Rail Agency Asks Power to Give Mandatory Drug Tests to Crews

WASHINGTON — Congress should give the Federal Railroad Administration authority to institute a mandatory drug and alcohol testing program comparable to the one recently adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration, rail administrator John H. Riley said Tuesday.

Under current law, the agency’s enforcement authority extends only to rail companies and does not cover individual railway employees.

“This lack of authority is a serious concern in an industry where human performance is becoming a dominant factor in the truly serious accidents,” Riley told a Senate subcommittee holding hearings in the aftermath of the deadly Amtrak-Conrail crash near Baltimore last month.

Express Strong Support

Several subcommittee members expressed strong support for drug testing at the hearing. “Some type of random testing legislation stands a good chance of passing the Senate,” subcommittee chairman J. James Exon (D-Neb.) said.

Tests after the collision of the Conrail and Amtrak trains Jan. 4, founds traces of marijuana in two of the Conrail crewmen. The accident, which killed 16 persons and injured 175, occurred after the Conrail crew ignored warning signals and improperly entered a track, federal investigators have said.

Riley said that to properly protect public safety, the FRA must be able to require random drug and alcohol tests, suspend railroad employees who fail them and levy fines up to $10,000--compared to $2,500 now--against railroad companies that do not follow through on safety requirements.

The FAA has the legal authority to suspend pilots’ licenses and levy substantial fines against airlines and, under orders announced last month by Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole, will begin drug testing this spring.

Lives at Stake

Riley said he could see no reasonable argument against testing railroad employees for drugs. “Operating a train is a privilege--not a right. You take the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands in your hands,” he said.

Lawrence M. Mann, an attorney representing rail workers in safety matters, told the committee he opposes random drug testing on the “constitutional grounds” that they are an invasion of privacy.

“We’re not trying to protect those who are guilty. There are thousands who don’t use drugs or alcohol. Those are the ones we’re trying to protect,” he said. Mann said he would announce later this week a “comprehensive package” that would allow drug tests only for those who had exhibited clear signs of drug use.

Safety Device Tampering

Riley also urged the committee to examine the problem of tampering with safety devices in locomotives. Tape was found over one safety device in the Conrail engine to keep it from working.