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It’s confidential and no-fault.

And the result, according to the Federal Railroad Administration, is a significant reduction in rail workplace derailments that too often lead to serious injury and death — plus, as a bonus, better labor/management relationships and improved operational performance.

We’re talking about four pilot projects called Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS), whose core value is that railroaders don’t intentionally make mistakes, and the most effective means of correcting workplace errors that have the potential to cause death, injury and accidents is to investigate the cause in a non-judgmental environment.

In a review of C3RS pilot projects on Amtrak, Canadian Pacific, New Jersey Transit and Union Pacific, the FRA also determined they result in supervisors becoming “more fair and cooperative” and placing a greater value on safety relative to productivity, fewer discipline cases, and workers more willing to raise safety concerns with management.

C3RS is a collaborative effort involving the FRA, carriers, the UTU and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. 

The pilot projects encourage engineers, conductors, trainmen and yardmasters to report — without fear of discipline or FRA enforcement action, even if rules violations are involved — close calls that may have resulted in accidents or injuries.

All C3RS reports by employees are collected anonymously and kept confidential. With names and locations masked, a C3RS peer review team recommends corrective action, such as improved training, changes in physical plant, changes in existing federal safety laws or regulations, changes in carrier operating rules, and improved training and/or education.

Examples of close calls include varying levels of risk, such as leaving pieces of equipment unsecured, improper blocking, operating trains beyond track authority, or violating operating rules.

UTU International Vice President John Previsich spearheads the UTU involvement in the four C3RS pilot projects – systemwide on Amtrak and New Jersey Transit, and at CP’s Portage, Wis., yard, and UP’s North Platte, Neb., yard.

At UP, which has the most experience with  C3RS, the pilot project has led to reformatting track warrants so they are easier to read, and with a UP officer observing that C3RS “is helping UP move from a blame culture to one that bridges communication gaps between employees and management.”

The National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., has scheduled several hazardous materials train-the-trainer programs to help build a nationwide pool of peer instructors.

Funded by the Department of Transportation, the train-the-trainer courses provide regional peer trainers with the skills and knowledge necessary to deliver this awareness level hazmat training at their job-sites, union meetings and in their communities.

An advanced instructor training course will be held in St. Louis, June 18-22.

Basic courses will be held July 16-21 and July 22-27 at the National Labor College campus in Silver Spring, Md.

These three courses may require participants to have completed other courses.

For more information on the prerequisites, and to register, go to www.hazmatgmc.org and scroll to “2011-12 DOT HMIT Grant Hazardous Materials Instructors Training,” or send questions via email to hjajuga@nlc.edu.

The National Labor College said additional courses may be scheduled between Jun 1 and Sept. 30.

 

Qualy

With the adjournment of the 2012 Minnesota legislative session, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, along with the UTU and other AFL-CIO member organizations, has succeeded in defending against right-to-work (for less) legislation introduced by Tea Party Republicans.
“The AFL-CIO lobbying team held every Democratic Farm Labor Party legislator in support of a Working Family Agenda that included defeat of the right-to-work (for less) legislation by convincing a core block of moderate and veteran Republicans to vote against the bill,” said UTU Minnesota State Legislative Director Phil Qualy.
Additionally, said Qualy, “despite Republican control of both chambers in the state legislature, for the first time in 38 years, none of our state safety statutes has been harmed during the legislative session now ended.”
Qualy commended UTU Locals 911, 1000 and 1067, which hosted Minnesota AFL-CIO training sessions on the law, which would have weakened collective bargaining rights.
“Also to be commended are UTU members and retirees who called their legislators and made the difference when the Republican leadership heard loud and clear from main street and good middle class Americans,” Qualy said.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Railroad Administration has granted railroads greater flexibility to determine on which lines positive train control (PTC) must be installed by the federal deadline of Dec. 31, 2015.

PTC initially was mandated for 70,000 track miles, but 10,000 of those miles are expected to be removed from PTC installation under the new FRA rule.

PTC is a crash-avoidance safety overlay system long supported by the National Transportation Safety Board and rail labor organizations. It utilizes the satellite global positioning system (GPS), wireless communications and central control centers to monitor trains and prevent collisions by automatically applying the brakes on trains exceeding authorized speeds, about to run a red light, violate a work zone or run through a switch left in the wrong position.

While the additional flexibility is expected to save railroads “hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo, the FRA’s new rule does not change the Dec. 31, 2015 deadline for PTC installation.

Installation of PTC – on all Class I track carrying at least five million gross tons of freight annually, as well as on lines where intercity passenger trains and commuter trains operate — was required by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

The 10,000 miles represents track over which freight railroads say neither passengers nor dangerous hazmat will be transported by the PTC implementation date. Under the new rule, the total amount of main line track required to have PTC will be less than 40 percent of the total main line miles in the county.

The Association of American Railroads had previously filed a federal lawsuit seeking the 10,000-mile scale back of the PTC mandate.

Railroads contended that the original mandate for PTC installation was based on outdated hazmat traffic data, and that railroads will not be transporting those hazmat cargos over the 10,000 miles of track covered by the latest FRA rule.

The FRA said that under the new rule, “railroads will have an easier time using safety measures other than PTC where appropriate, such as on track that won’t carry passenger trains or certain types of hazardous materials.”

England

More than 170 bus operators, mechanics, service employees and store keepers employed by the Los Angeles area Montebello (Calif.) Bus Lines are now UTU members after overwhelmingly voting, “UTU, yes.”

In the Los Angeles area, the UTU also represents employees of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) and Santa Monica Municipal (Big Blue) Bus Lines.

Montebello Bus Lines transports some eight million passengers annually in the communities of Alhambra, Bell Gardens, Boyle Heights, Commerce, downtown Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, La Mirada, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pico Rivera, Rosemead, South Gate and Whittier.

UTU Alternate Vice President John England said, “Since International President Mike Futhey took office in January 2008, the UTU has set a record in organizing, with 29 new air, bus and rail properties organized and two raids on UTU properties turned back.”

England was joined in the organizing drive by Bus Department Vice President Bonnie Morr and Bus Department Alternate Vice President Brian Donald, along with Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA) organizers Manuel Gonzalez and Ernesto Tolentino. The UTU and SMWIA are now merged as the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) Workers.

Praised for their efforts in organizing fellow Montebello Bus Lines employees were bus operators Rachel Burciaga and Frank Garcia. “Rachel and Frank were an integral part of making this organizing campaign a success and it would not have been possible without their assistance,” England said.

Wier

UTU-represented trainmen and engineers on Dallas, Garland & Northeastern Railroad have overwhelmingly ratified a new five-year agreement.

The contract provides for wage increases with full back pay, an incentive compensation plan with an opt-out provision allowing for additional wage increases,  improved working conditions, special allowances, overtime, holiday rules and a seniority maintenance provision.
      
UTU International Vice President Dave Wier, who assisted with the negotiations, congratulated General Chairperson Joe Newsom, Local 965 Vice Local Chairperson Bobby Taylor and Local 965 Vice Local Chairperson Robert D. Mahan for “the outstanding effort put forth in negotiating an agreement with substantial improvements in wages and working conditions. The wage increases coupled with the quarterly incentive payments provide the membership with outstanding pay increases.”  
      
Dallas, Garland & Northeastern Railroad, a RailAmerica property headquartered in Richardson, Texas, is a complex switching terminal railroad made up of a conglomeration of spurs and industrial leads in the Dallas and North Dallas area. It operates 337 miles of rail line in the Dallas and North Dallas area, using a combination of owned and leased lines and trackage rights, and connects with BNSF, Kansas City Southern and Union Pacific.

RRB logo; Railroad Retirement BoardThe Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) holds informational conferences, and all UTU representatives are urged to attend to learn more about pensions, disability annuities and other services offered by the RRB. 

All informational conference registrations begin at 8:00 a.m., with the programs beginning promptly at 8:30 a.m. and ending at 12:15 p.m. 

For more information, go to www.rrb.gov.

June

*Friday, June 1: Eagan, Minn., Best Western Dakota Ridge, 3450 Washington Dr., I-35E & Yankee Doodle Road

*Friday, June 8: Billings, Mont., Hilton Garden Inn of Billings, 2465 Grant Road

*Friday, June 8: Mansfield, Mass., Holiday Inn Mansfield, 31 Hampshire Street

*Friday, June 15: Portland, Ore., Hilton Garden Inn, Portland Airport, 12048 N.E. Airport Way

*Friday, June 15: Tinley Park, Ill., Tinley Park Convention Center, 18451 Convention Center Drive 

*Friday, June 22: Barboursville, W. Va., Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites, 3551 U.S. Route 60 E. 

*Friday, June 22: Duluth, Minn., Radisson Hotel Duluth Harborview, 505 West Superior Street 

*Friday, June 29: Roanoke, Va., Hyatt Place, 5040 Valley View Blvd., North N.W.

 

September 

*Friday, Sept. 7: Albany, N.Y., Albany Ramada Plaza, 3 Watervliet Ave. Ext. 

*Friday, Sept.14: Fort Worth, Texas, Crowne Plaza Fort Worth South, The Fort Worth Room, 100 E. Altamesa 

*Friday, Sept. 14: Renton, Wash., Holiday Inn, One South Grady Way 

*Friday, Sept. 21: West Des Moines, Iowa, Hampton Inn, 7060 Lake Dr.

 

October 

*Friday, Oct. 12: Little Rock, Ark., Comfort Inn & Suites Downtown, 707 Interstate 30 

*Friday, Oct. 12 Pittsburgh: Greater Pa. Regional Council of Carpenters Union Hall, 650 Ridge Rd. 

*Friday, Oct. 19 Wichita, Kan., Best Western Airport Inn and Conference Center, 6815 W. Kellogg (U.S. Hwy. 54) 

*Friday, Oct. 26 Philadelphia: Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 Union Hall, 1301 S. Columbus Blvd. 

*Friday, Oct. 26: Matthews, N.C., Hampton Inn, 9615 Independence Pointe Pkwy.

 

November 

*Friday, Nov. 16: Metairie, La., Four Points by Sheraton, New Orleans Airport, 6401 Veterans Memorial Blvd.

 

December 

*Friday, Dec. 7: Jacksonville, Fla., Holiday Inn (I-95 Baymeadows), 9150 Baymeadows Rd.

By Calvin Studivant, 
Alternate Vice President, Bus Department – 

The relationship between railroads and bus companies has a long history not known by many UTU members.

Beginning in the early part of the 20th century, railroads began acquiring or creating infant bus lines to extend their passenger networks to where rails didn’t reach.

In 1926, Great Northern Railway (now part of BNSF) acquired control of a Minnesota bus line that had begun earlier in Hibbing with a seven-passenger Hupmobile whose capacity was actually 18 as passengers often stood on running boards and sat on fenders.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus operation, where the UTU represents workers, traces its origin to early bus operations of Southern Pacific (now part of Union Pacific) and its former Pacific Electric subsidiary. 

In fact, the formation of the Greyhound and Trailways brands began with railroad ownership:

* Baltimore & Ohio (now part of CSX) operated West Virginia Transportation, which became a Greyhound brand.

* Great Northern (now part of BNSF) operated Northland Greyhound.

* New York Central (now part of CSX) operated Central Greyhound.

* New York, New Haven & Hartford (later part of Conrail, which was split between CSX and Norfolk Southern) operated New England Greyhound.

* Pennsylvania Railroad (now part of Norfolk Southern) operated Pennsylvania Greyhound.

* Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac (now part of CSX) operated Richmond Greyhound.

* St. Louis Southwestern (now part of Union Pacific) operated Southwestern Greyhound.

* Southern Pacific (now part of Union Pacific) operated Pacific Greyhound.

* Union Pacific operated Union Pacific Stages, which became Overland Greyhound.

As the Greyhound system grew, other railroads — Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, Chicago Burlington & Quincy, and St. Louis-San Francisco (all now both part of BNSF); and Denver & Rio Grande Western (now part of Union Pacific) – created the National Trailways System as a competitor to Greyhound.

By the 1960s, railroads had sold off their interests in bus lines.

However, when railroads turned over their rail-passenger operations to the federally owned Amtrak, Amtrak became a partner with many bus lines across the nation. Today, many Amtrak tickets include onward transportation via bus from Amtrak stations to cities not on the Amtrak route system.

And in some cities, publicly owned transportation companies now operate bus and commuter rail service, such as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, where the UTU has representation on the railroad and a portion of the bus/trolley operation outside Philadelphia.

The chief executive of Los Angeles Metrolink, John Fenton, who has taken the lead among railroads nationwide in advancing, investing in and implementing positive train control (PTC), is departing after two years on the job to head the Florida-based short line holding company Patriot Rail.

Patriot Rail owns 12 short line railroads operating in 12 states over some 500 miles of track. The UTU represents employees on four of those railroads. Patriot Rail is in the process of being acquired by Steel River Infrastructure Partners, which owns and operates port terminal and storage facilities and natural gas and electric transmission lines.

The UTU also represents conductors on Los Angeles Metrolink, whose commuter trains have operated under contract by Amtrak since June 2010.

Los Angeles Metrolink, America’s third largest commuter railroad, carrying 40,000 riders daily in six southern California counties, was rocked in 2008 when 25 people were killed and 135 injured in a horrific head-on crash with a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, Calif. The National Transportation Board later blamed the accident primarily on the deceased Metrolink engineer said to have been texting on his cell phone and who ran a red stop signal. At that time, Metrolink trains were operated by Connex Railroad, a subsidiary of France-based Veolia Transport.

Fenton was hired as Metrolink CEO in the wake of the Chatsworth accident following a management shakeup that included, according to the Los Angeles Times, allegations of unaccounted for inventory and a sharply declining ridership.

The Los Angeles Times said that following Fenton’s arrival in April 2010, safety improved markedly, on-time performance improved, ridership grew and costs were reduced. Fenton oversaw the purchase of state-of-the-art rail cars with energy absorbing technology and took the lead among American railroads in pressing ahead with PTC and a timetable to have it operational by 2013, according to the Los Angeles Times.

PTC utilizes the satellite global positioning system (GPS), wireless communications and central control centers to monitor trains and prevent collisions by automatically applying the brakes on trains exceeding authorized speeds, about to run a red light, violate a work zone or run through a switch left in the wrong position.

Safety experts said the Chatsworth accident could have been avoided had PTC been installed. In embracing PTC technology, Fenton told a congressional hearing,“We don’t think there is any time to waste given the unforgiving nature of the environment in which we operate.” In bitter memory of the Chatsworth disaster, Fenton and Metrolink employees wear green wrist bands with the words, “Never Again.”

The Los Angeles Times quoted a safety expert at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering that Fenton’s “departure is a major loss for Southern California and Los Angeles. His safety-culture related accomplishments in such a short time, just two years, were monumental and unique in the country.” Metrolink partners with the Viterbi School of Engineering on safety advances.

Patriot Rail’s 12 short lines include:

* Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway in Montana

* Columbia & Cowitz Railway in Washington (UTU represented)

* DeQueen & Eastern Railway in Arkansas (UTU represented)

* Golden Triangle Railroad in Mississippi

* Louisiana & North West Railroad in Arkansas and Louisiana (UTU represented)

* Patriot Woods Railroad in Washington (UTU represented)

* Piedmont & Northern Railroad in North Carolina

* Sacramento Valley Railroad in California

* Temple & Central Texas Railway in Texas

* Tennessee Southern Railroad in Alabama and Tennessee

* Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern Railroad in Oklahoma

* Utah Central Railway

A memorial service will be held May 7 at 1 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Susquehanna Depot, Pa., for retired former Local 318 Legislative Rep. Robert A. Hagen, who died April 16.
The address of the church is 695 Jackson Ave.
Hagan had also served as vice local chairperson, vice general chairperson of Norfolk Southern Lines GO 687 and a UTU organizer, UTUIA Field Supervisor Art Rayner reports.
He is survived by his wife, Amy, three sons and two daughters.