ASLRRA Honors 385 Railroads With Jake Awards
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The Jake Awards are named for the late Lowell S. "Jake" Jacobson, President and General Manger of the Copper Basin Railway. (Photograph Courtesy of ASLRRA)
The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) on May 29 reported its annual Jake Safety Award recipients, recognizing a “record” 385 member railroads for their above-industry-average safety performance in 2023; this includes 340 awardees of “Distinction” for zero reportable injuries in 2023, and 19 awardees that ASLRRA also chose for the President’s Award, for having the lowest injury frequency rate in a variety of per person-hour categories.
To be honored with a Jake Award, ASLRRA said that a member railroad must perform better than the industry average reportable injury frequency rate for railroads other than Class I’s, commuter railroads and Amtrak, as evidenced by Railroad Injury and Illness Summary Forms submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for each of the 12 months of 2023.
The Jake Awards are named for the late Lowell S. “Jake” Jacobson, President and General Manager of the Copper Basin Railway (CBRY), who was Railway Age’s 1994 Railroader of the Year. “After achieving a perfect safety record for the CBRY in 1993, Jake realized that there was no award that recognized smaller railroads’ safety records,” ASLRRA reported. “In 1999, the ASLRRA Safety Committee adopted the Jake Awards, and since then, has continued Mr. Jacobson’s legacy of rewarding and drawing attention to the high safety standards of the small railroad industry.” Jacobson, who passed away in 2021, was included in the Short Line Railroad Hall of Fame in 2024.
The following ASLRRA members are President’s Award honorees. They will receive their awards at the 2024 ASLRRA Regional Meetings to be held this fall in Jacksonville, Fla., Sept. 30-Oct. 2 for the Eastern and Southern regions, and in Dallas, Tex., Oct. 28-30 for the Central and Pacific regions.
Central Region Winners
- Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co.: Lowest Frequency Rate: more than 500,000 person-hours
- Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co.: Lowest Frequency Rate: 250,000 – 500,000 person-hours
- PSC Group: Lowest Frequency Rate: 150,000 – 250,000 person-hours
- Kiamichi Railroad Co.: Lowest Frequency Rate: 50,000 – 150,000 person-hours
- Western Rail Road Company: Lowest Frequency Rate: less than 50,000 person-hours
Eastern Region Winners
- Consolidated Rail Corporation: Lowest Frequency Rate: more than 500,000 person-hours
- Union Railroad Company, LLC: Lowest Frequency Rate: 250,000 – 500,000 person-hours
- New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway: Lowest Frequency Rate: 150,000 – 250,000 person-hours
- Allegheny Valley Railroad Company: Lowest Frequency Rate: 50,000 – 150,000 person-hours
- Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad Corp.: Lowest Frequency Rate: less than 50,000 person-hours
Pacific Region Winners
- Pacific Harbor Line, Inc.: Lowest Frequency Rate: 250,000 – 500,000 person-hours
- Terminal Switching Services: Lowest Frequency Rate: 150,000 – 250,000 person-hours
- Clarkdale Arizona Central Railroad: Lowest Frequency Rate: 50,000 – 150,000 person-hours
- Texas & New Mexico Railway: Lowest Frequency Rate: less than 50,000 person-hours
Southern Region Winners
- Conrad Yelvington Distributors: Lowest Frequency Rate: more than 500,000 person-hours
- Paducah & Louisville Railway: Lowest Frequency Rate: 250,000 – 500,000 person-hours
- R.J. Corman Railroad Co./Memphis Line: Lowest Frequency Rate: 150,000 – 250,000 person-hours
- Railserve Inc. – Switching: Lowest Frequency Rate: 50,000 – 150,000 person-hours
- Georgia Southwestern Railroad: Lowest Frequency Rate: Less than 50,000 person-hours
“‘Safety First’ is the oft-repeated refrain on our nation’s railroads, and it rings true for short lines,” said ASLRRA President Chuck Baker, during the awards announcement on May 29. “Nothing is as important as bringing home every employee safely every day. Our Jake Safety Award program is one way we honor and recognize short line railroads that achieve exemplary safety records. Based on FRA-reported performance in 2023, a record 385 of our member short lines have achieved better than industry average injury frequency rate per 200,000 person-hours worked, and 340 of those short lines reported a perfect zero reportable injuries. These numbers are impressive measurements of the industry’s safety improvement, reflecting short lines that live the ‘Safety First’ value each day and the industry’s commitment to investing in infrastructure to improve safety.”
Since its inception in 1995, the Jake Award program has distributed nearly 7,400 Jake and Jake with Distinction Awards to America’s small railroads. In 2023, ASLRRA) announced a record number of member railroads (383) qualifying for a Jake Safety Award, as well as a record number (350) noted “with Distinction” for zero reportable injuries in 2022; from these top safety performers, 20 member railroads were further recognized as President’s Safety Award winners.
![“Thanks to Secretary Pete [Buttigieg], USDOT, the Federal Railroad Administration and all our partners for making the S-Line passenger rail a reality!!” NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins said in a July 1 LinkedIn post. “Thanks to the hard work of our NCDOT team we broke ground on the first construction project in the Raleigh to Wake Forest segment, a $19M project to grade separate Durant Road 7 months after the grant announcement!!” (Photograph Courtesy of Joey Hopkins)](https://www.railwayage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/slinelead-315x168.png)
