Safety rules question, Please help?

Question

Can anyone provide a link to rules governing boarding and or detraining to / from moving equipment?

Everyone tells me it's a No-No, yet I always see crews practice it, and as a member of a small operating Railroad, I am not prohibited from the same activities while working.

Can anyone help me clarify this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

sorry no help here.

Answer 2

No cite I know of, but here is a crash course.

1.  Never board equipment moving too fast to do so.  If you aren't sure, take the safe course and do not board.  Never attempt to board or detrain if speed above ten mph.

2.  Your leading foot OPPOSITE the direction of travel (if boarding a car or locomotive moving left to right, your left foot goes first) and place the foot in the trailing side of the stirrup., while at the same time securing hand hold on grab irons.  The equipment will actually "pick you up," allowing you to place your other foot in the stirrup.

3.  Maintain a minimum of three point contact, i.e., two hands and a foot, two feet and one hand.

4.  To detrain from moving equipment, first make sure of the footing conditions, then your TRAILING foot (left) is the first to make contact with the ground, which allows you to essentially take a large step as your right foot comes out of the stirrup.  Of course if the equipment is moving right to left, then our right foot will be the lead when getting on or off.

5.  Never attempt to board foot-boards of the locomotive.

6.  Never ride the end sill of a car unless necessary to control the car with the hand brake if cut off in motion

7.  When boarding moving equipment, ALWAYS board the leading end of a car, unless it is the last car.  That way, if you miss, instead of falling between the coupled cars, you'll bounce off the side of a car (hopefully).

DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITHOUT PROPER TRAINING!  It takes a live demonstration and a few minutes of practice to get it right.

Rails have been boarding and getting off of moving equipment from day one, but some carriers today do prohibit this practice, while others do not.  It is dangerous and proper technique mitigates the danger, but it is still a risky business.

Answer 3

Personally, I know of no railroad that would enchorage someone to board a moving train. The Canadian National Railway prohibits boarding any moving equiptment, the equiptment has to stop. Even so, some CN crews still board moving trains if they know they won't get caught.

Answer 4

i work for csx and only in certain area's is getting off of moving equipment allowed, like on the hump or something.  or in an emergency..  that's it..

Answer 5

As usual, Hoghead got here before me. I'll add this though. Don't be afraid to have your engineer make a few passes at 5 to 8 mph while you practice on and off. When I started with BNSF (BN then), that's what they did for us, while someone to critique watched. Only takes three or four tries to get it down - usually. This is if you have yet to practice this maneuver.

On the railroad I work for, it's okay to get on/off moving equipment as well, on our own property. However, we spend time on the properties of the BNSF and Canadian Pacific too. There, we of course comply with all their rules and don't do it.  We have been told that we do not need to adhere to their rules as we are not employees of those railroads. But we do anyway.