Roger Clugston, the Director of the Rail Safety Division at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), is retiring after 52 years in California’s railroad industry. Clugston spent 24 of those years working for the CPUC in Bakersfield.
Clugston’s career began with his father, who worked for Santa Fe Railroad. As a child, he traveled across California with him, sleeping in “living cars” and helping repaint stations and trestles. In 1973, Clugston joined Santa Fe Railroad himself, working on track construction and maintenance. He described this period as physically demanding but said he soon learned to appreciate the craft involved in track work.
Over more than a decade, Clugston advanced to the track foreman program and developed close ties with his coworkers. After leaving Santa Fe, he became a consultant and expert witness for railroad accident cases before joining CPUC as a track inspector in 2001. He was later promoted to senior track inspector.
“I loved it,” Clugston said about his time at CPUC. “I learned more about railroad operations, signals, and hazardous materials. The CPUC gave me autonomy to do the job and treated me well. No more missing important family events. And people listened to my ideas for improvement and training.”
Pat Tsen, Deputy Executive Director of Consumer Policy, Transportation, and Enforcement at CPUC, praised Clugston’s broad knowledge: “Roger is famous around the CPUC,” she said. “No one is more knowledgeable about California’s railways and all it takes to keep them safe, and when you talk to him, you find that he also knows so much about history, music, theater and art.”
As an inspector at CPUC, Clugston evaluated tracks and structures throughout California by walking tracks or riding in locomotive cabs with engineers. He emphasized regulatory independence during inspections: “You have to get confident in the skin of a regulator first,” he said. “When you’re working around the railroad, your stance is, ‘I’m not your friend, but I’m here to help.’”
Clugston also recommended launching state railway bridge and tunnel inspection programs due to concerns over unaddressed safety issues.
“The thing Roger brings to the people of California is the full-on commitment to public safety above all else,” Tsen said. “The CPUC is the only agency in the U.S. that invests in rail safety and saving lives to this level.”
In 2019 Clugston became director of CPUC’s newly organized Rail Safety Division. The division now has 125 employees who oversee safety on all 10,000 miles of freight and commuter railways in California as well as 12,000 rail crossings, new railway construction projects, and 15 local transit systems.
“This work is the highlight of my career,” Clugston said. “I came into the CPUC as an entry level inspector and moved up to director, and without a college degree. You can do anything if you’re willing to work hard for it.”
Tsen added that Clugston could have been a professor because of his mentoring skills within CPUC.
Outside his professional life Clugston has taught himself guitar, mandolin and fiddle; hosted a folk music radio show; written plays; acted; directed community theater; and taken up oil painting late in life.
Clugston plans to continue painting after retirement while spending time attending shows in Las Vegas.
By Jody Holzworth
