advertisement

---

It’s been a pretty good month for Norfolk Southern Railway when it comes to awards.

First, the railroad won the E.H. Harriman Memorial Safety Awards’ top Group A honor for the 18th-straight year and NS carman Kenneth Cheek received the 2007 Harold F. Hammond Award for rail safety. Now, the National TRANSCAER Task Group has presented the 2006 Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response (TRANSCAER®) National Achievement Award to the Class I and the Chairman’s Award to NS Vice President of Safety and Environment C.J. Wehrmeister.

The task group recognized NS for organizing or assisting with several TRANSCAER events during which more than 5,000 emergency responders received training. The railroad was involved in 116 events that included 198 training classes/drills and more than 23,000 manhours of instruction. The Class I also continued to distribute the NS Railroad Emergency Response Guide — which the railroad updated and revised last year — at all TRANSCAER training sessions.

The task group recognized Wehrmeister for “invigorating” NS’ TRANSCAER program in the early 1990s, displaying dedication to the program’s mission and helping the Norfolk Southern TRANSCAER Whistle Stop Tours evolve into annual events, according to TRANSCAER.

A voluntary, nationwide community outreach program, TRANSCAER aims to help communities prepare for and respond to hazardous-material transportation incidents. Volunteers comprise representatives from railroads, chemical producers, distributors, carriers, first responders and government agencies. TRANSCAER is sponsored by the Association of American Railroads, American Chemistry Council, Chemical Educational Foundation, CHEMTREC®, The Chlorine Institute Inc. and National Tank Truck Carriers Inc.