The U.S Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced January 29 that Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) would join the pilot program of the Confidential Close Call Reporting System as part of a partnership with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division (SMART-TD) and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET).

Under this agreement, NS employees represented by BLET and SMART-TD in Atlanta, Georgia; Roanoke, Virginia; and Elkhart, Indiana will be able to confidentially report unsafe events they experience while being protected from potential discipline by Norfolk Southern.

The DOT said that the Confidential Close Call Reporting System allows organizations to share data with each other while creating corrective actions that can reduce hazardous events, ultimately improving railroad safety.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg requested that all Class I freight railroads join the reporting program about a year ago following the NS train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Norfolk Southern was the last Class I railroad to join the initiative.

“FRA and the U.S. Department of Transportation have been using the full range of our authority to improve rail safety and push the industry to protect their employees, keep the public safe and keep communities informed,” said Buttigieg. “Norfolk Southern has taken a good first step, and it’s time for the other Class I railroads to back up their talk with action and make good on their promises to join this close call reporting system and keep America’s rail network safe.”

To date, the FRA said that it has received almost 31,000 reports through the program.