The rail road industry has the capability to do a lot better at infrastructure modernizing. Moreover, the training needs reform. This industry is similar to the electric industry where the utility lets the infrastructure depreciate to the point where it breaks down then installs new modern materials. There are rails that have been forged in the plant circa 1941, likely with metal parameters very depreciated or out dated.
From my view, with the opinion the rail road industry is managed by very devoted yes people, those that do move up through the ranks but many have no real technology education or worse a situation of mine in that a safety director pressures me to report an injury done at home. What President Obama calls – On the Job Training is way overdue. If asked the average engineer has no idea what a newton is yet a simple formula in physics like force mass and acceleration is very rarely talked about in training programs yet is the key principle to understand to start and stop huge tonnage.
Especially in the Union Pacific rail road. The field training with surprise even has fictitious territorial areas an engineer or conductor need to study yet would not work in, but are intensely trained in that fictitious area from my view in violation of basic OSHA safety regulations. The whole idea is to train in the area or get a copilot to help those in new areas. The angle of repose is the slope needing to be talked about for different areas. Different areas meaning the slope rules apply different for different areas, worse the crews may never work in testing material, yet are said to be train for a territory which is not true.
Currently as a whistle blower legally with union representation the Union Pacific railroad is under an OSHA investigation for not only training violations but using the safety briefing management process to actually ditch injury reports and stymie training with totally unexperienced managers. Intentionally, using draconian methods, that intimidate the crews with retribution, and retaliation in field training, and very brief poor class room education. Worse our government gives taxes for this.
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