APTA recognizes winners of Rail Rodeo, safety and security awards

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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UTA

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) named the winners of its annual Rail Safety & Security Excellence Awards, as well as the Rail Transit Team Achievement Award during its annual Rail Conference taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

The “home town” team, Utah Transit Authority (UTA), won the Rail Transit Team Achievement Award at the 23rd annual APTA International Rail Rodeo held June 17-21 in conjunction with APTA’s Rail Conference. The Rail Transit Team Achievement Award is given to the system with the highest rail operator and maintainer team combined score. The winning team members were Jody Fairbourn, Richard Klein, Logan Parker, JoAnne Sloan and David Wright.

“This competition was a great display of the skills our rail operators and maintainers employ every day to keep America’s rail cars well maintained and operated with safety in mind,” said APTA President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Melaniphy. “I applaud all of this year’s winners for being the very best of the best.”

The operators’ competition measures professional skills, including train operation, knowledge of safety regulations, train equipment and track right-of-way rules and procedures. Ricky Church and Victoria Jenkins, on behalf of Hampton Roads Transit, won first place in the operators’ competition, while Logan Packer and JoAnne Sloan of UTA placed second. The team of Anthony Atkinson and Joseph Lynch from Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority took third-place honors.

The maintainers’ competition judges the ability to troubleshoot maintenance problems. Maintenance personnel were given a written test of train maintenance questions and asked to perform maintenance procedures on trains, check the conditions of train wheels, inspect gear boxes and more. The Bay Area Rapid Transit team of Gary Crandell, Edward Christian and Dan Parris repeated their win from last year in this category. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority team of Gary Geyer, Cameron Massaro and Dan Compton also repeated their second place finish from last year. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority maintainer team of Ezequiel Garcia, Marcos Martinez and Jose Padilla won third place.

Back at the conference, APTA’s Rail Safety & Security Excellence Awards were given to rail transit agencies in North America recognizing their excellence in safety and security programs and operations. The awards were distributed among three categories: Heavy Rail, Commuter/Intercity/Regional Rail and Light Rail/Streetcar.

In Heavy Rail, New York City Transit took home the GOLD Award for Security for its vandalism reduction efforts. Maryland Transit Administration in Baltimore won the GOLD Award for Safety for the design and implementation of its Safety Rules and Compliance Program, which encourages shared responsibility across multiple departments to keep customers, employees and equipment safe.

In the Commuter/Intercity/Regional Rail category, Long Island Rail Road won the GOLD Award for Safety for the development of a cross disciplinary safety observation and testing program.

Denver’s Regional Transportation District was awarded the GOLD Award for Safety in the Light Rail/Streetcar category for its development of a comprehensive safety plan with the goal of minimizing accidents at high-traffic crossings.

“This year’s winners are examples of why public transportation continues to be among the safest mode of travel for people as they go about their daily commute,” said Melaniphy. “I am honored to celebrate with these dedicated individuals who exemplify our industry’s commitment to safety and security. These transit systems have developed new approaches, harnessed new technologies and establish best practices to proactively prevent crashes and incidents that ultimately result in reducing injuries and saving lives.”

 

 

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