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Yesterday, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced that Amtrak has joined the agency’s Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS), a safety pilot project that enables rail employees to voluntarily and anonymously report “close call” incidents that could have resulted in an accident or injury but did not. Under the program, employees can report “close call” incidents without fear of sanction or penalty from the railroad or federal government.

Amtrak is the fourth railroad to participate in the program, joining Canadian Pacific, Union Pacific Railroad and New Jersey Transit. Amtrak, the United Transportation Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen each ratified an agreement with the FRA, enabling employees to report the close calls.

The agreement covers Amtrak workers in yards and terminals in the Northeast Corridor, and the Chicago, Miami, Seattle and Los Angeles areas. The national intercity passenger railroad plans to add its mainline routes to the C3RS program in the future, covering the entire system

“Amtrak’s national reach gives us the last piece we need to make this pilot program complete,” said FRA Deputy Administrator Karen Rae in a prepared statement.

The FRA currently requires all railroads to routinely report a wide range of accidents and incidents. While “close call” events are not required to be reported, they could be potentially serious. Understanding the close calls would help railroads and the FRA take appropriate steps to ensure accidents don’t actually occur by helping develop and institute mitigation strategies, countermeasures and best practices, according to the FRA.

The results of confidential close-call reporting are being analyzed by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration to determine areas of potential risk and develop solutions to prevent and minimize their occurrence in the future. Preliminary analysis of Union Pacific’s close-call reporting project at its North Platte, Neb., yard already have shown a significant reduction in human factor-related incidents, according to the FRA.