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Beyond the obvious penalties of death/injury from a head on, derailment or rear ending another train, what have the railroaders here heard* about in terms of penalities for this offense? 

 

Have a distant family member that was the conductor on a train that did this, and he and the hogger have been given some time off without pay to ponder their sins.

 

*Obviously none of the real railroaders here would have experienced these penalties.  

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From what I've picked up it sounds like the crew was running up on the hours of service and that the hogger didn't want to do a Stop and proceed on an intermediate red signal.  Came out that he'd ran some before, which explains how the officials caught him on the spot.  The conductor (the family member) is getting it because he didn't pull the air once the engineer didn't comply with the signal.  Not sure if he's a union member or not, since he works on a shortline.

In talking to a BNSF engineer, he said that they were running coal trains on the hilly routes north of Denver that would exactly fill a siding.  He said that when they took a siding on a downhill grade, they always asked the dispatcher to line the switch at the end of the siding for the siding, just in case the train wouldn't stop.  He also said that as a result they reduced the number of cars in each train so they wouldn't need to do that anymore.

 

ChipR 

  Rules and penalties have gotten tough now on stop signal violations.

 On this territory as soon as a stop signal has been run thru it is made aware of by the dispatchers computer.

 

 The crew must call it out by radio (for all trains in close proximity to hear ) then immediately key up the dispatcher to notify them.

 

 All trains that could be effected are then notified by the dispatcher to stop their movements until further instructions.

 

 The tapes in the dispatch office are pulled and read both on the audio and on  the dispatch control computers.

 

 Officials are sent out to pull the event recorders on the locomotives and the crew members are taken for a mandatory drug test.

 

 You are then removed from service until the time the company has reviewed all the information notified the union of your removal from service and and undetermined (not sure how they decide this)  amount of time until an official hearing or "investigation" takes place with you,your union representation and company try to determine what happened and who all is in violation .

 

 If you are found guilty the FRA will be notified to report to your FRA license the violation.

 

 Now in the past I've seen people off as little as 30-45 days.Anymore on the NS the time off is anywhere from 6-9 months,without pay.Now most people on the railroad in transportation take out job protection insurance for such incidents.If your not guilty of rule G,or guilty of using drugs or alcohol,most insurances will pay you the time you are off up to a year,I think.

 

 Then it's time will tell when the company will start the process of getting with the union and you after your time off,as to when they will start your process of returning back to work.

 

 Now the FRA rules are three strikes and your out.Meaning three stop signal violations and they de-certify you  as an Engineer.As far as conductors,I'm not sure,but now they also carry  license's   ,so I'm not positive how the certifying goes with them on this type of violation.

 

 And the big one now is the cell phone usage violations.The FRA can and will obtain your cell phone records and see if you were texting at anytime during your tour of duty.This can mean automatic dismissal if found guilty of this during a stop signal violation,and a possible fine from the FRA of up to $25,000.But there's a lot and I mean a lot of technicalities that have to be hashed out over this one.

 

 Like mentioned,stop signal violations are serious and hang over your career as a very bad cloud.And I've known of several cases since I hired on ,and all played out just a little different in each one as far as what happened,how the violation occurred and discipline given.

 

 I hope your relative returns to work in a timely manner ,and had job protection insurance.

 

 

 

Last edited by mackb4

 And I forgot to mention at times when the railroad is reluctant to bring you back, you then  have to wait until the exact day the FRA holds mediation on cases,and usually not close to where you live,you a union representative have to schedule a time to argue you case to return to work.

 

 I'm not sure if this takes place once or twice a year ?

Last edited by mackb4
Originally Posted by mackb4: Where I work the conductor goes down with the engineer.

  Rules and penalties have gotten tough now on stop signal violations.

 On this territory as soon as a stop signal has been run thru it is made aware of by the dispatchers computer.

 

 The crew must call it out by radio (for all trains in close proximity to hear ) then immediately key up the dispatcher to notify them.

 

 All trains that could be effected are then notified by the dispatcher to stop their movements until further instructions.

 

 The tapes in the dispatch office are pulled and read both on the audio and on  the dispatch control computers.

 

 Officials are sent out to pull the event recorders on the locomotives and the crew members are taken for a mandatory drug test.

 

 You are then removed from service until the time the company has reviewed all the information notified the union of your removal from service and and undetermined (not sure how they decide this)  amount of time until an official hearing or "investigation" takes place with you,your union representation and company try to determine what happened and who all is in violation .

 

 If you are found guilty the FRA will be notified to report to your FRA license the violation.

 

 Now in the past I've seen people off as little as 30-45 days.Anymore on the NS the time off is anywhere from 6-9 months,without pay.Now most people on the railroad in transportation take out job protection insurance for such incidents.If your not guilty of rule G,or guilty of using drugs or alcohol,most insurances will pay you the time you are off up to a year,I think.

 

 Then it's time will tell when the company will start the process of getting with the union and you after your time off,as to when they will start your process of returning back to work.

 

 Now the FRA rules are three strikes and your out.Meaning three stop signal violations and they de-certify you  as an Engineer.As far as conductors,I'm not sure,but now they also carry  license's   ,so I'm not positive how the certifying goes with them on this type of violation.

 

 And the big one now is the cell phone usage violations.The FRA can and will obtain your cell phone records and see if you were texting at anytime during your tour of duty.This can mean automatic dismissal if found guilty of this during a stop signal violation,and a possible fine from the FRA of up to $25,000.But there's a lot and I mean a lot of technicalities that have to be hashed out over this one.

 

 Like mentioned,stop signal violations are serious and hang over your career as a very bad cloud.And I've known of several cases since I hired on ,and all played out just a little different in each one as far as what happened,how the violation occurred and discipline given.

 

 I hope your relative returns to work in a timely manner ,and had job protection insurance.

 

 

 

 

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