Most rail-served facilities know how to get cars in, get them spotted, and get them back to the railroad. The trouble is that much of the operation may depend on habit, assumptions, and one or two people who have always handled it.

A rail spur can be a real advantage for a manufacturer, warehouse, terminal, port, or industrial park. But being rail-served also brings responsibilities that are easy to overlook — especially when moving and handling railcars is only one small part of the business.

Most facilities know how to get cars in, get them spotted, and get them back to the railroad. The trouble is that much of the operation may depend on habit, assumptions, and one or two people who have always handled it.

We have seen these operations from all sides: as railroaders doing the work, through FRA and DOT safety oversight, and as shippers ourselves. An industrial rail operation can go years without a serious incident and still have gaps in employee training, track inspection, railcar securement, or coordination with the serving railroad.

Who Should Be Asking These Questions?

Whether you own a rail-served business, manage a facility, oversee safety or logistics, or are evaluating a rail-served property for development, you should know who is responsible, what rules employees are working under, and whether the way the job is being done is actually safe. These are ten questions every rail-served facility ought to be able to answer without much guessing.

Most rail-served facilities know the basics. They know who orders the cars, where the railroad leaves them, and who usually handles the switching, but that does not always mean they really have the rail operation under control.

A lot of these operations run on habit. One or two people know how things are done, everybody else stays out of the way, and the railroad comes and goes without much trouble. That may work for years, until somebody gets hurt, a car rolls, something gets derailed, or an inspector starts asking questions nobody is quite prepared to answer.

These are ten questions a rail-served facility ought to be able to answer without a lot of guessing.

Who is responsible for the track?

Where does the railroad’s track end and yours begin? Who inspects it, who pays for repairs, and who decides when a track is no longer safe to use? A lot of facilities assume the railroad handles everything. Sometimes that is true and sometimes it is not, so the agreement, lease, or actual ownership needs to be clear. “The railroad takes care of it” is not much of an answer if nobody has checked.

A lot of facilities assume the railroad handles everything. Sometimes that is true and sometimes it is not, so the agreement, lease, or actual ownership needs to be clear. “The railroad takes care of it” is not much of an answer if nobody has checked.

What kind of rail operation are you actually running?

Some facilities say they are only a customer, but their employees are moving cars, throwing switches, using derails, coupling equipment, applying handbrakes, and protecting crossings. At that point, they are doing more than just loading and unloading railcars.

The rules that apply depend on what employees are actually doing, not what the company calls the operation. A facility may not think of itself as running a railroad operation, but the work being performed may say otherwise, especially when employees are regularly handling equipment and directing movements.

Who is allowed to move railcars?

There should be a clear answer. Employees moving cars need more than a quick lesson on how to operate a Trackmobile or Shuttlewagon. They need to understand handbrakes, switches, clearances, shoving movements, crossings, securement, and how to work safely around the railroad.

Following another employee around for a day may help, but it is not a complete training program. The training should match the work the employee is actually expected to perform and the conditions found on that property, rather than relying on whatever the last person happened to pass along.

What rules are employees supposed to follow?

The railroad has rules, and the facility should have some too. They do not need to fill a huge binder, but employees should know who is in charge of the movement, how instructions are given, when a job briefing is needed, when crossings must be protected, and how switches and derails are handled.

They should also know where they can safely stand or ride and what to do when the operator cannot see the movement. The rules need to fit the actual property and the way the work is really done, not just look good on paper or satisfy someone during an annual review.

How do you know the track is safe?

Track usually does not go from good to failed overnight. Problems build up over time, and bad ties, loose fasteners, poor drainage, worn rail, wide gauge, damaged switches, and blocked flangeways may be there for quite a while before anybody finally deals with them. The facility should know who inspects the track, what they are looking for, how often it is done, and what happens when defects are found.

It is also worth asking whether the same contractor repairing the track is the only person inspecting it. He may be a good contractor and perfectly honest, but how likely is he to come back and say his own work is bad? There is nothing wrong with a repair contractor performing routine inspections, but an occasional independent look can help confirm whether the facility is getting a real assessment or just relying on the same person for both the diagnosis and the repair.

Somebody saying they “looked at it” is not always the same as a real inspection, especially if there is no written record of what was checked or what condition was found.

How are unattended cars secured?

Railcars do not need to travel very far to cause a serious problem. Employees should know how many handbrakes are required, how to test them, when to use a derail, and what changes when the track is on a grade.

There also needs to be some way to deal with bad or ineffective handbrakes. “Put a couple brakes on it” leaves too much room for interpretation, especially when different employees may have a different idea of what is enough and nobody has taken the time to define it.

How do your employees and the railroad crew work around each other?

This is where a lot of risk shows up. Facility employees may be loading cars while the railroad is getting ready to switch, a hose, vehicle, loading arm, or piece of equipment may be too close to the track, or maintenance employees may be working in an area another department thinks is clear.

There should be a basic process for letting everyone know the railroad is on the property, protecting employees working around cars, and confirming the track is ready to be released. It should not depend on somebody noticing the locomotive coming through the gate or assuming the railroad crew already knows what is going on inside the facility.

What happens when something goes wrong?

Who gets called after a derailment, injury, leak, collision, or unintended movement? Who has the authority to stop the operation, who protects the area, who contacts the railroad, and what records or evidence need to be kept?

These things do not need to be complicated, but they should be worked out before the incident happens. Getting the car back on the track is not always the first thing that needs to be done, especially when there may be an injury, a spill, damaged equipment, or a cause that still needs to be understood before operations continue.

Can you find your records?

Can the facility quickly produce its training records, track inspections, repair records, procedures, incident reports, and employee qualifications? Good work is hard to prove if there is no record of it, and a facility can quickly find itself trying to explain something that may actually have been done correctly.

The system does not need to be fancy. It just needs to make sense and not depend on one employee knowing where everything is stored or how to understand a spreadsheet nobody else uses.

Who is actually responsible for the rail program?

Somebody needs to own it. That does not mean one person has to do every inspection, every repair, and every training class. It means one person needs to make sure the pieces are being handled and that important issues are not getting lost between departments.

Without that, rail responsibilities tend to get split between safety, maintenance, operations, logistics, contractors, and the serving railroad. Everybody assumes someone else has it covered, and that is usually where the gaps are.

Can you answer all ten?

A facility does not need a giant railroad department to manage this well. It does need clear responsibilities, employees who are properly trained, usable procedures, decent records, and a basic understanding of what work is being performed.

When the answer is “I think,” “probably,” or “you would have to ask the guy who normally handles that,” there may be a problem worth looking at. It is better to find that out during a normal workday than after an accident, when the same unanswered questions suddenly matter a whole lot more.

Before buying, expanding, or marketing a rail-served property

A track on the property does not automatically mean the site is ready for rail service. Before purchasing, expanding, or marketing a rail-served facility, confirm who owns the track, whether the serving railroad will provide service, what repairs or upgrades may be required, what equipment will move the cars, and who will be responsible for the operation. These questions can affect project cost, startup timing, insurance, staffing, and whether the rail connection is actually useful.

About the Author

Kevin Sweat is FMW Solutions’ Director of Safety & Compliance and has more than 20 years of railroad operations, safety, training, and regulatory compliance experience.

A certified locomotive engineer and conductor, Kevin previously served for more than six years as an FRA Operating Practices Inspector for the Florida Department of Transportation. His experience includes Class I, passenger, short-line, tourist, and industrial rail operations, along with safety assessments, compliance audits, accident investigations, and employee training.