Interesting you folks should bring this up. Pardon the digression here.You have to wonder if firing people for getting hurt would discourage them from reporting minor accidents, and if a workforce that doesn't report minor accidents would result in safety statistics that suggest that fewer minor accidents happen.Railroaders call the NS the "**** Southern" and for good reason. Although they have won the Harriman Award for safety for the past 18 or so years they fire you if you get hurt~ go figure that one out! It's a tough place to work and I'm sure they have elevated a lot of employees blood pressures from what I have witnessed in their rules classes. (If you deliver a train in interchange to them in New Orleans you have to take their rules classes. The trainmaster was such a jerk he must have ace'd his ***** test.)
I'm amazed that unions and or lawyers would let them get away with having that policy.
Seems to me the NS crew that splattered chlorine gas over Graniteville(sp?), SC were company men to the end -- right up until NS threw them under the bus, even if they deserved it. I think in that incident, they thought the company would take them back if they protected NS as best they could.
Back to Amtrak...
I've said it before, I'll say it again. There are only two ways this crap is going to stop. The first way is to organize mobs of photographers to embarass Amtrak into getting rid of this nonsense. The other way is for any self-respecting railroad photography enthusiast to attend a NARP regional meeting, and (verbally) beat up any Amtrak executives on this issue.
I fear this sort of thing is getting out of control.