Security: BNSF employees keep eyes, ears open (2/15/2005)

Last year, 41 BNSF Railway Co. employees reported security violations and potentially dangerous situations under the Class I's "On Guard" program.

For example, a conductor in Sweetwater, Texas, saw a vehicle carrying two teenage girls stuck on a mainline. Shortly after alerting dispatchers and BNSF's Resource Protection Solutions Team (RPST), two other vehicles got stuck on the tracks when motorists tried to assist the girls.

Meanwhile, two conductors and an engineer in Hackberry, Ariz., reported two girls sitting on a mainline. The girls refused to leave until a BNSF special agent and sheriff deputies arrived, at which time the officers determined one of the girls had an outstanding warrant.

Through the two-year-old program, BNSF managers encourage workers to report crimes in progress, trespassers, suspicious behavior or activities, and incidents of persons "tailgating" through secured doors or areas to RPST. Last year, the railroad launched an On Guard suggestion program asking employees to provide ideas on ways BNSF can improve security.

Source: Progressive Railroading Daily News