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SMART Transportation Division-represented trainmen, engineers and yardmasters employed by Lake Terminal Railroad have ratified a new six-year agreement by a unanimous vote.

The agreement provides for six annual wage increases, beginning July 1, 2013, and rolls in previous cost-of-living adjustment increases, resulting in an 18.7 percent cumulative wage increase over the life of the contract.

It also includes lump sum back pay, establishes a $5 certification pay for conductors, engineers and remote control operators, increases carrier-matching contributions to 401(k) accounts to $1,300, and establishes an additional retirement account for new hires with a $75 monthly carrier contribution. There will be limits on employee health and welfare contributions to 12 percent of the plan costs and a freeze on co-pays and deductibles for the life of the contract.

SMART Transportation Division Vice President Dave Wier, who assisted with the negotiations, congratulates Lake Terminal General Chairperson Brad Elias and Local Chairperson Russ Tolson for “the exceptional effort put forth in bringing the members’ concerns to the bargaining table and negotiating an agreement with significant improvements in wages and working conditions.”

Update:  KNOE 8 News has learned that the two railroad employees injured in Sunday’s train derailment are now both being treated for their injuries in a Shreveport hospital.

Mer Rouge Police Chief Mitch Stevens says the train engineer has a compound fracture to his leg and some bumps and bruises. The chief says the conductor has numerous broken ribs. He had surgery to remove his spleen and heart surgery related to the broken ribs.

Visit KNOE 8 for updates on this story.

Original Post:
MER ROUGE, La. – Two Union Pacific engineers were injured when their train derailed in Mer Rouge early Sunday (Oct. 5) afternoon after colliding with a truck that was stuck on the tracks.

The driver of the truck was uninjured after bailing out as the train approached. “The driver jumped out of the truck and took off running,” said Mer Rouge Police Chief Mitch Stephens. “That was all he could do.”

Read the complete story at The News Star.

Amtrak LogoNEW YORK – A new engineering report details damage to the Amtrak-owned Hudson River and East River tunnels following Superstorm Sandy and recommends a phased process to take individual tubes out of service for extended periods to perform the work required to maintain reliability of train movements in and out of New York City.

The report underscores the urgency to advance the Gateway Program which includes building new, two-track tunnel capacity under the Hudson River that can help alleviate service impacts to the region as the needed work on the tunnels is underway.

“Public awareness of the critical needs of the tunnels is important to build regional understanding of what must be done to provide current and future train service levels into New York,” said Amtrak Chairman Tony Coscia. “The Northeast region needs to make the Gateway Program a priority and we must get about the business of moving it forward as fast as we can.”

Superstorm Sandy created a storm surge that resulted in sea water inundating both tubes of the Hudson River tunnel and two of the four tubes of the East River tunnel. The report found no evidence that the tunnel linings themselves are unsound, but it did find that chlorides and sulfates caused, and are continuing to cause, significant damage to key tunnel components such as the bench walls and track systems as well as the signal, electrical and mechanical systems.

The tunnels are safe for passenger train operations. Amtrak has a robust tunnel inspection program, conducts regular maintenance work and will be performing interim work as needed. However, a permanent fix is required soon so that the tunnels remain available for long- term use by the traveling public.

Amtrak engineers are working with expert consultants on designs to rehabilitate the two damaged tubes of the East River tunnel and will coordinate with other agencies to minimize impacts to train service and other projects. The rehabilitation work for both damaged tubes of the Hudson River tunnel cannot

reasonably begin until after the new Gateway tunnel is built and operating. This will allow rail traffic to shift to the new tunnel and avoid major service impacts. Amtrak is advancing the Gateway Program and seeking to begin as soon as possible the environmental review process.

Through the design process and additional planning work, Amtrak will develop a schedule for performing the work recommended by this report. Amtrak will ensure the safety of all passengers and balance efforts to minimize service impacts while also advancing as soon as possible the permanent fix needed for the long-term reliability of the tunnels for train service to Penn Station in New York.

Railroad employees covered under National Railway Carriers/UTU Health and Welfare Plan or the Railroad Employees’ National Health and Welfare Plan were mailed a notification of the online open enrollment period that began Oct. 1, 2014, and ends Nov. 1, 2014. The information should be specific to the current enrollment for you and your eligible dependents.yourtracktohealth

The online enrollment capability provides the ability to view your personal information, add, delete and update dependent information, view enrollment materials, enroll in benefits for next year, and receive an immediate confirmation statement. There is no need to mail in a paper enrollment form. However, if you need assistance, have questions or require a paper enrollment kit, call Railroad Enrollment Services at (800) 753-2692.

The enrollment website can be found at https://www.yourtracktohealth.com (formerly known as the Railroad Information Depot).

You are encouraged to visit the online enrollment site and review all the information available. Use the log-in instructions at the end of this article to access and review your personal information and spend some time learning about the benefits and resources available on the site.

You will also be able to search medical provider networks.

It is required that covered dependent Social Security numbers (SSN) be provided to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Please supply the missing SSN on the Dependent Information screen.

If you are currently enrolled in the Health Flexible Spending Account, the election and yearly contribution will not rollover to the new plan year. You must enroll in your Health Flexible Spending Account every year.

  • Click “Login” located in the upper right corner of the screen.
  • If you have already registered, enter your username and password.
  • If you have not yet registered, select “New User?” at the bottom of the screen to complete your registration.

Once logged in, select the option to “Enroll Now for 2015,” located in the upper left corner of the screen.

 

cp-logo-240Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP) plans to more than double profit in four years as Chief Executive Officer Hunter Harrison seeks to improve efficiency by running longer, faster trains at Canada’s second-largest railroad.

Revenue will probably climb to C$10 billion ($9 billion) in 2018 from last year’s C$6.1 billion, the Calgary-based railroad said yesterday in a statement. Harrison discussed the forecast as he addressed analysts and investors in White Plains, New York, at the start of a two-day briefing.

Read the complete story at Bloomberg Businessweek.

BNSF_Color_LogoOf 3,679 ballots returned, 3,056 were in opposition to the crew consist agreement. Nearly the same number of ballots cast were in opposition to a wage and rule settlement offered by the carrier.

Under the proposal, engineers would have received a pay boost, and conductors would have been given the opportunity to become engineers. It also called for the creation of a “master conductor,” who would be responsible for supervising multiple trains from a fixed or mobile location.

The railroad was seeking to operate most of its trains with a single engineer on trains equipped with positive train control, a collision-avoidance system mandated by Congress in 2008.

It maintained that trains carrying hazardous materials, including those with large volumes of crude oil or ethanol, would still have operated with two people on board.

Prior to releasing the complete vote count Sept. 29, GO 001 General Chairperson Randy Knutson had acknowledged earlier in September that the proposal had failed.

“Please be advised that we have completed the tabulation of ratification ballots for the tentative crew consist agreement and wage and rule settlement, and neither agreement was ratified. A more complete summary of the vote will be forthcoming in the next several weeks, but we felt it was important to provide our members with immediate notification that these agreements were not ratified,” Knutson said.

“Moving forward, this office will notify BNSF Labor Relations that we remain open to informal conversation regarding these matters, but will oppose any formal attempt by BNSF to serve notice to change our existing crew consist agreements prior to the attrition of all protected employees.”

The proposed agreement generated a lot of discussion from Transportation Division members around the country.

In a statement posted on the SMART Transportation Division’s website prior to the voting deadline, Transportation Division President John Previsich noted that, “Our constitution grants the general committees jurisdiction in this area and this organization has successfully defended that right over the years through litigation and arbitration. There are no grounds for any entity to interfere with that right and there will be no attack on that authority by this office or any subordinate body of this organization.

“Nonetheless, it should surprise no one that the proposed agreement is generating a great deal of discussion due to its potential impact beyond its own territory. This office will not interfere with the rights of all of our members to engage in that discussion.”

A soybean farmer from southwestern Minnesota and an official of a taconite mine in the northeast, and more than a dozen others, came to the same conclusion: Significant railroad delays throughout the Upper Midwest are hurting nearly everyone in business.

Bill Gordon, who farms near Worthington, told a joint meeting of five Minnesota legislative committees Tuesday that the state should consider allowing heavier trucks on Minnesota roads and shippers should make more use of Duluth’s harbor to ease a crush on railroads.

Read the complete story at TwinCities.com.

More than 2.7 billion trips were taken on U.S. public transportation in the second quarter of 2014, according to a report released Sept. 29 by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). This is a 1.1 percent increase over the same quarter last year, representing an increase of 30 million more trips. Public transportation ridership outpaced urban vehicle miles traveled (VMT) which grew at 0.97 percent for this quarter.

Noting that in five of the last eight quarters, ridership on U.S. public transportation has increased, APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy said, “Public transportation ridership continues to grow nationally, showing that federal investment in public transit is paying off. With greater travel options, peoples’ lives improve and communities grow.”

Pointing to public transit systems in Austin, Texas; Denver, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Seattle, Melaniphy said, “Some public transit systems saw significant ridership, even record ridership increases on lines and extensions that have opened in the past five years. This shows that if you expand public transportation options with new services, additional people will decide to use public transportation.”

MetroRail, the commuter rail line for Austin, Texas, reached record ridership for the second quarter. Its ridership has quadrupled since it was launched in 2010. With the new light rail system that opened in April 2013 in Denver light rail ridership reached record numbers with an increase of 8.1 percent in the second quarter. Seattle’s five year old light rail line saw another record quarter with a quarterly ridership increase of 17 percent, marking 20 consecutive quarters of double digit growth.

Ridership reached record numbers in several systems across the country. For example, Capital District Transportation Authority (Albany, N.Y.), Spokane Transit (Spokane, Wash.) and Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (Canton, Ohio), saw quarterly record ridership numbers, as did San Mateo County’s commuter rail line Caltrain (San Carlos, Calif.). The Long Island Rail Road saw the highest ridership for the month of June since June 2008 when gas prices were very high.

Ridership increases were due to a number of factors including high gas prices and recovering local economies. Nationally, the average cost of a gallon of gas in the second quarter was $3.75.

2014 Second Quarter Ridership Breakdown:

Nationally, heavy rail ridership increased by 3.2 percent. Cities with heavy rail systems showing the highest percentage of increases were located in the following cities: Boston (7.0 percent); Chicago (5.5 percent); New York, NY-MTA New York City Transit (3.9 percent); New York, NY-MTA Staten Island Railway (2.9 percent); Cleveland, Ohio (2.8 percent); and San Francisco (2.0 percent).

Overall, light rail ridership increased by 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2014. Light rail in Oceanside, Calif., saw a triple digit increase of 160 percent since the system was shut down from March-May 2013. Light rail systems in the following cities saw double digit increases in the second quarter: San Diego (28.8 percent) Minneapolis (16.5 percent); Seattle (14.4 percent); and Houston (13 percent). Other light rail systems showing significant percentage of increases were located in the following cities: Denver (8.1%); Charlotte, N.C. (7.1 percent); Salt Lake City (6.8 percent); Newark, N.J. (5.2 percent); and Hampton, Va. (4.4 percent).

Ridership on commuter rail systems increased by 3.1 percent in the second quarter. The following cities saw double digit increases in the second quarter of 2014: Salt Lake City (18.6 percent); Stockton, Calif. (17.0 percent); Lewisville, Texas (15.5 percent); Dallas-Ft. Worth (13.4 percent); Portland, Ore. (12.2 percent); and San Carlos, Calif. (10.0 percent). The following cities also experienced a ridership increase on light rail in the second quarter: Seattle (7.4 percent); Anchorage (6.9 percent); Boston (6.0 percent); Oceanside, Calif. (5.7 percent); Newark, N.J. (5.6 percent); and Austin, Texas (3.3 percent).

Bus ridership decreased nationally by 1.2 percent, although in cities with populations of less than two million, bus ridership increased.

Demand response (paratransit) increased in the second quarter of 2014 by 2.2 percent. Trolleybus ridership decreased by 3.8 percent.

To see the complete APTA ridership report go to: http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2014-q2-ridership-APTA.pdf.

oil-train-railThe oil and railroad industries are urging federal regulators to allow them as long as seven years to retrofit existing tank cars that transport highly volatile crude oil, a top oil industry official said Tuesday (Sept. 30). The cars have ruptured and spilled oil during collisions, leading to intense fires.

Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, told reporters that the institute and the Association of American Railroads were jointly asking the Transportation Department for six months to 12 months for rail tank car manufacturers to gear up to retrofit tens of thousands of cars and another three years to retrofit older cars.

Read the complete Associated Press story at ABC News.

WASHINGTON — How many people does it take to safely operate a freight train?

Two, say railroad labor unions, the Federal Railroad Administration and some members of Congress, arguing that having just one person in the cab of a locomotive was unsafe. They cite a series of deadly accidents involving trains with a solo engineer, including last year’s disaster in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where 47 people were killed after an oil train jumped the tracks.

One, argues the railroad industry, which counters that there’s no data to prove multiple-person crews are safer.

Read the complete story at The Fresno Bee.