AAR safety alert: blade found in chock

November 3, 2015

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reports that a homemade knife was found in a chock in the storage bin (pictured below), with the blade facing in toward the railcar at a Subaru facility in Vancouver, Wash.
The knife was found when a rail loader went to remove a chock from the storage bin on the side of the rail car, when he noticed the homemade knife sticking out of the chock next to the release handle. Fortunately, no one was injured.
“Please give this information widespread distribution to coworkers, contractors, customers and all who deal with freight cars and be on the lookout for any similar acts of vandalism. We also ask that anyone who makes any other such discoveries report it to me or any other AAR employee, including MID inspectors. This will enable us to broadcast alerts to all who may be affected,” AAR Assistant Vice President, Technical Services James P. Grady said.
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