C3RS: SMART-TD and Norfolk Southern agree to anonymous safety reporting

SMART Transportation Division began a new era in rail safety and worker protection by working with Norfolk Southern to accept and act on anonymous safety reports. How it Works The one-year pilot program, called the Close Call Reporting System (C3RS), is similar to one airline [...]

Confidential Close Call Reporting proving its worth

It’s confidential and no-fault. And the result, according to the Federal Railroad Administration, is a significant reduction in rail workplace derailments that too often lead to serious injury and death — plus, as a bonus, better labor/management relationships and impro [...]

BNSF conductor loses leg in yard accident

WILLMAR, Minn. — A 31-year old BNSF conductor , a UTU Local 1177 member, suffered a leg amputation in a yard accident here Feb. 3 — the second UTU member to endure such an accident in 2011. Corey Lynn Kluver, the father of three young children, reportedly was maki [...]

Close calls pilot tests positive on UP

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Union Pacific is four years into its five-year pilot Confidential Close Calls Reporting System (C3RS) and participants are giving it high marks for improving safety culture. C3RS encourages engineers, conductors, trainmen and yardmasters to report c [...]

Alert commuter rail crew saves life near Boston

STOUGHTON, Mass. — An alert and ever vigilant Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad crew — that recognized the difference between a bag of clothes between the tracks and a human being — saved a life in this Boston suburb last week. The MBCR crew, with engineer [...]