Rail Safety

Rail is an important mode of transportation throughout the world. Each year, billions of dollars worth of goods and millions of passengers are transported from one point to another through railroads. 

Over the years, railway safety has been an important issue. In the United States, the Congress passed the Federal Railway Safety Appliances Act in 1893. The act instituted mandatory requirements for automatic couplers and air brake systems, and standardization of the locations and specifications for appliances. Over the years, due to actions such as this, the rail safety in the United States has improved quite dramatically. 

For example, according to FRA 2000, a Federal Rail Administration (FRA) report, the period 1993-1999 was the safest in U.S. rail history [1]. More specifically, during this period, train-accident-related fatalities dropped by 87%, rail worker casualties fell by approximately 34%, and highway/rail grade crossing-related fatalities decreased by more than 35% [1]. The rail industry s 50+-billion investment in infrastructure and equipment over the preceding decade is considered to be an important factor in reducing rail accidents. 

This chapter presents various important aspects of rail safety. 

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Levels, tapes, thermometers, hydrometers, light meters, smoke detectors, audio-sensors. Features such as cradle rails, safety eyes and climbing irons should be incorporated into the design of the building. 

Wolff, J. (2002) Railway safety and the ethics of tolerability of risk , study commissioned by the Rail Safety and Standards Board, www.rssb.co.uk, accessed October 2006... 

Chemical Manufacturers Association (CM A). 1994. Inter Industry Rail Safety Task Force Transportation Risk Model. Washington, D.C. Chemical Manufacturers Association. 

Benchmarking Chlorine rail safety practices Rail security practices (chlorine and ethylene oxide) Bulk and non-bulk pesticide truck shipments... 

The FRA takes some credit for the dramatic improvement in rail safety since Staggers (FRA, 1999) ... 

In the rail industry, even more dramatic re-prioritization of expenditures took place. In particular, annual capital expenditures on track maintenance increased by nearly a factor of five. These increases were made possible, in part, because the requirement to maintain unprofitable routes was eliminated. During the same period, employment in the rail industry was cut by roughly a factor of two. Despite the dramatic labor downsizing, the period after deregulation was also associated with improvements in many aspects of rail safety. In particular, consistent with the increased track maintenance, especially large reductions were noted in those types of accidents related to track condition, such as derailments and collisions. 

Federal Railroad Administration (1996), Enhancing Rail Safety Now and into the 21st Century The Federal Railroad Administration s Safety Programs and Initiatives, httD //www.ffa.dot.gov/safetv/ers/index.htm. Washington, D.C. 

General Accounting Office (1982), The Federal Approach to Rail Safety Inspection and Enforcement Time for a Change, Report GAO/CED-82-51, Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office. 

Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) 2011. Safety Culture Toolkit Available at http //safetyculturetoolkit.rssb.co.uk/home.aspx (last accessed on 14 July 2013). 

Records show that in 1893, the year the Federal Rail Safety Appliance Act passed, 310 trainmen were killed and 8,753 were injured in coupling-related accidents. The new law eventually led to the use of automatic couplings. 

It is difficult to anticipate how the difficulties surrounding rail safety will be resolved. Clearly there is a widespread view that the existing system is not... 

The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) has a responsibility to lead and develop long term safety strategy and policy for the UK mainline railway network. One of the key objectives of the strategy is to reduce risk on the railway network by controlling the hazardous events and the precursors to the hazardous events that can occur. It is essential, however, that the control of the risk is carried out in an open and explicit manner, so that end users in the industry can be assured the controls imposed are effective and do not cost disproportionately more than the benefits they provide. 

Head of Research and Development Rail Safety and Standards Board andrew.sharpe rssb.co.uk... 

The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) was established on 1 April 2003 as a not-for-profit company owned by the railway industry. Our role is to provide leadership in the development of the long term safety strategy and policy for the UK railway. The company is limited by guarantee and has a members council, a board and an advisory committee. It is independent of any single railway company and of their commercial interests. 

Ethical Basis of Rail Safety Decisions - a study by Chris Elliott of Pitchill Consulting and Tony Taig of TTAC... 

ATP, SPADRAM, and the Cost-Benefit Analysis of Rail Safety Michael Jones-Lee Commissioned by Railtrack, June 2000... 

Confidential Observations of Rail Safety (CORS) An Adaptation of Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA)... 

To establish road user groups that may warrant investigation, a consensus survey utilizing a modified Delphi technique was conducted nationally with experts in the fields of road and rail safety in 2004 and confirmed with current literature and research with Train Drivers as key informants. Older drivers, younger drivers and heavy vehicles drivers were indicated to be potential at-risk groups by the panel of... 

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