Commentary

• February 15, 2018
• C&S/IT

The ongoing crew consist size debate

The battle between labor and the management over mandatory two-person crews is far from over and will heat up if a new Democratic-controlled Congress takes charge in 2019. Hoping for big Democratic wins in the U.S. House and Senate later this year, railroad labor quietly continues to set the stage to push for mandatory two-person train crew legislation.

Commentary

• January 30, 2018
• Art Miller

Safety, translated from planes to trains?

Amtrak is “adopting a safety management system approach used by commercial aviation” as it responds to the Dec. 18, 2017 derailment of Amtrak Cascades train 501 that killed three people and injured more than 60, a railroad spokesperson told me Jan. 29.

Commentary

• January 26, 2018
• Art Miller

The night the Swiss Cheese holes lined up

After nearly three months of emotional courtroom proceedings and nine days of jury deliberations, three former employees of Ed Burkhart’s now-defunct Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway were found not guilty of all charges arising from the 2013 Lac-Mégantic oil train disaster.

Commentary

• January 10, 2018
• Art Miller

Crew Resource Management: Cure for Amtrak’s safety woes?

Amtrak has a new Executive Vice President and Chief Safety Officer, and he is a former chief safety officer at both Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines. The Jan. 9 appointment of Ken Hylander clearly signals that Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson—also a Northwest and Delta alumnus—has decided the passenger railroad’s safety programs need a wholesale overhaul.