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The following students have been awarded scholarships from the United Transportation Union Insurance Association for 2013-2014 academic year. Fifty continuing $500 scholarships are awarded each year to UTUIA policyholders, their sons, daughters and grandchildren.

District 1:

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont

Conor W. Patak, son of William J. Patak of Local 898, Boston, Mass.; Robert A. Quinn, grandson of Avido R. Quinn of Local 645, Babylon, N.Y.; Kelsey M. Clarke, daughter of William A. Clarke of Local 277, Hartford, Conn.; Tim Wolff, grandson of Lawrence E. Wolff of Local 645, Babylon, N.Y.

District 2:

Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

John M. Gennuso, grandson of Ronald L. Fell of Local 1390, Trenton, N.J.; Alexa C. Bell, daughter of Carmen J. Bell of Local 1379, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Kelsey L. Firlein, daughter of Brian K. Firlein of Local 1378, Wilmington, Del.; Stephen J. Spruell, grandson of Wayne E. Miller of Local 340, Connellsville, Pa.; Victoria R. Evick, granddaughter of Samuel L. Wagoner of Local 631, Brunswick, Md.

District 3:

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia

Kimberly A. Papa, granddaughter of Larry J. Batten of Local 48, Norfolk, Va.; Carim M. Adams, granddaughter of Robert J. Adams of Local 1106, Rocky Mount, N.C.; William T. Winfrey, son of William D. Winfrey of Local 753, Memphis, Tenn.; Richard C. Kilpatrick, grandson of James D. Chappell of Local 974, Nashville, Tenn.; Kara R. Burcham, daughter of Robert E. Burcham of Local 62, Huntington, W. Va.; Landon E. Turbyfill, grandson of Paul E. Emert of Local 750, Knoxville, Tenn.; Nicole L. Goins, granddaughter of Billy G. Vaughn of Local 118, Hinton, W. Va.; Madison L. Johnston, granddaughter of Ollie I. Caines of Local 1105, Wilmington, N.C.; Abbey N. Volpenhein, daughter of Andrew J. Volpenhein of Local 1190, Ludlow, Ky.; Kristen P. Looney, granddaughter of Jack D. Gatlin of Local 1053, Selma, Ala.; Joey L. Luiso, step-son of Ben R. Evans of Local 1557, Memphis, Tenn.

District 4:

Indiana, Michigan, Ohio

Meredith J. Liedtke, step-daughter of Timothy W. Rasgaitis of Local 6666, North Olmsted, Ohio; Kaylee L. Ogle, granddaughter of Ronald Ringlein of Local 1709, Pontiac, Mich.; Derek A. Coffey, grandson of John W. Case of Local 145, Columbus, Ohio; Jesse A. Tomlin, grandson of William A. Tomlin of Local 14, Cincinnati, Ohio; Nick R. Bramel, grandson of Larry J. Gabbard of Local 14, Cincinnati, Ohio; Hansen J. Mechling, son of Eric L. Mechling of Local 1202, Fort Wayne, Ind.

District 5:

Illinois, Wisconsin

Michael A. Cook, son of Michael F. Cook of Local 583, Fond du Lac, Wis.; Kelsey E. Johnson, granddaughter of Ronald E. Mosby of Local 469, Madison, Ill.; Stephanie J. Baxter-Ivey, daughter of Allen F. Ivey II of Local 1534, Chicago, Ill.; Breanna P. Seaton, granddaghter of Jimmie J. Stanberry of Local 768, Decatur, Ill.

District 6:

Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas

Morgan T. Fiorello, daughter of Gerald J. Fiorello of Local 1066, New Orleans, La.; Abraham L. Rutherford, son of Larry R. Rutherford of Local 1904, Houston, Texas; Laura B. Gibbon, daughter of Daniel R. Gibbon of Local 937, Mart, Texas; Shelby P. Vandeventer, granddaughter of Robert F. Robinson of Local 949, Sherman, Texas; Tyler J. Cribbs, grandson of Joe H. Odom of Local 950, West Memphis, Ark.

District 7:

Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota

Alexander C. Elston, step-son of Gaylord W. Solberg of Local 934, Alliance, Neb.; Shane D. Sams, step-son of John S. Bartlett of Local 763, Pittsburg, Kan.; Jenna L. Blad, daughter of Matthew C. Blad of Local 44, Phillipsburg, Kan.; Devon M. Keith, son of Robert E. Keith Jr. of Local 763, Pittsburg, Kan.; Candace A. Shacklette, granddaughter of Norbert J. Shacklette of Local 1823, St. Louis, Mo.; Natalie R. Johnson, grandaughter of Warren W. Johnson of Local 1292, Proctor, Minn.

District 8:

Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah

Matthew T. Dutro, son of William J. Dutro of Local 202, Denver, Colo.; Dylan C. O’Donoghue, grandson of Denis J. O’Donoghue of Local 240, Los Angeles, Calif.; Kahlil L. Bausley, son of Lujen Bausley of Local 1564, Los Angeles, Calif.; Bailey E. McAndrews, granddaughter of James P. McAndrews of Local 771, Needles, Calif.; Frank I. Benitez, son of Eliceo Benitez of Local 1563, El Monte, Calif.; Joseph C. Shelley, son of Michael P. Shelley of Local 1168, Clovis, N.M.

District 9:

Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming

Austin M. Spicer, son of James P. Spicer of Local 1348, Centralia, Wash.; Laura M. Webb, daughter of Matthew T. Webb of Local 324, Seattle, Wash.; Teal A. Hatten, granddaughter of James F. Hatten of Local 544, Havre, Mont.

 

Los Angeles County bus drivers say they are regularly becoming ill — sometimes while behind the wheel — from pesticides sprayed inside their vehicles by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

At least 14 Metro drivers are pursuing workers’ compensation claims, and more than 110 have signed a petition that demands a halt to the spraying, according to their attorney. Some operators are on medical leave, and a few say they have left Metro because of repeated exposure.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times.

BNSF Railway Co. expects to begin moving unit trains of crude oil from a Carlsbad, N.M., transload facility later this year after an expansion project is completed at the facility.



The project at the Cetane Energy L.L.C.-owned facility calls for adding track to accommodate unit train loading, and creating additional rail-car loading stations and a long-term crude-oil gathering system.

Read the full story at Progressive Railroading.

Gordon Bowe doesn’t become personal friends with all of his passengers.

But after more than three decades of walking the aisles as a conductor on Metra trains to and from Chicago, Bowe, known by many as “Gordo,” has come to know those who ride the trains from Elburn through La Fox and Geneva, sometimes more than they may know.

Read the full story at Kane County Chronicle.

 

SMART Transportation Division member and conductor Ben Goar (Local 911), along with engineer Frederick Jarrell, was presented with an award for helping to save seven-year-old William Simondet’s life. The Canadian Pacific conductor and the engineer saw the boy on a steep Mississippi River bluff in St. Paul, Minn., while they were stopped to change crews.
Goar radioed to the St. Paul rail yard and told them to get police and firemen to their location.
Goar then went to yell up to Simondet to keep him distracted so he didn’t fall while Jarrell climbed up the bluff to the rock ledge that the boy stood on. Jarrell then carried the boy on his back to safety.
“I just did what most people would do,” Goar said. “It’s good to see him back with his family.”
Simondet is an autistic boy who had wandered away from home  May 11.
Fire Chief Tim Butler gave both men letters of commendation at a ceremony held June 10.
“Your coordinated and impromptu rescue efforts went above and beyond those expected of ordinary citizens,” Butler wrote. “Without your quick thinking, decisive action and selfless courage, the outcome for this child could have been severe.”

Fire chief & Goar
From Left: Fire Chief Tim Butler, Jarrell and Goar

Photo courtesy of CP Rail

 

vre_logo_webMembers of the SMART Transportation Division employed by Keolis Rail Services ratified a new three-year agreement June 7 to continue service on the Virginia Railway Express trains operating between Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Of the ballots returned, 78 percent were in favor of the new pact.

On VRE, the SMART TD represents conductors, assistant conductors and a new class of employees termed ACE, which is a designation applied to conductors or assistant conductors who volunteer to be trained and qualified as locomotive engineers.

The new agreement calls for annual pay increases of 2.5 percent, with the first wage increase to be applied July 1, 2013. It also pays per-trip compensation for required conductor certification. The payment will apply to all certified conductors working in either a conductor or assistant conductor position and the payment will double June 15, 2015.

“When coupled with the increases already received from the date of the last contract, the wage increases will meet the industry standard of nearly 15 percent over five years,” said Amtrak GO 769 General Chairperson Dirk Sampson, who served as leader of the SMART TD’s negotiating team.

In addition, employees covered under the agreement will receive a $1,000 signing bonus on or after June 15, 2013.

On the effective date, employees’ contributions to health care premiums will be $180 per month, with a cap of $198 per month over the life of the agreement.

“Overall, the negotiating team believes the agreement meets industry standards. The percentages are comparable to other properties, the signing bonus and certification pay are generous, and the ACE compensation is a significant benefit to those who wish to be trained as an engineer,” Sampson said.

The negotiating team consisted of Sampson, District of Columbia State Legislative Director and Local 1933 Chairperson Willie Bates and Local 1933 Vice Chairperson Lamar Bates.

“The negotiating team is to be commended for doing an excellent job of bringing the needs and desires of the membership to the negotiating table,” said SMART TD Assistant President John Previsich, who assisted with the negotiations. “With their input, numerous agreement issues were resolved along with the compensation package, resulting in an agreement that meets or exceeds industry standards in every respect,” Previsich said.

Keolis Rail Services took over operation of VRE commuter trains from Amtrak July 12, 2010, after VRE signed a five-year, $85-million contract with the rail services manager in 2009.

Conductors and assistant conductors were protected under an agreement negotiated July 9, 2010, by the UTU President’s Department.

At that time, according to news reports, all but one Amtrak employee working VRE trains chose to remain with Amtrak, forcing Keolis to hire and train new conductors, assistant conductors and engineers for the VRE operation. Keolis said then that the new conductors were veterans of freight and other rail passenger operations in the U.S.

VRE was Keolis’ first venture into U.S. rail contract operations, although the company transports some two billion bus and rail passengers annually in 13 countries, mostly in Europe. According to trusted sources, the company is seeking to expand its U.S. operations and is an active participant in bidding for other services.

olivia-gamboa_web
Olivia Gamboa

A Los Angeles Metro bus operator and SMART TD member was killed early Wednesday, June 12, in a head-on crash with a speeding flatbed tow truck.

Olivia Gamboa, 47, a member of SMART TD Local 1563 at El Monte, Calif., was transported to a hospital in critical condition and later died, Local Treasurer Pedro Lara reports.

According to television station KTLA in Los Angeles, Gamboa was a 13-year Metro veteran and a wife, mother and grandmother. The Los Angeles Times reports Gamboa came from a family of bus operators and that her husband and her daughter were also Metro employees.

The accident happened at S. Broadway and 5th St. at approximately 5:15 a.m. the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

The tow truck was headed southbound on Broadway when its driver ran a red light and collided with the bus, witnesses told police officers.

“A citizen estimated the tow truck was driving about 60 miles per hour,” Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Steve Dailey said. “The speed limit for here is about 30 miles per hour.”

The bus was in the intersection when it was hit and knocked down a fire hydrant, sending water high up into the air. The tow truck plowed into a nearby 7-Eleven store.

The driver of the tow truck, 43-year-old Yousef Adhami, remains hospitalized. He has had multiple suspensions and had surrendered his license after his last infraction, KTLA reported.

Gamboa is the first SMART TD member killed while on duty in 2013.

Her tragic death is not the first to be mourned by her fellow members. On May 20 last year, Los Angeles Metro bus operator Alan Thomas was murdered aboard his bus in West Hollywood, Calif., by a lone gunman. Thomas was also a member of Local 1563.

The SMART Transportation Division News will update this story as more details become available.

Amtrak LogoWhat’s up with California Rep. Jeff Denham? Enquiring Amtrak enthusiasts would like to know.

According to a report by Politico transportation writer Adam Snider, the Republican representative from California’s 10th Congressional District “has been busy with rail lately, hitting up both New York and Illinois in the past few days.”

Snider writes further: “Fresh off roundtables in Chicago and Springfield, Ill., Denham told Morning Transportation that his look at Amtrak’s long-distance trains is all about the limited money.”

“Like anything in government, we’ve really got to look at the dollars and cents behind it. How do we fill seats? It’s one thing to have the transportation — it’s another thing to have it sitting empty,” Denham told MT.

How do you fix that, Snider asks?

“I think we have a variety of different options. Everything from cancelling them altogether to using private industry. Even looking at a state-supported route type scenario — where is it of greatest value to each state, or is it of great value?”

The last Amtrak bill, in 2009, shifted some of the financial burden for shorter routes to states, a model Denham is eying, Snider writes.

Rep. Denham sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

At a roundtable discussion June 10, local representatives for transportation, labor and commerce urged members of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials to pledge more funding to a plan aimed at overhauling the region’s rail system, otherwise known as the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program, or Create.

The initiative is a public-private partnership between federal, state and local governments and Metra, Amtrak and the nation’s freight railroads that seeks to improve the flow of rail transportation in and around Chicago. Ten years along, the mammoth project is barely one-third complete and vastly over budget. The plan’s initial cost estimate was $1.5 billion; now it’s closer to $3.2 billion, officials said. Of that, $1.2 billion already has been spent or committed, they said.

Read the full story at Crain’s Chicago Business News.

Illinois State Legislative Director Bob Guy offered the following testimony before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.

“Chairman Denham, Ranking Member Brown, Members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, my name is Bob Guy and I serve as the Illinois State Legislative Director of the Transportation Division of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, Transportation Union, or SMART. The Transportation Division of SMART, formally the United Transportation Union, represents approximately 80,000 transportation employees working in all operating crafts like conductors, engineers, yardmasters, trainmen and switchmen. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about our views on rail transportation policy.

“Our organization has a long history working with the railroad industry on a variety of important issues, including the CREATE project. We see projects, like those we are here to discuss today, as a way to not only benefit the national economy but are ones that will benefit our members and workers across the country. Thank you again for holding this discussion in hopes of finding ways to expedite the completion of the CREATE program.

“With the growing demand for l passenger and freight rail services in this region, we certainly view the CREATE project as a part of a broader national discussion about the state of our transportation system and not just another policy debate. This project is about providing mobility for the people of this region, generating new economic opportunities, and providing American businesses with the infrastructure they need to distribute their products to the rest of the world. CREATE needs to happen if we hope to ensure the U.S. standing as a dominant force in the global marketplace.

“CREATE and its partners worked together to identify the causes of transportation congestion and then agreed on the best solutions to fix them. The CREATE plan , combines specific projects into one comprehensive plan, identifies the sources of funds needed from both the public and private interests to implement the plan. The CREATE plan has already started, and completed some initial projects so I’m happy to report we are already under way. We also have a budget proposal in place from the FRA that provides the funds needed for the ultimate completion of this comprehensive plan. The current FRA budget proposal provides $2.87 billion dollars for Congestion Mitigation and Freight Capacity improvements in the Rail Service Improvement Program Section.

“For years, any railroad meeting in Chicago included the topic of how can we get CREATE completed and the answer always seemed to be “We must get this project into the U.S. DOT Budget!” There has been great progress and we now have this project included in the FRA budget proposal, our next step is to make sure this budget, and this project, gets the necessary long-term funding for timely completion.

“Among the many great attributes of the CREATE program are particularly important to us as railroad operating employees, and those are the projects involving highway-rail grade crossing separations. These projects obviously allow for more fluid and efficient movement of both trains and vehicles and provide the region with a demonstrated public benefit, but they also prevent vehicle-train collisions, a safety benefit that we wholeheartedly support.

“I worked as a railroad operating employee for years in the Chicago area’s congested rail lines and have sat for hours on trains breathing in diesel exhaust waiting for traffic to clear, and I can report it’s not only a unhealthy situation for railroad employees idling locomotives wastes fuel and emits exhaust emissions unnecessarily.

“CREATE will also be impacted by the expiration of two very important rail laws at the end of FY 2013, those are the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA) and the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA).

“Within these two reauthorizations we ask that the committee provide adequate, predictable and long-term funding for Amtrak and to ensure continued passenger investment. Investments in CREATE, Amtrak and High-Speed Rail are essential to our nation’s economic future and will help create an essential transportation service that links more communities across the country and will help put Americans back to work.

“This investment will also help increase an already record ridership level on Amtrak. Our research indicates that each weekday, more than 1,900 flights depart O’Hare with destinations of 500 miles or less. An integrated High Speed Rail system connecting the population centers in the Midwest could easily make 50% of these flights unnecessary by providing competitive train service, much like what is currently taking place on the Northeast Corridor. Opening up 1,000 departure slots at O’Hare would help air congestion nationwide, and would also be cost beneficial by providing opportunities for more long distance and international flights.

“In closing, in the months ahead when the committee works on important issues like CREATE, PRIIA and RSIA, we ask that you consider other important topics that are vital to railroad operating crews, including:

  • Avoiding risky attempts to privatize Amtrak’s operations and core services;
  • Safeguard the rights, jobs and wages of front-line workers;
  • Maintain and strengthen Buy America policies;
  • Implement fair passenger carrier licensing provisions;
  • Ensure strong safety provisions to protect rail workers and operations, including addressing worker fatigue issues within the industry and ensuring the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC).

“I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to share our thoughts with the Committee today. I will be happy to answer any questions.”

A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board June 12 found that the Rosedale intersection where a CSX train derailed and exploded last month had no active warning lights or gates.

In addition, two yellow stop signs “had faded significantly, and both had been displaced from their original mountings,” the report stated.

Read the full story at Dundalk Patch.