Feds To Closely Monitor Up Safety Problems Spur Regulator To Take Unprecedented Step

Federal regulators will take the unprecedented step of setting up shop at Union Pacific headquarters to monitor safety at the nation’s largest railroad because of violations found after a string of crashes over the summer that killed seven people.

“The size of this railroad calls for different and unique fixes to what we consider serious deficiencies,” Federal Railroad Administration spokesman David Bolger said Wednesday.

The move came after a 16-day FRA inspection by about 90 investigators that found fatigued Union Pacific crews working long overtime, defective equipment and harassment and intimidation of employees reporting safety problems.

The agency will decide how much to fine the railroad.

It will also continue monitoring Union Pacific and place one official at the company’s headquarters in Omaha to work with railroad executives, a step never taken before, Bolger said.

Union Pacific officials said they know the company has problems and hope the federal agency will help fix the errors.

Union Pacific President Jerry Davis has said the company would hire 1,500 workers by year’s end to help ease the heavy workload. The company is also creating a hot line to enable workers to report safety problems anonymously.

“Until they eliminate death and injury from this railroad, their job is not finished,” Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene Molitoris said.

Davis said the fatigue problem will not be solved overnight. “Railroads operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, holidays,” Davis said. “We don’t shut down the railroad because of a weekend. But certainly, we can do a lot of work with our employees, and the way our processes are, in calling crews and relieving crews.”

In June, four people died in a head-on collision in Devine, Texas. Days later, one crew member was killed and hazardous material spilled near Topeka, Kan. Two engineers were killed Aug. 20 in a collision near Fort Worth, Texas.

Union Pacific became the nation’s largest railroad last year upon its merger with Southern Pacific Railroad. It created a railroad with 35,000 miles of track, generally spreading out from Chicago westward.

The railroad administration’s report said the merger could have contributed to Union Pacific’s safety problems.

As part of the merger, Union Pacific said it would eliminate 3,400 jobs, bringing the merged railroads to fewer than 50,000 employees. Davis said the administrative jobs would not have affected safety.