judicial system. Further is points out the competitive nature of our society where "the only sin is not to win'.

All told, a provocative read

You know, when I first heard this break on the radio Saturday, my first thought was, "Yep, CSX got busted again!!" Then they announced that it was UP, with a whole litany from poor maintainence to evidence tampering, and frankly ,it struck me as odd. Now on the surface(and I have not been able to read the actual article so I can't really say one way or anther about its slant) Its possible that this is just the press Bashing away at UP, But...
Yeah , there's always that "but". UP has suffered some VERY public(at least to the Railfan community...) setbacks as of late, i.e. multiple derailments, major service issues, a (seemingly) vindictive attempt to squeeze model railroad Manufacturers over " fallen flag " trademarks.... and probably things I missed. These are not what I'd call the healthiest of signs. UP may be the biggest rairoad corp. in the US, but (in my personal opinion, may I add... ) there's something SERIOUSLY wrong there, and someone on the board of directors needs to address this, and soon. The consequences for the economy if UP continues to falter could be damaging, to put it mildly. Just my two cents worth.

As I posted on the CSX board, CSX, UP and the other major railroads need to take a hard look at their internal safeguards and procedures. I'm not so cynical to believe that senior managers at these corporations know that dangerous conditions are allowed to exist and willingly look the other way. I do question, though, whether they've created a culture that revolves so much around reports and numbers that dangerous conditions are overlooked by managers and/or employees in order to produce 'acceptable' numbers for headquarters. Management now has to 'walk the walk' every day and prove to the employees that ethics and safety are first and foremost - that's the only way they will correct this situation in the long term.

JD

I have full trust in "Gray Lady" (long standing nickname for The New York Times) that she will print any reasonable responses from both the railroads and the public next Sunday.

The Times has fir greater national circulation on Sunday than it does on weekdays.

Here are the letters that The Times chose to print regarding the series.

I must admit surprise that no response from either CSX or UP was either selected or, for that matter, possibly submitted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/opinion/L18RAIL.html

Look what has won a Pulitzer

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/04/busin ... er.html?hp

After reading that my Dad now looks both ways twice before crossing the tracks.

Perhaps I am treading backwards, but was not on this board when it was first published. Be that as it may, one thing you have to realize is that local, District, and Regional management while on the surface, operate under the same rules, not all of them run the same.

What may be something minor according to those in power in San Antonio, may be very important in St. Paul. If I take a switch out of service for being hard to throw, it is investigated the very next day. If I report a low joint, rough track, or any other defect, it gets handled ASAP, or in the very least, inspected, no matter the cost. If I do something unsafe, if management does not witness it, they soon will hear about it from the yard office grapevine.

Does this happen in other Districts?

Management is evaluated by numbers. Their year end bonuses are guaged on the prerformance based on the numbers. Budgets, safety, on time, delayed cars, human error derailments, and injuries are high on the list. How one manager attains his goals, may be different than others. An example, train MABCD departs the terminal by passing the AEI reader at 10:00 after going on duty at 09:45. That is within the stated goals of that manager, one and a half hours call to depart. If the train passes the reader at 11:00, he blew it. However, the numbers can be 'fudged' to make the report look good. Ethics violation? In my opinion, yes. Does District management investigate? Yep. Any action? None that I am privy to.

No two terminals, Districts, or Regions are run the same.

What a MoW manager does with his yearly budget, is not the same location to location. Skimp on material? delay a project? There is a lot involved. Slow order reporting is one of the numbers looked at. Slow orders effect capacity. And Senior management wants to see progress, not slow downs. Is there undue pressure to hide slows? I have no idea. Are not defects being reported by MoW personal or TE&Y? Again I am not privy to what happens outside of my District. Don't assume it is happening, or not happening. I will state for the record, we are not only encouraged to report defects and unsafe conditions, it is our duty to do so. Food for thought.

No two terminals, Districts, or Regions are run the same.

How a location deals with rule violations, derailments, and employee problems are not all the same. One District may handle attendance issues by working with the employee first to correct the situation. Another District may instead call the employee up on formal charges, period. No gray area. Employee relations are something that each manager must formulate their policy on. One may be draconian, the other forgiving in hopes of correcting attitudes and behaviors.

It is not all one railroad. Each Division, has it's own kingdom as so to speak. If they do not all work together to achieve their goals, moving tonnage, it will fail. Attitudes will be lackluster or worse. Incidents and injuries will be higher. It all depends on who runs the show, and how bad they want their bonus is one thought I hear from others in different Districts. This is something I cannot verify either way.

What you hear in the newspapers may be the legalistic views of situations on UP. What one sees on a day-to-day basis, is reality. Yes, there were violations and neglect. And it cost the railroad dearly in both monitary, and public opinions. But look inside of it. Let me close wiht a quote from a PHD from Chicago, "Railroading has it's own Reality, it's own set of rules, concepts, and culture. Some of which has been around a very long time. The only way you can appreciate it, is to be inside of it, to live that reality."