Images de page
PDF
ePub

in with an 11.9 percent reduction in fatalities and injuries to our own employees and an 8.9 percent reduction covering our employees and the public that there is nothing in those statistics that justifies this rush into major legislation of this kind.

The CHAIRMAN. Rush. After about 10 years talking about it there is a rush?

Mr. MOLONEY. I would say that in the face of an 11 percent improvement since 1961 in the casualty and death figures that there is some indication of a rush because we are certainly improving.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. Chairman, would the Chairman yield?

The CHAIRMAN. No, I would just like to ask one question further about your testimony before the other committee on this.

If we are going to pass this bill, and we are going to try very hard and I think the time has come now to do it, do you believe that this ought to be handled by the Labor Committee?

Mr. MOLONEY. Insofar as the bill that you have in mind is concerned, I think any aspect dealing with railroad operations or railroad operating properties and so on should certainly be handled by this committee.

Insofar as the industrial safety, ventilation in a room or toilet facilities or things of that nature and so on, I supposed that might be handled under some kind of general industrial approach but we have felt that this committee and you as chairman, Mr. Chairman, have long dealt with legislation dealing with the safety of railroad operations and railroad operating properties and we certainly think that your committee is the one that should be concerned with the bill and not the Select Committee on Labor.

The CHAIRMAN. Is that the position you took when the Association appeared before the other committee?

Mr. MOLONEY. I do not recall that we appeared. As a matter of fact, I will say this: we did not appear. We had numerous conversations with the chairman who was presiding at the hearing and I stated to him the same thing I have stated to you, that if we did appear we would feel like we were in the wrong church, in the wrong pew, and before the wrong pastor.

The CHAIRMAN. All right.

Mr. MENK. Could I put this figure in the record that Mr. Skubitz asked for so I won't have to send it?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. MENK. Total all employment 1967, 610,191.

The CHAIRMAN. The one I had was I believe 1966.

Mr. MENK. That is 638,095.

The CHAIRMAN. No; I believe it was supplied by your group too and said 632,863. That came from the Transportation Department. Mr. MOLONEY. There could be a difference. One figure may be class I railroads and another all carriers. I don't know. I suggest if there is a discrepancy that might account for it.

The CHAIRMAN. I might say to this group that this committee and I am sure every member of this committee believes in private industry, wants private industry to flourish in this country, and we are not here to hurt or strangle it. We want a strong railroad system and have been arguing for it for a long time and trying to help things that ought to have been done in the passenger field and other ways.

Sometimes there comes a time in things that there has to be some action taken. I guess that is the reason this committee is acting.

The gentleman from Ohio.

Mr. BROWN. I only wanted to make one point, Mr. Chairman, and that is that the thrust of my inquiry of the witness was to try to establish just what the safety record is and to elaborate to some extent on the statistics which were provided in this railroad safety record in historical perspective which was submitted earlier by one of the witnesses. I would like to again request a comment on the data which is submitted in these tables.

I would like to ask the witness now before the committee to comment on the data on these tables. I think it does make some difference as to reasons, for instance, that there has been a decline in the amount of track replaced, and so forth, with reference to whether or not a good job or poor job is being done by railroad management and labor with reference to safety.

I must say to the chairman that I am not convinced one way or the other yet as to just how much attention has been given to safety.

I might also ask, Mr. Chairman, are we to have other witnesses?
The CHAIRMAN. In the morning we are to have Mr. Joseph
O'Connell, the National Transportation Safety Board chairman.
Mr. BROWN. Are we having witnesses from labor?

Mr. MENK. We would be glad to comment on the statistics.
The CHAIRMAN. Would you for the record.

(The information requested appears on p. 317.)

The CHAIRMAN. I want to thank you and mention as Mr. Nelsen did the fact that you have come back different times and both have been very cooperative in your testimony and your answers, and I think that, if we could all sit down since we are all trying to get to the same objectives, I am sure that you gentlemen are and those in the labor organization are and the administration, and we can do what we think is best for the Nation.

It has come before this committee and I am sure we should do something about it. We need your ideas to do this thing and get what is best. We certainly don't want to do anything that is going to be detrimental to the railroads of this Nation and I certainly think by working together we can do the best we can.

I want to thank both of you for coming before us.

Mr. MOLONEY. It is always a pleasure, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. We will meet tomorrow at 9 o'clock.

Mr. SKUBITZ. Mr. Chairman, I think every member of this committee is interested in safety.

The CHAIRMAN. They surely are.

Mr. SKUBITZ. But you mentioned the figure 2,600 people killed. I have been trying to stress that most of these deaths were occurring at railroad crossings.

The CHAIRMAN. Not most of them.

Mr. SKUBITZ. 1,780. That leaves 904 for the rest of the field.

Mr. MOLONEY.That is correct, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. SKUBITZ. I think this is where our committee ought to be looking.

The CHAIRMAN. That is part of the record. That is right. This is the whole picture which should be taken under consideration.

The committee stands adjourned until tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock.

(Whereupon, at 12:20 p.m., the committee adjourned, to reconvene at 9 a.m., Wednesday, June 5, 1968.)

FEDERAL STANDARDS FOR RAILROAD SAFETY

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1968

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE,

Washington, D.C. The committee met at 9 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Harley O. Staggers (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

I am sure that we meet here in sorrow this morning and most of us have certain emotions about the tragedy that occurred last night. We do not know the consequences on that tragedy as yet. It is certainly a sad commentary on the state of affairs in America today that this has happened, but it has happened.

I first thought about calling off this meeting but I don't know that that would serve the purpose of this land in any way. So, we decided to go ahead with the hearings and do our job to the best of our ability. I think that is what all Americans should do under the circumstances.

So, we are going to continue these hearings and, as I said yesterday, we will complete them today in one way or another even though we meet tonight. We hope to give everybody the time that is needed and we will do just that.

We will start with you, Mr. O'Connell, as our first witness. Mr. O'Connell is Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Department of Transportation.

You may proceed.

STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH J. O'CONNELL, JR., CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; ACCOMPANIED BY FRITZ PULS, GENERAL COUNSEL; AND HENRY H. WAKELAND, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF SURFACE TRANSPORTATION SAFETY

Mr. O'CONNELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to say, first, I am accompanied by Mr. Puls, our General Counsel, and Mr. Wakeland, the Director of our Bureau of Surface Transportation Safety. They are here to answer any questions that the committee may wish to pose.

I have a statement for the committee, I will read.

The CHAIRMAN. All right.

Mr. O'CONNELL. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee: The Board was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966 and, as you know, while within the Department, is independent of the Department in the performance of its duties and functions.

In briefly describing the functions of the Board, I will limit my remarks to railroad safety.

The Accident Reports Act (45 U.S.C. 39) provides for the investigation of railroad accidents, the determination of their cause and the issuance of reports. The responsibility for field investigations was transferred by the Department of Transportation Act to the Secretary and by delegation to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Under section 5(b) (1) of the Department of Transportation Act, we are charged with the responsibility to determine cause and report the facts, conditions, and circumstances relating to railroad accidents presently being investigated under the Accident Reports Act.

In implementing this authority, although it may also conduct railroad investigations, the Board has sought to devote the major portion of its activities to determining cause and reporting major accidents in the railroad field. We have sought to limit our conduct of field investigations and to rely upon the investigations of the Federal Railway Administration.

In essence, selectivity has been the key to our efforts. Accordingly, we leave the actual field investigations to the Federal Railway Administration. With our limited staff, we have no alternative but to be selective and thorough.

In those cases reviewed, we attempted to seek out and recommend to the Department and the industry courses of action that will prevent the recurrence of such accidents in the future.

In addition, under section 5 (d) of the act, we are authorized to make recommendations to the Secretary or Administrators on the basis of the exercise of our functions, which will tend to prevent transportation accidents; to conduct special studies pertinent to safety in transpor tation; to insure that reports adequately state the circumstances of the accidents and recommendations to the Secretary or administrators concerning rules and procedures for the conduct of such investigations; arranging for our participation in such investigations; request the Secretary or his administrators for notification of accidents; request the Secretary and administrators to initiate special investiga tions; and we may initiate, on our own motion, investigations of railroad accidents.

During our first year of operation, the National Transportation Safety Board has devoted its energies to a continuous oversight of the safety picture in all modes of transportation-air, marine, highway, pipeline, and railroad. We have undertaken the detailed evaluation of a few individual accidents, on which we have issued reports, determined cause, and made recommendations to the Department of Transportation, other Federal, State and local agencies, and to the transportation industry.

We also have undertaken special studies of safety in the different modes looking for general lessons to be learned which will help to prevent future accidents.

We have issued three major reports of railroad accidents--one involving a head-on collision of two freight trains, the other two were railroad grade crossing accidents.

The first report was of a tragic railroad-highway grade crossing accident at Sacramento, Calif. We examined the evidence and urged the Department, as well as the industry, States and local jurisdictions,

« PrécédentContinuer »