ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611040062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
FROM NOW ON, THE WORKERS must sign up for the numbered bags they use in trips to the toilet to make sure none end up on residents' property.
Norfolk Southern Corp. began a new human-waste policy for its locomotives' crews Friday that should please those who live near the railroad's tracks.
NS train crew members, though, found that they are now required to document their toilet trips.
The policy was adopted because of complaints from people living along railroad tracks. They said waste disposal bags had been tossed from moving trains onto their properties.
One Bedford County resident has sued Norfolk Southern over the alleged practice, which would violate state and federal law.
The railroad has started issuing orange plastic sanitary bags to its train crews for use in locomotive toilets.
Unlike the plain bags issued in the past, these bags are imprinted with serial numbers, which are recorded when the bags are handed out to crew members at the start of their shifts.
The railroad will keep track of the date, time, train number and serial number when bags are given to employees, D.A. Brown II, superintendent of the Virginia Division noted Thursday in a bulletin to train crews. Workers, he said, are required to fill out a form for all bags that are used on the job.
The purpose for the new procedure, said NS spokesman Bob Auman, is to ensure that bags of human waste from NS trains are disposed of properly.
A toll-free phone number is printed on the new bags so that anyone who finds one that was tossed off a train can report it to the railroad, Auman said.
Brown advised workers that disposing of a bag improperly could result in firing.
The bulletin contains instructions on how to tie and dispose of a bag.
He also warned that federal, state and local laws make it a criminal offense to dump untreated sewage onto land or water.
One NS worker, who read Brown's bulletin on Friday, was concerned that workers were going to be given only one bag to use during each work shift. The bulletin, however, doesn't say that and Auman said employees will be given as many bags as they need.
Auman said that NS believes the toilets equipped with plastic bags are a more sanitary and employee-friendly way of handling waste on locomotives than alternatives such as chemical toilets.
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