Is this done today similarly to what happened during train order days- where a bulletin could supersede...?
You do realize that the cars on their sides were placed on their sides where they lay. You can see the side boom tracks away from them. Plus the train is on the outside tracks and the cars are on their sides to the inside of the inside track. There is no way that a car derailing on its side on the outside track would land in the clear of the other track. Not saying they didn't roll on their side when they derailed, but the drone video is HOURS after the derailment and after the cars had been moved and the line cleared. Just to be clear. The positions of the cars in the video is NOT the positions of the cars when they derailed.
And California wants to run a High-Speed Passenger Right of Way over those same mountains, well them and the Diablo's, oh and let's not forget the San Gabriel's. Good luck with that.
The hierarchy of binding instructions is - Rules - TTSI - Bulletins (aka General Orders) - Train Messages. That hierarchy leaves a printed record of the instructions that were in place. When Division Management issues directives that are outside the printed word - it is all done orally, so that there is no printed record. Management wants to reduce it to a 'did to, did not' situation where Management can enforce the printed instructions when their verbal instructions at variance with the printed instructions don't work out.