Tips for Effective Outreach

Letters and phone calls will be most effective if you follow a few basic principles:

• Your contact should be brief and to the point.
• Your opening sentence should identify the issue, and state your views on the importance of protecting your communities from DM&E and CP high-speed rail corridor and line expansion.
• Follow the opening sentence with two or three strong reasons that support your position (see background below for ideas).
• Ask your representative to be an advocate to protect your community.  
• End your correspondence with your name and address. 
   

Background Information 

DM&E Rail Safety Problems
For more than 20 years, DM&E has had one of the nation’s worst safety records.  Consider these facts:

For the fourth year in a row and the eighth time in the past 10 years, the DM&E recorded the highest train accident rate of the nation’s largest freight railroads in 2006, according to statistics from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

The figures confirm that DM&E continues to log one of the worst safety records among the nation’s largest railroads. Its 2006 safety rates were multiples of the national average in all major categories:

• Total Accident/Incident Rate:  4.1 times the national average
• Train Accident Rate:  6.2 times the national average
• Main-Line Accident Rate:  9.0 times the national average
• Highway-Rail Crossing Incident Rate:  4.6 times the national average
• Employee on Duty (Casualty) Rate: 2.4 times the national average