ASLRRA Names 2022 Jake Safety Award Winners
Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior EditorThe 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