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DEATH ON THE TRACKS
Articles in this series examined how America's freight railroads have tried to sidestep blame in accidents.

Fourth article:
Questions Raised on Signals at Rail Crossings (Dec. 30, 2004)

Third article:
Amtrak Pays Millions for Others' Fatal Errors (Oct. 15, 2004)

Second article:
A Crossing Crash Unreported and a Family Broken by Grief (July 12, 2004)

First article:
In Deaths at Rail Crossings, Missing Evidence and Silence (July 11, 2004)

Multimedia
Audio & Photos

Survivors' Tales
Chris Barber was struck by a Union Pacific freight train in 2001. Frank Stevenson was hit in 1998.

Readers' Opinions
Forum: Death on the Tracks
Join a discussion on the investigative series on dangerous rail crossings in America. Walt Bogdanich, the Pulitzer Prize-winning lead reporter on the series, answered readers' questions.




U.S. Audit Faults Federal Regulators on Rail Safety

By WALT BOGDANICH

Published: February 10, 2005

America's four biggest railroads suffer from substantial and systemic safety problems, according to a new federal audit that raises questions about how well federal regulators are overseeing the rail industry.

Citing a series of serious accidents in recent months, the Transportation Department's inspector general said he was concerned that the Federal Railroad Administration's approach to regulation, which stresses "partnership" over punishment, might be failing to fix the most persistent safety problems. He asked the agency to prepare a comprehensive plan to improve its inspection of railroads and enforcement of federal safety rules.

The report also criticized the railroad agency's former acting chief, Betty Monro, saying she had failed to recognize the ethical problem of vacationing on four occasions with a Union Pacific lobbyist.

The inspector general, Kenneth M. Mead, said in the report, dated Dec. 10 and obtained through the federal Freedom of Information Act, that it was wrong for Ms. Monro to have shared a house on Nantucket, Mass., with the Union Pacific lobbyist "at the same time the agency you represent is, among other things, proposing and settling millions of dollars in fines against that railroad."

Mr. Mead said he found no evidence that Ms. Monro, a longtime friend of the lobbyist, showed any favoritism toward Union Pacific. But he did note that Union Pacific had "the highest average number of train accidents" of the four major railroads from 1998 through 2003, yet it was inspected "proportionally less, ranking third."

"These data, compounded by Union Pacific's recent spate of accidents, raise questions as to the adequacy of the extent of F.R.A. inspections and whether F.R.A.'s regulatory oversight process is sufficient," Mr. Mead said.

At the railroad administration, a central element of the oversight process has been the partnership approach, which stresses cooperation with the rail industry as the quickest way to identify, and fix, safety problems. The regulatory agency, Mr. Mead said, must recognize when this approach "has gone far enough and traditional enforcement," imposing fines, is more appropriate.

Ms. Monro could not be reached for comment on the report; she retired at the end of last year. But before she left the agency, she said in a message to her staff that the inspector general's report emphasized that she never let her friendship with the Union Pacific lobbyist "influence my professional actions."

In a statement, a railroad administration spokesman, Steven W. Kulm, said the investigation found that the agency had actually conducted more inspections and enforcement actions over the last four years.

The report comes at a time of growing concern about railroad safety in Congress and across the nation, spurred by a number of high profile crashes. Regulators have been unable to reduce the overall accident rate among most of the biggest railroads, and after declining for a number of years, grade-crossing accidents were up sharply in 2004.

Mr. Mead's report focused mainly on Union Pacific, though he said "substantial safety and inspection" issues also exist for the other three big railroads, CSX, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe, and Norfolk Southern.

Since May, there have been nine derailments or accidents involving Union Pacific in the San Antonio area, one in which poisonous gas was released. Four people died in those accidents. The railroad administration has since said that it will send 10 additional inspectors to the San Antonio region.

Kathryn Blackwell, a Union Pacific spokeswoman, said her company had made "great and rapid strides" by working with the railroad administration to fix its safety record in the San Antonio area. Some of the changes that Union Pacific made in Texas, Ms. Blackwell said, have been applied to other parts of the company. "We continue to invest heavily in our infrastructure to ensure our railroad is safe."


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