Total Injury

Just last week, The Injury Blog detailed how the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) was planning to inspect more than 1,300 miles of railroad track owned by the CSX Corp. in the wake of three different New York train accidents in the last couple of months. On yesterday, federal regulators released the findings of its three-day “focused inspection” in January of CSX properties, and the results were quite disturbing. Specifically, a story in today's Louisville Courier-Journal details that federal administrators said they found 199 safety violations in the 23 states in which the company serves. The inspection was ordered after a series of CSX train accidents that somehow luckily averted serious personal injuries.

The FRA revealed yesterday that CSX Corp. failed to replace defective trails and didn’t make repairs to tracks that they knew needed to be repaired. Federal administrators added that CSX did not properly perform or record brake tests and also hauled tank cars with loose closures and without the right shipping papers. Federal administrator Joseph Boardman voiced his opinion that the company is not doing enough to make safety a chief priority, and inspectors are expected to recommend monetary penalties against the company for these violations. While not addressing the FRA findings, CSX Corp. called safety a “top priority” in a released statement and added that it plans to work with the FRA to solve any issues.

Prior to the investigation, CSX Corp. trains were involved in a number of serious accidents. On January 15^th, four CSX train cars broke off in Eastern Kentucky and traveled 20 miles before smashing into a parked engine and exploding. Just the next day, another CSX Corp. train accident occurred in Kentucky, this time in Brooks when 25 cars of an 80-car train derailed. More than a dozen of those cars caught fire, prompting firefighters to fight the blaze for days. Some of those blazing cars carried hazardous chemicals, thus causing about 500 people to evacuate the area. Also occurring that day, a CSX train derailed and caught fire in East Rochester, New York.

Before these Kentucky and New York train accidents, there were five other major CSX accidents in roughly six weeks. While CSX has said that it spends a billion dollars each year to maintain and improve its tracks and equipment, it may need to shell out more money when looking at the specific numbers of CSX problems as detailed in yesterday’s report, including:

• 3,518 defects;

• 17 track violations;

• 22 operating practices violations;

• 101 violations involving locomotive power and equipment;

• 25 signal and train control violations; and

• 34 violations involving hazardous materials.