Fifth straight safety award for NLR

Written by Railway Age Staff
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Northern Lines Railway was honored for its outstanding safety record with a 2018 Jake With Distinction Award by the American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association.

The presentation, recognizing high standards in safe railroad operation, was NLR’s fifth consecutive award for operating without a personal injury.

The short line is a subsidiary of Chicago-based Anacostia Rail Holdings, and operates on approximately 25 miles of track in the St. Cloud area of central Minnesota. It serves customers in the aggregate, agricultural, and manufacturing sectors, connecting to the national rail system via BNSF Railway.

“Our employees have done an outstanding job working together to be injury-free every day for more than 1,800 days,” said NLR President Justin Chalich. “I’m very proud of them.”

The Jake Awards were established in 1999 and are named for Lowell “Jake” Jacobson, longtime president and chief operating officer of Arizona’s Copper Basin Railway. Known for his emphasis on safety, Jacobson led ASLRRA’s adoption of the award in the absence of such recognition for smaller railroads.

Winners of the Jake Award are able to show that, over the previous year, they outperformed the Class II and Class III railroad industry average injury frequency rate as reported by the Federal Railroad Administration. Among the 330 award recipients, 282 shared with NLR the Jake With Distinction designation for injury-free performance in 2017.

“Northern Lines’ fifth-consecutive Jake with Distinction Award reflects Anacostia’s commitment to high safety standards and regulatory compliance,” said Thomas A. Leopold, chief safety and compliance officer for Anacostia Rail Holdings.

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