Flagman (rail) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
On the railroads, a flagman is an employee of the railroad who is assigned to protect contractors or anyone performing work on a railroad right of way. A flagman is also assigned to protect a train that has stopped on a section of track. When a train approaches a location a flagman is posted, the train crew will have to get permission from the flagman to pass the area.
Before the advent of automated
"A mounted flagman"
''Railway and Locomotive Engineering'', April 1908 Railway occupations Railway signalling
On the railroads, a flagman is an employee of the railroad who is assigned to protect contractors or anyone performing work on a railroad right of way. A flagman is also assigned to protect a train that has stopped on a section of track. When a train approaches a location a flagman is posted, the train crew will have to get permission from the flagman to pass the area.
Before the advent of automated level crossing
A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...
gates, and still where automatic gates are not installed, flagmen were also assigned to protect the crossings. The flagman would stop road traffic from crossing the tracks as trains used the crossing.
Additional information
Rules pertaining to a flagman may vary depending on different railroad's operating rules. For instance onCSX Transportation
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...
a train approaching the work area is to call the flagman for permission through the work area. If workers are in the clear the flagman will advise crew to proceed and advise the crew that workers are not fouling the track. If a flagman fails to answer, the train crew is required by rule to stop short of milepost location and proceed at restricted speed. However on Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
there are no flagmen. Rather NS has a track supervisor obtain track authority from the train dispatcher to take the track out of service until it is certain that workers are in the clear and trains may safely pass the area.
References
External links
* * {{Commons category-inline, Rail transport maintenance workers"A mounted flagman"
''Railway and Locomotive Engineering'', April 1908 Railway occupations Railway signalling