Paying Attention To Safety

File Photo

Critical For Railroaders & Magazine Editors; From The February 2026 RT&S "Editor's Notebook."

The relentless emphasis on safety in the railroad industry over the decades has paid big dividends in terms of lives saved and injuries prevented. Everything from industry-wide safety programs, individual carrier programs, and even down to the job safety briefing before a switch move to a customer site has enabled railroaders to complete their work efficiently and safely.  As one Class I program expresses it –– “I’ll be home tonight.”

Members of the railroad press focus on safety a lot, too. We write about it in  opinion columns and technical articles, host guest editorials, and advertise products (although we don’t endorse products) that promote and help create safer conditions on the railroad. And when we can go out on the railroad ourselves, we participate in the job safety briefings and have safety drilled into our heads just like everyone else.

We must occasionally report on the sad story of an injury or fatality of a railroad worker because of an accident. Not just those associated with derailments but less complex things like roadway workers being unaware of a piece of maintenance equipment rolling straight toward them as they focus on what they’re doing, or that the clearance  between them and a passing train is not as great as they originally thought. Despite everyone’s best efforts, these tragedies happen.

Magazine editors, too, must ensure all content in each issue promotes safety and is in lock step with industry standards and protocols. Railway Track and Structures failed to do that last month, in the January 2026 issue. As Editor-in-Chief, this was my responsibility. The error we made was in using a stock photo on pages 24-25, within the AREMA (we chose the photo, not AREMA) material, of two “railroad workers” engaged in unsafe practices while on the job. While this is likely a staged photo, one man has his foot on the rail, both men are focused on electronic devices instead of maintaining situational awareness and are standing within or very close to the track. Although we can’t know for sure, we must assume that this is a live rail line and the optics fly in the face of all safety practices we must employ each day. While this photo was chosen from a stock bank of images, again, the responsibility of this image running is mine alone. I am the last one to look at each issue before it goes to the printer, and I should have caught this. The image accompanied a piece on rail career advice for younger people from more seasoned railroaders. I regret the error and hope readers will accept my apologies.

One reader wrote to scold us on this: “You didn’t ask me, but the advice I would give someone who is trying to pursue a career in the railway industry is: never but never put your foot on the rail! Or let someone else in your work group do it. This a rule violation on the railroad I began my career on and certainly is on many others. This is a slip/trip/fall incident waiting to happen, and I am incensed that this publication’s staff would be so irresponsible as to publish such a picture depicting such blatantly unsafe behavior. Someone indeed trying to pursue a career in the railway industry could have a promising career cut short by a such a moment’s carelessness, to our collective detriment.”

This message must be taken to heart by all railroaders and all of those who write about or are in any way associated with the industry. It is an important message, and we deserved our trip to the woodshed.

Please know that we understand the gravity of what occurred here and that we will continue to be diligent in ensuring images like this one don’t make it onto the pages of Railway Track and Structures. We exist to inform railroaders about technology and showcase innovations in many areas. Sloppy, inattentive habits of rail workers on the property, even though they’re staged, have no place in our magazine. We hope you will forgive us.