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On April 29, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association announced winners of 2002 Safety Awards and 2003 Jake with Distinction Awards, and named the 2003 safety person and railroad contractors of the year.


Co-sponsored by CANAC INC. and Marsh USA Inc., safety awards recognize regionals' and short lines' safety efforts.


Winners are:


• (1-to-10,000 man-hours category) Gold Upper Merion & Plymouth Railroad Co. — gold; Valdosta Railway L.P. — silver; Florida Midland Railroad — copper; and Chattooga & Chickamauga Railroad — bronze.

• (10,001-to 50,000 man-hours) SMS Rail Service — gold; Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad Corp. — silver; Trona Railway Co. — bronze; and North Shore Railroad Co. — copper.

• (50,001-to-250,000 man-hours) Missouri & Northern Arkansas Railroad Co. — gold; San Joaquin Valley Railroad Co. — silver; Columbus & Ohio River Rail Road Co. — bronze; and Eastern Idaho Railroad — copper.

• (250,001 or more man-hours) Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad Inc. — gold;
Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway — silver; Paducah & Louisville Railway Co. — bronze; and Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. — copper.

• (switching and terminal railroads) Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis — gold; Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co. — silver; Birmingham Southern Railroad Co. — bronze; and The Belt Railway Co. of Chicago — copper.


Meanwhile, 213 regionals and short lines will receive 2002 Jake with Distinction Awards from ASLRRA. The Jake Award — created in 1994 by Copper Basin Railway President and Chief Operating Officer L.S. "Jake" Jacobson — previously recognized regionals and short lines that maintained perfect safety records, reporting no fatalities or injuries. The Jake Award with Distinction was awarded to railroads that registered no fatalities, injuries or train accidents.


Because trains accidents aren't a part of injury reports, ASLRRA officials decided not to bestow any Jake Awards and instead present Jake with Distinction Awards to railroads that had no Federal Railroad Administration-reportable injuries last year.


ASLRRA also named Dennis Greenwalt, a carman with Montana Rail Link, safety person of the year, and R. J. Corman Construction L.L.C. and T. Glennon Inc., railroad contractors of the year.


The association plans to present awards to winners May 19 during ASLRRA's 2003 Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Philadelphia.