Union Pacific railway interfered in federal safety audit, agency says

By David Shepardson

(Reuters) -U.S. railroad Union Pacific interfered in a federal safety audit after employees were coached how to respond, prompting the federal rail agency to end the review, the agency and the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee said on Friday.

Senator Maria Cantwell said she was opening a probe into Union Pacific's actions after the Federal Railroad Administration told the committee this month it was forced to discontinue its assessment "due to Union Pacific’s actions to undermine the integrity of the assessment process."

She asked the company to provide all documentation regarding the safety culture audit, along with policies and plans to improve its safety culture.

Union Pacific said safety is its "key foundational pillar" and would respond to Cantwell's letter.

The FRA confirmed Friday it canceled the safety culture audit, telling the railroad in an April 26 letter

seen by Reuters that it discovered numerous employees were coached to provide specific responses to FRA questions if they were approached for a safety culture interview.

The agency also "encountered reluctance to participate in field interviews from employees who cite intimidation or fear of retaliation."

FRA said it will likely restart a safety-culture assessment of Union Pacific later this year or early next year.

Cantwell said she was "deeply concerned about these FRA findings and the chilling effect the Union Pacific actions have on employee reporting of safety issues." She added she is concerned this indicates a weak safety culture and cited Union Pacific’s derailment rate that is 30% higher than the next-highest major railroad.

In June 2023, the FRA said it would conduct safety assessments of all major U.S. railroads following the February 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern-operated train in Ohio.

Last month, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board said Norfolk Southern threatened the board, sought to manufacture evidence and failed to provide documents during its investigation of the Ohio derailment.

Cantwell's committee in May 2023 approved sweeping rail safety legislation to mandate the use of technology that can identify equipment failures and boost fines for safety violations, but that bill has stalled in Congress.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Rod Nickel)