E. H. Harriman Award

The E.H. Harriman Award is an annual award presented to American railroad companies in recognition for outstanding safety achievements.

History

The award was founded in 1913 by Mary Averell Harriman, wife of the late Edward H. Harriman. After her death, the award was presented by her sons E. Roland Harriman and W. Averell Harriman. Today the award is sponsored by the E.H. Harriman Memorial Awards Institute.

Criticism

While the awards were intended to encourage safe operating practices and safety enhancements, the awards have also occasionally been the source of some labor disputes. Part of the award criteria has been a count of the number of reported workplace injuries as tracked by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA); this has led to disciplinary action and even dismissal for employees at some railroads. Several rail labor unions objected to the criteria, going so far as to picket the award ceremonies. Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE) General Chairman Paul Beard created the "Harassment Award" as a satire of the Harriman Awards to raise awareness of management practices that bred intimidation and disciplinary actions against reporting accidents. In 1999 the FRA invited discussions with representatives of rail labor unions to discuss the problem.

Recipients

Railroad companies are grouped into one of four categories:

• Group A railroads are line-haul railroads with greater than 15 million employee hours per year.
• Group B railroads are line-haul railroads with between 4 and 15 million employee hours per year.
• Group C railroads are line-haul railroads with less than 4 million employee hours per year.
• Group S&T railroads are switching and terminal railroads

The award presentations are normally made in May of the year after the award designation; for example, the 2004 awards were presented in May 2005. Past recipients of the E.H. Harriman Award were:

Year	Group	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medal
1938		Norfolk and Western Railway
1989	A	Norfolk Southern
	B
	C
	S&T
1990	A	Norfolk Southern
	B
	C
	S&T
1991	A	Norfolk Southern
	B
	C
	S&T		Belt Railway of Chicago
1992	A	Norfolk Southern
	B
	C
	S&T
1993	A	Norfolk Southern
	B
	C
	S&T
1994	A	Norfolk Southern
	B
	C
	S&T
1995	A	Norfolk Southern
	B
	C
	S&T	Belt Railway of Chicago
1996	A	Norfolk Southern	Burlington Northern and Santa Fe	CSX Transportation
	B	New Jersey Transit Rail Operations	Illinois Central	Kansas City Southern
	C	Texas Mexican	Providence & Worcester	New York, Susquehanna & Western
	S&T	Port Terminal Railroad Association	Belt Railway of Chicago	Houston Belt & Terminal Railway
1997	A	Norfolk Southern
	B
	C
	S&T
1998	A	Norfolk Southern
	B
	C
	S&T
1999	A	Norfolk Southern	Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad	CSX Transportation
	B	Illinois Central Railroad	Kansas City Southern Railway	NJ Transit
	C	Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad	Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railroad	Guilford Rail System
	S&T	Belt Railway of Chicago	Port Terminal Railroad Association	Patapsco and Back Rivers Railroad
2000	A	Norfolk Southern
	B	Kansas City Southern Railway
	C	Gateway Western Railway
	S&T		Belt Railway of Chicago
2001	A	Norfolk Southern
	B
	C
	S&T		Belt Railway of Chicago
2002	A	Norfolk Southern
	B		Metra
	C
	S&T	Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis	Conrail
2003	A	Norfolk Southern
	B	Metra	Soo Line Railroad
	C	Iowa Interstate Railroad
	S&T	Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis	Conrail
2004	A	Norfolk Southern	BNSF Railway	Union Pacific Railroad
	B	Metra	Soo Line Railroad	Illinois Central Railroad
	C	Guilford Rail System	Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad	Providence and Worcester Railroad
	S&T	Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis	Conrail	Alton and Southern Railway
2005	A	Norfolk Southern	BNSF Railway	CSX
	B	Canadian Pacific's U.S. subsidiary (formerly Soo Line Railroad)	Kansas City Southern	Metra
	C	Florida East Coast Railway	Pan Am Railways	Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad
	S&T	Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis	Conrail	Belt Railway of Chicago
2006	A	Norfolk Southern Railway	CSX Transportation	BNSF Railway
	B	Kansas City Southern Railway	Canadian Pacific Railway's United States subsidiary	Long Island Rail Road
	C	Florida East Coast Railway	Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad	BNSF Suburban Operations in Chicago
	S&T	Birmingham Southern Railroad	Conrail	Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis

References

• Association of American Railroads (May 19 2005), Railroads Set Another Employee Safety Record in 2004. E. H. Harriman Memorial Awards Honors Outstanding Performance in Rail Safety. Retrieved January 11 2006.
• Association of American Railroads (reprinted by Norfolk Southern Railroad) Railroads Set Another Employee Safety Record in 2005. (2006-05-16). Retrieved on 2006-05-24..
• Belt Railway of Chicago (2005), The Belt Railway of Chicago: Safety. Retrieved January 11 2006.
• BNSF Railway (May 19 2005), BNSF Wins E.H. Harriman Memorial Silver Safety Award. Retrieved January 11 2006.
• Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (September 1999), BMWE Journal: FRA Committee Reviewing Safety Award Criteria. Retrieved January 11 2006.
• Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad (May 12 2000), IHB Railroad wins award for improved safety performance. Retrieved January 11 2006.
• Kansas City Southern (May 8 2001), KCS and Gateway Western Receive Gold E.H. Harriman Memorial Safety Awards. Retrieved January 11 2006.
• Metra (May 23 2003), Metra earns two Harriman Awards. Retrieved January 11 2006.
• Norfolk Southern Railroad, Norfolk Southern Earns 16th Consecutive Harriman Rail Safety Award. Retrieved January 11 2006.
• Terminal Railroad Association Harriman Gold Medal Award Winner. Retrieved January 11 2006.