Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen First VP Mark Wallace on the risks posed by long trains new report

“In my testimony at a hearing of the Surface Transportation Board yesterday in Washington, I said that the railroads have ‘increased the length of trains and reduced the number of trains operating. With fewer trains operating, shippers see less frequent service. They see less on-time service because the PSR business model relies on longer trains which break down more, cause congestion, and exceed the capacity of the existing network of sidings and yards.’

The report released today on long trains by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine backs what I said at that hearing and provides further evidence of what BLET members have long known: Long trains have a greater risk of derailing, have communications issues, and pose a threat to the public due to blocked crossings, among other issues.

The report calls for further study and asks Congress to hire auditors to enable “risk reduction.” Why wait? All major railroads should immediately adopt the C3RS confidential reporting system, similar to the system used by commercial airlines. This would enable the railroads, regulators, unions and Congress to collect more data on what is and what isn’t working; more accurately assess risks; and be better able to fix what’s broken. Although the railroad has promised to adopt the C3RS, except for a small pilot project, they broke their word, once again proving that safe rail service is often nothing more than lip service.”