U.S. Sues UP Over Dope

WhoozOn1st · Mar 19, 2009

Union Pacific sued over drug smuggling

"Marijuana or cocaine was found at least 38 times in rail cars at border crossings, federal authorities say."

Joel N. Weber II · Mar 19, 2009

How does common carrier status interact with this? I thought railroads were common carriers, which meant that they lose some rights to be picky about what they accept, but in exchange for that I thought they weren't held responsible for their customers' contraband that they're unaware of.

p&sr · Mar 19, 2009

WhoozOn1st said:
"Marijuana or cocaine was found at least 38 times in rail cars at border crossings, federal authorities say."

I thought that finding contraband was the job of the Customs Agents. If they found stuff, then they were doing their job! Why complain about the RR? Do they want the RR to do their job for them? If so, then the RR should never again have to stop for any Customs inspection.

Honestly, now... one way or the other. No fair claiming both sides at once!

tp49 · Mar 19, 2009

Joel N. Weber II said:
How does common carrier status interact with this? I thought railroads were common carriers, which meant that they lose some rights to be picky about what they accept, but in exchange for that I thought they weren't held responsible for their customers' contraband that they're unaware of.

Common carriers are generally held to a higher standard of liability which is what the below referenced document by CBP shows.

Customs on their webpage has a breakdown of "Rail Carrier Minimum Security Criteria." The entire document can be found here.

Seems to me that UP is having some issues in all of the major headings from the customs website. Seems to me that UP needs to get it's act together security wise.

WhoozOn1st · Mar 19, 2009

The New York Times account, which was summarized in the Trainsmag.com newswire:

U.S. Sues Railroad Over Smugglers

WhoozOn1st · Mar 19, 2009

Yet another, more detailed, account from the Journal of Commerce, a trade publication focused on transportation and logistics. Hadn't known of it until reading a Trainsmag.com newswire item unrelated to this topic. A new resource!

U.S. Sues Union Pacific Over Drugs

Early college journalism training stuck: My title for this topic, without having seen the above headline, is VERY similar. Writing headlines was and remains major fun, and I won a statewide collegiate award for one atop an opinion piece (also by me) back in the day when women were first entering NASA's astronaut ranks. "Female Astronauts: Out To Launch?"

I'll shut up.