ASLRRA Names 2022 Jake Safety Award Winners

Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor
The Jake Awards are named for the late Lowell S.

The Jake Awards are named for the late Lowell S. "Jake" Jacobson, President and General Manger of the Copper Basin Railway.

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) honored on June 29 364 member railroads with the Jake Safety Award for above-industry-average safety performance during 2021.

Of the recipients, 20 are being recognized as President’s Safety Award winners, designated as those that “post the lowest reportable injury frequency rate per the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations as measured within person-hour categories,” and 332 will be honored “With Distinction,” recognizing their FRA reportable injury-free performance in 2021. For the second year in a row, a record number of railroads earned “With Distinction” honors—332 vs. 316 in 2020 and 278 in 2019.

According to ASLRRA, in order to be honored with a Jake Award, members must “perform better than the industry average reportable injury frequency rate for railroads other than Class Is, commuter railroads and Amtrak based on date reported to the FRA during the calendar year and must have completed all FRA-required employee-on-duty reporting for 2021.”

“The railroad industry is safe and getting safer. Our short line members are doing their part to continue to drive those statistics in the right direction, placing safety above all competing priorities,” said ASLRRA President Chuck Baker. “The short line industry average safety incident rate has dropped once again to 2.17 reportable incidents per 200,000 person-hours worked. 364 of our member railroads performed at or above the industry average, a 5% increase from 2020’s list of 346 railroads. In addition, 91% of Jake Award recipients had zero reportable injuries, noted as Jake Awards with Distinction.”

The Jake Awards, which are named for the late Lowell S. “Jake” Jacobson, President and General Manager of the Copper Basin Railway, will be presented at the 2022 ASLRRA Regional Meetings held this fall in Atlanta, Ga., September 26-28 (Eastern & Southern Region Meeting) and in Milwaukee, Wis., October 25-27 (Central & Pacific Region Meeting).

Since its inception in 1995, the Jake Award program has distributed nearly 6,600 Jake and Jake With Distinction Awards to America’s small railroad community.

The fill list of 2022 Jake Award winners is as follows:

Central Region Winners

Belt Railway Company of Chicago – Lowest Frequency Rate: more than 500,000 person-hours

Terminal Railroad Assoc. of St. Louis – Lowest Frequency Rate: 250,000 – 500,000 person-hours

Fort Worth & Western Railroad – Lowest Frequency Rate: 150,000 – 250,000 person-hours

Dallas, Garden & Northeastern Railroad – Lowest Frequency Rate: 50,000 – 150,000 person-hours

Rio Valley Switching Company – Lowest Frequency Rate: less than 50,000 person-hours

Eastern Region Winners

Consolidated Rail Corporation – Lowest Frequency Rate: more than 500,000 person-hours

Gary Railway Company – Lowest Frequency Rate: 250,000 – 500,000 person-hours

Columbus & Ohio River Rail Road Co. – Lowest Frequency Rate: 150,000 – 250,000 person-hours

New England Central Railroad, Inc. – Lowest Frequency Rate: 50,000 – 150,000 person-hours

Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad Corp. – Lowest Frequency Rate: less than 50,000 person-hours

Pacific Region Winners

Montana Rail Link, Inc. – Lowest Frequency Rate: more than 500,000 person-hours

Pacific Harbor Line, Inc. – Lowest Frequency Rate: 250,000 – 500,000 person-hours

Terminal Switching Services – Lowest Frequency Rate: 150,000 – 250,000 person-hours

Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad – Lowest Frequency Rate: 50,000 – 150,000 person-hours

Texas & New Mexico Railway – Lowest Frequency Rate: less than 50,000 person-hours

Southern Region Winners

Conrad Yelvington Distributors, Inc. – Lowest Frequency Rate: more than 500,000 person-hours

Paducah & Louisville Railway, Inc. – Lowest Frequency Rate: 250,000 – 500,000 person-hours

Railserve Inc. – Switching – Lowest Frequency Rate: 150,000 – 250,000 person-hours

Bay Line Railroad, LLC – Lowest Frequency Rate: 50,000 – 150,000 person-hours

Tennessee Southern Railroad Co. – Lowest Frequency Rate: Less than 50,000 person-hours

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