Norfolk Southern employees in Roanoke to join rail safety pilot program

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Norfolk Southern employees in Roanoke will play a central role in a new effort to enhance rail safety.

This week, the railroad and two unions announced a one-year pilot program that will let NS employees report safety concerns without fear of retribution or discipline.

The Confidential Close Call Reporting System has been used successfully in the aviation industry, but so far, only about two dozen of the 800 railroads in the U.S. are participating.

“It’s a good deal. And it’s a big deal,” said Scott Bunten, General Chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET).

He worked for 19 years as a Norfolk Southern locomotive engineer and represented the union as a negotiator.

“The important thing about this and the really big deal about it is that we collect safety data that right now is not available to us,” Bunten told WDBJ7 in an interview Tuesday afternoon.

The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division (SMART TD) is also a party to the agreement.

It was almost a year ago, when a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine Ohio. Negotiations involving the Confidential Close Call Reporting System started soon after.

John Fleps is Norfolk Southern’s Chief Safety Officer.

“Our goal is to make a safe railroad safer,” Fleps said. “And part of our commitment coming out of the accident was to look at a lot of different opportunities to enhance safety through different means. And one of them was committing to join this program.”

Norfolk Southern is the first Class I railroad to join the safety effort. Roanoke is one of three locations in the NS system that will participate in the pilot program.

“We want to ensure that our employees have an avenue to report that stuff, when it’s an almost, when it’s a near miss, when it’s a close call,” Fleps said.

The program will be evaluated after 12 months with the goal of expanding it within the NS system. Supporters also hope it will become a model for other railroads.