CSX chief: Stopping track tragedies by promoting rail safety in Jacksonville and beyond
Each fall, the railroad industry and its many collaborating stakeholders partake in Rail Safety Week, which ran Sept. 18-24 this year. Although it’s technically passed, those working within the rail industry know that we focus on rail safety every single day, all year long.
Rail safety takes on particular importance for the state of Florida. In 2022, according to the Federal Railroad Administration’s data for total casualties, Florida had the third-highest rate of casualties due to trespassing and fourth-highest rate of collisions in the United States. These accidents leave a lasting mark on the communities they impact. They’re also — through education and engagement — preventable.
That’s what we’re all focused on: stopping track tragedies and ensuring we’re doing all we can, as an industry and as members of the community, to make sure our rails are as safe as they can be.
Railroads are vital to our nation’s infrastructure and overall economy. Each year, the industry invests an average of $23 billion into the privately owned network to help support nearly every goods-related industry in our economy. These investments help to support and strengthen the connections between American industries and global markets, helping to drive job growth here in our country.
As a safety official at CSX, one of the nation’s largest railroads, I’ve devoted my career to rail safety. I watch the work we do every day to keep communities safe. Our industry can and must do more, but I’m also proud of our commitment and the progress we have made.
CSX has especially high safety standards. We take it seriously and we take pride in what we do.
The passion and training we devote to every single employee allows us to provide the most reliable rail service to our customers while keeping our communities safe above all else.
We’ve steadily increased our investment in core infrastructure over the years and expect to spend $1.7 billion of our $2.3 billion capital budget on improvements to things like tracks, bridges, and signals in the year ahead. We’ve also deployed updated “hot bearing detectors,” which enable us to remotely monitor rail cars in new ways and keep an even closer eye on key indicators of safety and performance.
Beyond training our own employees, we also work closely with members of the community to ensure they’re ready and able to respond in the rare case of an incident involving hazardous materials. This coordination is hugely important and speaks to our recognition of the fact that rail safety is truly a team effort.
This isn’t a simple matter of sharing some materials or hosting some webinars, either. Our “Responder Incident Training” Train travels across CSX’s network teaching first responders how to plan for and respond to accidents along the tracks. In 2022, 40 different training events were held.
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We’re all risk managers at CSX, and we take our job seriously. CSX is committed to the communities we serve and will always prioritize safety. It defines who we are.
Dedicating a week to providing education and training to communities allows us to do even more to help the public understand how they can interact more safely with the tracks in their neighborhood. It gives us a chance to create more awareness around the risks ― including trespassing and crossings ― while also building on the progress we’ve made.
By working together, we can help all the communities we serve make good decisions around tracks and trains to #STOPTrackTragedies.
Sean Douris, chief of police, public safety and infrastructure protection, CSX
This guest column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Fewer track tragedies top priority for Jacksonville-based rail company
