WASHINGTON — NASA on Friday awarded a contract to Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. of McLean,Va., for maintenance and operation of incident-reporting programs the space agency runs for other federal organizations, including the Federal Railroad Administration’s Confidential Close Call Reporting System.
The contact also covers the Aviation Safety Reporting System for the Federal Aviation Administration. Both systems, managed out of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., collect voluntarily submitted information on safety incidents with the aim of preventing more serious future incidents. The contract begins with a 60-day phase-in period beginning Feb. 9, a two-year base period beginning April 9, and a two-year and one-year option ending April 8, 2029. The total value of the contract could reach $38.4 million.
The Confidential Close Call Reporting System, also known as C3RS, has had a limited impact in the rail industry, mostly because Class I railroads have yet to take part. A U.S. Government Accountability Office report in 2022 found that only 23 of the almost 800 railroads in the U.S. were participating [see “GAO report finds FRA’s close-call program is underused …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 21, 2022]. The Association of American Railroads said last March that the Class I railroads would join, in the wake of the East Palestine derailment, but as of last August they had yet to do so, in part because of regulatory issues [see “Rail unions urge Class I railroads to join …,” News Wire, Aug, 16, 2023]. The railroads are seeking a waiver to FRA rules they say would otherwise require them to discipline engineers or conductors who violate safety rules and report incidents to the close-call program.
“The railroads are seeking a waiver to FRA rules they say would otherwise require them to discipline engineers or conductors who violate safety rules and report incidents to the close-call program.”
Interesting, the FAA will hold a hearing if a pilot either willfully or via negligence causes a close call. After the hearing, administrative punishment is *then* decided.
Why are train operators given a different level of rules? Safety is safety, if it isn’t reported, then it will never get fixed of be a part of the culture. Reporting should not be a problem in and of itself. Administrative reviews help weed out the tit for tat and snitching.
Calling out railroads for not managing their own in their union agreements is at risk here.