Flaws in track cause seven derailments in 18 months.Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard A Roseburg-based railroad carrier has two years to implement a maintenance and inspection plan aimed at eliminating track defects that have caused at least seven derailments in Oregon since early 2004, putting the public and railroad employees at risk, federal officials said Monday. Central Oregon Central Oregon is a geographical region lying near the center of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is commonly considered to include Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Primary cities in Central Oregon are La Pine, Sunriver, Bend, Redmond, Madras, and Prineville. & Pacific Railroad The Pacific Railroad is a defunct U.S. railroad. It was a predecessor of both the Missouri Pacific Railroad and St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. The Pacific was chartered by the U.S. state of Missouri on March 3, 1849. , which handles freight along more than 470 miles of track in Western Oregon This article is about the region of Western Oregon. For the University, see Western Oregon University. Western Oregon is a geographical term that is generally taken to apply to the portion of the state of Oregon that is west of the Cascade Range. and Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern , must make significant repairs to bring its tracks into compliance with national safety standards Safety standards are standards designed to ensure the safety of products, activities or processes, etc. They may be advisory or compulsory and are normally laid down by an advisory or regulatory body that may be either voluntary or statutory. under an agreement announced by the Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) was created in 1966 as a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation to promote rail transportation and safety. The FRA is one of 10 agencies within the Department of Transportation concerned with intermodal transportation. . Since 1998, state and federal railroad inspectors have noted more than 4,500 defects on Central Oregon & Pacific's tracks. Seventy-eight of those resulted in recommended fines, although records of any civil penalties levied against the railroad were not available Monday, FRA Fra: see Angelico, Fra; Bartolommeo di Pagholo del Fattorino, Fra; Fra Filippo Lippi under Lippi. spokesman Steve Kulm said. A series of track-caused derailments, beginning with an April 6, 2004, incident in Eugene in which six cars slid off a track, prompted federal officials to seek a safety compliance agreement with the short-line railroad
prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. agency records. Derailments "are a flag to us that we need to take a closer look," Kulm said. Last June, the railroad agency completed an investigation of Central Oregon & Pacific that found that by failing to comply with federal track-safety standards, the company was "creating a significant risk to the health and safety" of workers and the public, according to the agreement. Dan Lovelady, Central Oregon & Pacific's general manager, signed the accord last week. He declined to comment on it when reached by telephone Monday afternoon at his Roseburg office. Federal officials have confirmed seven track-caused derailments on the railroad's lines during the last two years, and an eighth accident remains under investigation. Existing track hazards include defective crossties, failing rail joints and rails that have spread too far apart for trains to travel safely. The FRA said that Central Oregon & Pacific track inspectors "have not performed quality inspections, possibly due to lack of proper training, and (the company) had not provided enough oversight to ensure that inspections and record-keeping were correctly done." The seven confirmed track-related derailments caused more than $363,000 in damage to equipment and tracks, according to railroad administration records. Three of those derailments occurred in Lane County, with others in Douglas and Josephine counties. The most damaging of the track-related accidents happened last March near Winchester, just north of Roseburg. A broken rail caused a train to derail de·rail intr. & tr.v. de·railed, de·rail·ing, de·rails 1. To run or cause to run off the rails. 2. and destroy a 135-foot-long trestle, dumping several loads of logs onto the ground and across Old Highway 99, according to an Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. report. Besides its line that runs south from Eugene to Siskiyou County, Calif., the railroad also runs trains along a track that extends west from Eugene toward Florence, then south to Coos Bay Coos Bay (k  s), city (1990 pop. 15,076), Coos co., SW Oreg., a port of entry on Coos Bay; founded 1854 as Marshfield, inc. 1874, renamed 1944. and Coquille co·quille n. A scallop-shaped dish or a scallop shell in which various seafood dishes are browned and served. [French, from Latin conch . "Performing sound track inspections and maintenance is not optional," FRA Administrator Joseph Boardman said in a prepared statement Monday. "We fully expect railroads large and small to comply with safety regulations that protect the public and safeguard railroad employees." During the last two years, Central Oregon & Pacific has had 13 trains derail on its lines, according to railroad administration statistics. Rail defects were the cause of some, and improperly loaded cars and mechanical or operator error were blamed in the other crashes. A particularly damaging one occurred in November 2004 near Riddle, when 4,300 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into Cow Creek and surrounding soils following the derailment derailment /de·rail·ment/ (de-ral´ment) disordered thought or speech characteristic of schizophrenia and marked by constant jumping from one topic to another before the first is fully realized. of two locomotives and 10 cars. Previously, the rail line was in the news in November 2003, when a fire erupted inside a railroad tunnel in the Siskiyou Mountains near the Oregon-California border. The tunnel was finally reopened in April. The company's insurance carrier paid for $10 million of the repairs - its legal limit - but the company had to foot the bill for the remaining $2 million in repair costs, according to company financial filings with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. Central Oregon & Pacific is owned by RailAmerica Inc., a publicly traded Boca Raton, Fla., corporation. Central Oregon is one of 47 short-line railroads in 27 states and six Canadian provinces owned by RailAmerica. Central Oregon & Pacific was formed in 1994 to buy the lines from Southern Pacific Railroad "Southern Pacific" redirects here. For the country-rock band, see Southern Pacific (band) The Southern Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting marks SP) was an American railroad. , which was selling off assets in order to pay down heavy debt. In addition to developing a track-safety plan, Central Oregon & Pacific also must train inspectors whose job it will be to check for compliance with national safety standards. Federal officials will conduct periodic inspections during the next two years to ensure the railroad is upholding its end of the safety agreement. If it does not, the railroad will face a more stringent compliance order that would hold the company's top officials personally responsible for failing to stick to the agreement. TRACK DEFECTS Since 1998, federal and state inspectors have recorded more than 4,067 track problems on Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad lines. They include: 171 gauge defects 704 defective crossties 167 defective rails 1,224 defective rail joints A separate 2003 federal inspection found 400 track defects These derailments in Oregon were attributed to the company's problems: Eugene, April 6, 2004 Sunny Valley, July 31, 2004 Wolf Creek, Oct. 26, 2004 Drain, Nov. 7, 2004 Eugene, Dec. 1, 2004 Eugene, Jan. 5, 2005 Winchester, March 1, 2005 - Federal Railroad Administration |
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