By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
In early January, the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB) announced it recorded no reportable injuries or human-factor derailments in 2020, marking a significant safety milestone for the 112-year-old short line. A Port of New Orleans subsidiary, the railroad also registered no grade crossing accidents last year.
But zeros actually have been logged in those safety metrics for more than 365 straight days — closer to a year and a half, says NOPB General Manager Mike Stolzman. The railroad has not had a reportable injury, derailment or crossing accident since Aug. 8, 2019.
The long safety streak can be attributed to process and operational changes made since mid-2019. Since 11 reportable injuries, five derailments and two crossing accidents still occurred in 2019, Stolzman and his management team have worked to restress and reinvigorate safety at NOPB.
When Stolzman arrived as GM in May 2019, the port still was getting accustomed to overseeing a railroad. In 2018, the port assumed ownership of NOPB, which operates 81 miles of track, including 40 miles of mainlines, in and around New Orleans. The railroad serves 19 customers in 30 locations, owns the Huey P. Long Bridge and interchanges with six Class Is.
Although the short line has dedicated employees, there was no highly organized approach or overriding mindset regarding safety, Stolzman says. Workers in the mechanical, transportation and engineering departments weren’t working as uniformly or collaboratively as they should.
“My philosophy is good safety is good business,” says Mike Stolzman, general manager of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad. Credit: NOPB“I found a lot that could be done here. Things were lost or overlooked,” he says, adding that the workforce needed to be better motivated and directed.
Stolzman started at the grassroots level by meeting with the railroad’s 165 employees to learn current practices, discuss needed changes and institute new practices. The ultimate goal: Having the right people in the right place and in the right work environment, and holding employees accountable for unsafe behaviors.
“My philosophy is good safety is good business,” Stolzman says.
To that end, the management team empowered an existing safety committee staffed by craft employees to institute changes.
“We gave them the space, time and money to do what they wanted to do,” says Stolzman.
Among their wants: better working conditions in customer facilities to prevent injuries and better ways for workers to identify track defects to avoid derailments. NOPB now uses RailPros services to improve detection training and identification.
The railroad also is installing its first-ever power switches and an automated switch lead to help prevent injuries. Eleven of a planned 52 power switches have been installed so far in NOPB’s classification area. The solar-powered switches will continue to work during electrical outages and reduce human interactions with equipment, says Stolzman.
Along with the safety push, NOPB has tried to take a more sophisticated and organized maintenance-of-way (MOW) approach. Infrastructure repairs and upgrades are prioritized based on workers’ feedback.
In addition, work now is planned two weeks out, and MOW plans are formulated for one month, six months, one year and five years in advance, says Stolzman.
“We didn’t have any of that before,” he says. “It was a fire brigade, moving from one fire to the next.”
NOPB also didn’t have ideal training methods, Stolzman believed. So, the safety department implemented a learning management system that enables workers to obtain training anywhere and on any computer system.
In addition, MaxAccelsoftware and additional downloads on locomotives now are being used to help train engineers and hone their skills. Managers use data to provide engineers feedback on their performance.
Meanwhile, boosting the locomotive fleet’s efficiency has paid off in lower costs and greater environmental stewardship, in addition to safer working conditions. Last year, NOPB negotiated a deal with GATX Corp. to lease eight of the same Tier 1 locomotives, says Stolzman. The units reduce fuel consumption by 25 percent, nitrous oxide emissions by 40 percent and particulate emissions by 50 percent compared with conventional locomotives.
The railroad has not had a reportable injury, derailment or crossing accident since Aug. 8, 2019. Credit: NOPBPreviously, the short line managed 15 locomotives that varied in models and horsepower.
“There was no logic to the fleet,” Stolzman says.
Despite a “tsunami” of changes over the past 18 months, safety still needs to be shored up in certain areas, he says. For example, NOPB plans to emphasize situational awareness in 2021.
“Employees know it well, but they can do better,” says Stolzman.
The short line also plans to continue sharing and stressing safety messages on its payroll system and on a “Belt TV” system that’s available in all facilities.
Although more waves of changes are in the offing, the tsunami-sized effort’s ripple effects have been felt so far, Stolzman believes.
“We are simply a much safer railroad now,” he says.
