SLSI to provide short-line peer review for FRA's close-call program

In a test of a new model for participation in the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C³RS), the Federal Railroad Administration chose the Short Line Safety Institute (SLSI) to serve as a peer review team for short lines that have a small number of employees or do not have the resources to have their own dedicated peer review team.

Having a third-party peer review team enables participating short lines’ employees to participate in C³RS without the concern — due to a small number of employees — of ensuring confidentiality, SLSI officials said in a press release.

The SLSI-led peer review team began with four railroads in 2023, and has analyzed nine submissions to date, providing event analysis and recommendations for corrective action, and sharing corrective actions and safety tips with all participants via a quarterly newsletter, they said. The FRA recently published a paper on the SLSI-led program, which can be read here.