U.S. railroad Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) interfered in a federal safety audit after employees were coached on how to respond, prompting the federal rail agency to end the review, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee said on Friday.
Senator Maria Cantwell said she was opening a probe into Union Pacific’s actions after the Federal Railroad Administration told the committee this month it was forced to discontinue its assessment “due to Union Pacific’s actions to undermine the integrity of the assessment process.”
She asked the company to provide all documentation regarding the safety culture audit, along with policies and plans to improve its safety culture.
Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) said safety is its “key foundational pillar” and would respond to Cantwell’s letter.
The FRA did not immediately comment.
Cantwell said the FRA found that employees companywide had been coached to provide specific responses to safety inspector surveys and report the interactions they had with inspectors to supervisors.
Cantwell said she was “deeply concerned about these FRA findings and the chilling effect the Union Pacific actions have on employee reporting of safety issues.” She added she is concerned this indicates a weak safety culture and cited Union Pacific’s derailment rate which is 30% higher than the next-highest major railroad.
In June 2023, the FRA said it would conduct safety assessments of all major U.S. railroads following the February 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern-operated train in Ohio.
Last month, the National Transportation Safety Board chair said Norfolk Southern threatened the board, sought to manufacture evidence, and failed to provide documents during its investigation of the Ohio derailment.
Cantwell’s committee in May 2023 approved sweeping rail safety legislation to mandate the use of technology that can identify equipment failures and boost fines for safety violations, but that bill has stalled in Congress.
(Source: ReutersReuters)
