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--- transportation:rail [2023/06/04 22:45] – [Articles] timb
+++ transportation:rail [2024/11/20 23:02] (current) – [Maps] timb
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== Rail ======
+ ====== Rail ======
 Created Sunday 25 July 2021
-See also: [[transportation:Transportation]]
+See also: [[transportation:Transportation]] | [[transportation:Train]]
 ====== Articles ======
@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
+===== BNSF =====
+== A track inspector claimed he was fired for reporting ‘too many defects.’ His secret recordings may cost BNSF millions. ==
+Ryan Raiche KSTP - September 6, 2023 - 5:11 PM / Updated: September 7, 2023 - 9:48 AM
+A series of phone calls secretly recorded by a track inspector-turned-whistleblower at Burlington Northern Santa Fe is raising more questions about the safety culture at Minnesota’s largest railroad.
+“Why can’t we just fix the (expletive) defects?” an employee is heard saying on one of the calls.
+The recordings, which have not been previously reported, are part of a 2017 lawsuit filed in federal court by former track inspector, Don Sanders.
+A jury later found BNSF retaliated against Sanders after he claimed he was fired for reporting “too many defects.”
+The railroad is currently appealing a multi-million-dollar verdict. BNSF did not respond to requests to comment on the recordings obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES. In a previous statement, a spokesperson said the company “does not retaliate against employees.”
+https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/a-track-inspector-claimed-he-was-fired-for-reporting-too-many-defects-his-secret-recordings-may-cost-bnsf-millions/
+== Safety Inspector Fired For Finding 'Too Many Defects' Could Cost Railroad Millions ==
+Newly released recordings bring to light a culture of ignoring safety in favor of profit
+Collin Woodard - 8 September 2023 11:30AM
+You would think that if you worked as a track inspector for a railroad company, reporting defects would make you good at your job. After all, wouldn’t the company want to know where its trains should slow down and where repairs need to be made? Ignoring those problems would be a recipe for train derailments that could cost the company a lot of money and could injure or even kill employees. According to former track inspector Don Sanders, you would be wrong, at least if you work for Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
+KSTP-TV reports Sanders had previously sued BNSF back in 2017, claiming he was retaliated against after he reported “too many defects.” The jury found in his favor, and BNSF is currently appealing the multi-million-dollar judgment. This isn’t the first time BNSF found itself in court, either. After a train derailed back in March, the news channel “...found BNSF had repeatedly been sanctioned or admonished in court for destroying evidence or retaliating against employees.”
+https://jalopnik.com/safety-inspector-fired-for-finding-too-many-defects-cou-1850817520
+===== Countries =====
+==== England / UK / Britain ====
+== Britain is building one of the world’s most expensive railways. Many people now think it’s pointless ==
+Ben Jones, CNN - 6:01 AM EST, Mon November 18, 2024
+ Building new railways is an expensive business. Even in ideal circumstances, carving a new route through the landscape costs millions of dollars per mile and can take decades to complete.
+If you want to build that railway through one of Europe’s most densely populated countries, expect the costs and opposition to increase dramatically.
+With its first — and now only — phase currently costed at between $58.4 billion and $70 billion by the UK government, Britain’s High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project now costs an eye watering $416 million per mile.
+It’s a metric that gives it the dubious honor of being the world‘s most expensive railway project.
+https://www.cnn.com/travel/hs2-britain-expensive-high-speed-railway/index.html
@@ Line 47: / Line 105: @@
 https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=51.58248&lon=15.6501&zoom=3
+====== Rail to Trail Conversion ======
+===== California =====
+== An old rail track in Northern California could become a 300-mile hiking trail ==
+Lila Seidman, Staff Writer - April 6, 2024 5 AM PT
+More than a century ago, a railroad was constructed to shuttle passengers and redwood logs between San Francisco and Humboldt Bay.
+Now the since-abandoned train track could be transformed into a 307-mile pathway through remote, wild country along California’s North Coast, a move advocates hope will create a world-class outdoors destination and jump-start the economy.
+The Great Redwood Trail moved closer to realization this week with the release of a document mapping out the planning, construction and management of the trail in Mendocino, Trinity and Humboldt counties, or the northern portion of the envisioned path. Segments in Sonoma and Marin counties will be planned separately.
+“I would put it in the category of the Pacific Crest Trail, the Appalachian Trail — these large, landscape-scale trails that provide an experience for people to see areas that they just would never have access to otherwise,” said Caryl Hart, chair of the California Coastal Commission and board member of the Great Redwood Trail Agency, which is tasked with developing the path.
+https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-04-06/northern-california-rail-track-could-become-hiking-trail