Montana Rail Link, Tennessee Southern earn short-line industry recognition for safety efforts
6/21/2021
By Jeff Stagl,Managing Editor
On June 2, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) announced 346 of its members had won Jake Awards for above-average safety performance in 2020.
Founded in 1995 and named after former Copper Basin Railway President and General manager Lowell “Jake” Jacobson — a longtime short-line safety champion — the award recognizes small railroads’ overall safety efforts.
The ASLRRA also announced that 19 members had won President’s Awards, which honor a Jake Award recipient that posted the lowest reportable injury frequency rate per Federal Railroad Administration regulations in a given year as measured by manhours. The 2020 winners included five short lines in each of the association’s Central, Pacific and Southern regions, and four in its Eastern Region.
Montana Rail Link (MRL) won the President’s Award for the lowest frequency rate in the Pacific Region in the more than 500,000 manhours category, and Tennessee Southern Railroad (TSRR) won the award for the lowest frequency rate in the Southern Region in the less than 50,000 manhours category. Officials from both railroads provide perspective on that recognition by describing their organization’s safety approach and programs.
MRL’s 1,200 employees are the owners of their overall safety success, and the President’s Award reflects their dedication to each other and the railroad, wrote MRL Vice President of Corporate Relations Ross Lane in an email. The 937-mile regional seeks to ingrain safety as a guiding and enduring value.
“Our goal is simple: give our employees the education, training, support, tools and technology they need to succeed in the workplace,” Lane wrote. “From the leadership level to our ballast-level employees, we are collectively focused on safety, and safety takes priority over all other aspects of our business. Without the collaboration, buy-in and dedication of the entire MRL team, we wouldn’t have the safety results we do.”
The regional employs a testing and accountability program that provides many coaching and mentoring opportunities, and implements many of the suggestions provided by safety committees that are organized at each major work location. Montana Rail LinkCommunication and collaboration are key
MRL’s employees are spread out across Montana and Idaho, work various shifts and in all types of weather conditions, and carry out different tasks. Therefore, it’s paramount that company leaders and supervisors effectively communicate with employees to ensure they’re articulating MRL’s goals, core values and mission, Lane wrote.
“From a management perspective, we have placed a heavy emphasis on being visible and approachable in the field, and we are taking advantage of new technologies to communicate with our employees,” he said. “The entire MRL team is also focused on continuous improvement, using data and analytics to inform decision making, and using innovative approaches to reduce or eliminate hazards.”
Over the past several years, MRL leaders have emphasized involving all levels of employees in the creation of new rules, procedures and operating practices. The workforce input has been one of the keys to the railroad’s safety success, Lane believes.
“The decision-making process is not simply top-down, but the result of collaboration,” he said. “In 2020, we also took advantage of the experts at the Short Line Safety Institute, who conducted a safety culture assessment, and we continue to adopt their recommendations.”
The regional recently has focused on encouraging accountability between departments and employees, with the goal of nurturing a company culture of openness, trust and transparency. A new core values and safety statement aims to ensure the entire MRL team is focused on safety as a part of their daily work.
Each year, the railroad also tries to invest tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements to help prevent accidents and incidents. But MRL still encounters incidents with pedestrians, trespassers and motorists despite its safety efforts.
The regional will continue to work with Operation Lifesaver Inc. in Montana and Idaho to address pedestrian and trespasser issues, and work with schools to ensure young people are aware of the dangers associated with railroad operations, Lane wrote.
MRL also has recently implemented a number of safety initiatives, including a process for employees to report safety concerns and near-miss incidents and a new worker-driven Peer Assisted Safety Training (PAST) program for craft employees.
“The PAST program allows employees to observe, mentor and learn from each other,” Lane wrote.
In addition, MRL employs a testing and accountability program that provides many coaching and mentoring opportunities, and implements many of the suggestions provided by safety committees that are organized at each major work location.
“They are collectively focused on making sure MRL remains a safe place to work, and they provide key observations and input,” Lane wrote.
“We always include everybody. It isn’t just communication — over-communication is a requirement,” says Alan Woodyard, general manager of the Tennessee Southern Railroad and Golden Triangle Railroad. Tennessee Southern RailroadFocusing on fundamentals and details
Safety also has been forged into a mindset at TSRR — which is owned by Patriot Rail Co. LLC — and that unified determination continues to evolve, says Alan Woodyard, who serves as general manager of both TSRR and the Golden Triangle Railroad. TSRR had won Jake Awards in the past, but this is the short line’s first-ever President’s Award.
“Safety is taken at a high-level approach at Patriot Rail. We focus on fundamentals and details, and we know what the risks are,” Woodyard says.
One such major risk is walking conditions. Several years ago, a program was developed for safety at switches.
“Think about ergonomics and know what switch stands you have,” says Woodyard. “We want to develop best practices — that’s our playbook.”
TSRR has 17 employees stationed all over its 150-mile system, including maintenance-of-way and maintenance-of-equipment workers, track inspectors and four employees who transload freight to barges at the Port of Florence — which is located at one end of the railroad — and perform other transloading work.
Everyone truly is committed to being their brother’s keeper, at an extremely high level of caring he had not witnessed before in his career, says Woodyard, who previously worked for a Class I before joining Patriot Rail and TSRR in October 2015.
“They care for one another way beyond the lines of the railroad,” he says. “Attitude is what drives everything. It also takes teamwork, pride and engagement.”
All workers meet each day at the start of the workday to talk about track authorities and other issues.
“We always include everybody. It isn’t just communication — over-communication is a requirement,” says Woodyard.
For a number of years, Patriot Rail has strived to recognize the performance of its own 13 short lines by bestowing railroad of the quarter awards and a railroad of the year honor. Based on size and the number of employees, the awards are heavily weighed on safety metrics, but also incorporate operating performance, says Woodyard.
Each winner receives a belt that’s similar to a wrestling champion belt. TSRR won the initial railroad of the year award in 2017 and recently earned a railroad of the quarter award for first-quarter 2021.
“We have the belts on display here. It creates good competition,” says Woodyard.
