Railroad safety bill passes

A new bill passed by the House of Representatives aims to improve railroad safety through creating stricter safety measures, increasing the amount of penalties for safety violations and increasing the amount of safety inspectors.
Congressmember Anthony Weiner participated in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in favor of the Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007.
“Railways are a safer and more efficient way to transport goods than trucks,” said Weiner in a released statement. “This legislation helps ensure that the federal government and rail operators think safety first, and take every step necessary to protect our communities from trains crossing through our neighborhoods.”
This legislation appeared after a string of accidents involving train derailments in Queens, where the overall rate of railroad incidents has increased over the past year.
The bill sets specific goals such as increasing the amount of safety inspectors to 800 by 2011, identifying high-risk areas and greatly increasing the civil penalties for violations from $500 to $2,500 and the penalty for not filing an accident report from $10,000 to $100,000.
All of these new safety measures will be overseen by an appointed Chief Safety Officer of the Federal Railroad Safety Administration. This bill will aid the newly named administration in their efforts to enforce safety measures on the railways.
The bill also contains new ideas to improve safety measures such as using ultra-sound technology to detect defects, creating a toll-free hotline that citizens can use to report problems of track crossings, and cutting back on the amount of time railway employees can work in an effort to cut back on fatigue.
Employees know the importance of safety and most are happy to get more rest, but some are worried about what it will do to the size of their paychecks. Jose Rivera is a former conductor and currently a yardmaster who monitors the train movements within the New York & Atlantic Railway rail yard.
“If they cut any more,” a worried Rivera said, “we will all be looking for new jobs.”