U.S. Railroad History Relating to Fatigue, Safety Culture, and Technology

The author, with 49 years of experience with the railroad industry, reviews the railroad industry, beginning with the U.S. government's historical interaction with railroads and the two eras of federal railroad regulation (1893 through the 1920s and 1965 through the 1990s). He then addresses the topics of the current meeting, including the following: Human Fatigue and Vigilance - fatigue, sleepiness, and scheduled work; Impact of Advanced Technologies on Railroad Operational Safety - early fixed signals and communications, early appliances, air brakes, dynamic brakes, later signaling and communications, retarder yards, wayside detectors, journal bearings, rail, electronic computation and communications, locomotives, distributed power, remote control locomotives, positive train control, and end-of-train devices; and Safety Culture - conceiving of and using the phrase safety military roots of U.S. railroad culture, the basis of railroad safety, and organizational and regulatory errors.