By David Shepardson
(Reuters) -American Railroad Pacific Union (NYSE:) interfered with a federal safety audit after employees were coached on how to respond, prompting the federal railroad agency to end the review, the agency and the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee said Friday.
Sen. Maria Cantwell said she launched an investigation into Union Pacific’s actions after the Federal Railroad Administration told the committee this month that she was forced to halt her review “due to Union Pacific’s actions to undermine the integrity of the review process .”
She asked the company to provide all documentation related to the safety culture audit, along with policies and plans to improve safety culture.
Union Pacific said safety is the “key fundamental pillar” and would respond to Cantwell’s letter.
The FRA confirmed Friday that it has canceled the safety culture audit, in an April 26 letter to the railroads
Reuters noted that it found that numerous employees were coached to provide specific answers to FRA questions when approached for an interview about safety culture.
The agency also “found reluctance to participate in field interviews of employees who cited harassment or fear of retaliation.”
The FRA said it will likely resume a safety culture assessment of Union Pacific later this year or early next year.
Cantwell said she was “deeply concerned by these FRA findings and the chilling effect Union Pacific’s actions are having on employee reporting of safety concerns.” She added that she is concerned that this indicates a weak safety culture and cited Union Pacific’s derailment rate, which is 30% higher than that of the next highest major railroad.
In June 2023, the FRA said it would conduct safety reviews of all major U.S. railroads following the February 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern-operated train in Ohio.
The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said this last month Norfolk South (NYSE:) threatened the board, attempted to produce evidence and failed to provide documents during the Ohio derailment investigation.
Cantwell’s committee approved sweeping rail safety legislation in May 2023 to mandate the use of technology that can identify equipment defects and increase fines for safety violations, but that bill has stalled in Congress.
