APTA honors transit-rail agencies' safety, security efforts

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) yesterday announced the winners of its annual Rail Safety and Security Excellence Awards.

The awards recognize public transportation organizations for "innovative and proactive" safety and security programs. Winning agencies provide value to the industry by benchmarking successful programs so that other transit systems can adopt them, APTA officials said in a press release.

The awards were presented at APTA's annual rail conference, which is being held this week in Toronto.

Award winners for safety programs in the commuter/intercity rail category are:
• MTA-Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), which received the gold award for safety. The agency partnered with the MTA Police Department to create the Right-of-Way Task Force, which allowed the MTA to respond quickly to trespasser complaints, illegal dumping of debris, track encroachments and potential security breaches. Along with the task force, LIRR improved safety by installing high security fencing.
• Virgin Trains USA, which received a certificate of merit for safety for attending events in low-income neighborhoods and at homeless shelters to educate people about rail safety. Virgin Trains partnered with a local nonprofit organization to develop the BuzzBoxx, a mobile barbershop situated in a see-through container on the back of a truck. People who attended the events received a free haircut in exchange for taking a pledge to stay safe around active tracks.

Award winners for safety programs in the light rail/streetcar category are:
• Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Houston Metro), which received a gold award for identifying safety concerns involving light-rail vehicles and grade crossings in Houston's central business district. In collaboration with the city's traffic timing group, Houston Metro embarked on SmartSync, a project to improve traffic/rail signaling at intersections within the district along its Red Line.
• Transdev RTA, which received the certificate of merit for creating a plan to resolve the top issues contributing to an increase in rail accidents in New Orleans. The plan included driver evaluations for every streetcar operator, as well as a new rule governing speed at intersections and training for operators.

Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization was recognized with a gold award in the heavy-rail category for creating a safety plan to reduce employee injuries.

Meanwhile, APTA also recognized several agencies for efforts to improve rail security. In the light-rail/streetcar category, the winners are:
• Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), which received a gold award for formalizing an agency-wide program to address perceptions of crime and security. Initiatives included increasing police presence at downtown Dallas stations and adjacent areas in the central business district; increasing patrol coverage at other DART facilities in the district; deploying additional police and fare enforcement officer; installing CCTV cameras on light-rail vehicles; improving coordination between DART police in the 13 service-area cities; and implementing other technologies.
• Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA), which received the certificate of merit for teaming with the Buffalo, New York, Fire Department and NFTA Police to update rail safety and security efforts. Those initiatives included first responder training in the event of a terrorist attack.

In the commuter/intercity rail category, Sound Transit received the gold award for adopting the national Stop the Bleed campaign. The agency provided employees and riders with tools to help control blood loss and promoted them through outreach and education. Stop the Bleed kits were placed on Sound Transit trains and elsewhere in the transit system to be prepared in the event of a catastrophic event.

And in the heavy-rail category, APTA honored the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority with a gold award for adopting the six pillars of President Barack Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing.