Rail Industry’s Commitment to Safety Continues to Expand
17 Nov 2009
For More Information Contact:
AAR
Communications
Kelly Donley 202-639-2100
kdonley@aar.org
Rail Industry’s Commitment to Safety Continues to Expand
InteRRIS ™ subscriptions top one million
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Nov. 17, 2009 - InteRRIS ™, the ambitious safety program launched by the railroad industry in 1997 to implement cutting edge technology to gather data on equipment performance in order to reduce derailments has steadily proven itself an invaluable asset in the industry’s continuing safety improvement story. Last week, InteRRIS ™ subscribers grew to top the one million mark.
“The point of this vast technology system is to improve safety on the 140,000 mile rail network by monitoring the health of rail equipment real-time and detecting problems before an accident or derailment occurs, “ said Edward Hamberger, AAR president and CEO. “The system is doing its job; broken wheel derailments are down 10 percent and bearing related accidents have declined by 25 percent. We believe the continued expansion of data systems like InteRRIS ™ will pay added dividends in terms of enhanced safety and efficiency in the movements of goods across our nation.”
InteRRIS ™ was developed by the Transportation Center Inc. (TTCI) as a data warehouse for automatically acquiring, storing and analyzing vehicle performance information. Data is culled from over 170 wayside detectors located throughout the nationwide system. The system alerts the industry and subscribers (railroads, private car owners, railcar fleet managers) with customizable information about how a vehicle is operating including car history, wheel performance, truck performance and hunting data. As a key support of the Advanced Technology Safety Initiative, InteRRIS ™ provides a snapshot of a railcar’s strength and fitness and alerts customers to potential problems before they occur resulting in a more predictive approach to railroad maintenance resolving issues before they become problems or accidents.
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Editors’ Note: The Association of American Railroads is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association whose members include the major freight railroads, or Class I railroads, of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, as well as Amtrak. Class I railroads represent 67 percent of the U.S. freight rail mileage and 90 percent of freight railroad industry employees. Railroads account for 43 percent of intercity freight volume — more than any other mode of transportation. To learn more about how freight rail works for America, the environment and for you, please visit: www.freightrailworks.org.