UTU News Digest - Thursday, February 25,1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Thursday, February 25, 1999

RRB Computer Systems Y2K-Compliant

CHICAGO -- The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board has announced that all of its mission-critical computer systems are now Year 2000 (Y2K)-compliant.

An independent federal agency headquartered in Chicago, the Board administers the $8 billion-a-year benefit programs provided under the federal Railroad Retirement and Unemployment Insurance Acts covering the nation's railroad workforce and their families.

The Board's computer systems generate payment information, issue informational notices, enroll beneficiaries in Medicare, withhold federal income tax and perform other functions essential to the Board's ongoing operations and service to the railroad public. The Board has identified and reprogrammed all of its mission-critical systems, and is now conducting a series of comprehensive tests of those systems to ensure that all interfaces, connections, and links between the various systems remain in sync and are fully functional. The Board plans to complete these tests by September 30, 1999. The Board also plans to complete work on those systems that are not mission-critical by September 30, 1999.

The agency's most important information exchange systems are with the Department of the Treasury and the Social Security Administration. The Board exchanges data with the Department of the Treasury in order to issue benefit payments, and the Board is in close contact with Treasury to ensure a smooth transition in that area. The Board also coordinates benefit payments with the Social Security Administration, and these systems have already been tested to ensure that the data exchanges will function correctly in the year 2000.

The Board's Office of Inspector General has been reviewing the agency's Y2K project to ensure it is being administered and controlled adequately.

The Y2K issue exists because the dates in many computer systems are based on two digits representing the year, rather than four digits (e.g., "98" instead of "1998"). If computer software is not changed before January 1, 2000, systems that process the year "00" may assume the year to be 1900 instead of 2000, which could cause significant inaccuracies or systems failure. Therefore, virtually all government and private sector organizations have been modifying or replacing portions of their computer systems to ensure proper processing of dates after December 31, 1999.

Riders to Metra: Fix Heritage line

CHICAGO -- Train commuters from the southwest suburbs, already fed up with frequent delays and spotty schedules, told Metra officials Friday they need better service--and quickly, before the Stevenson Expy. gets torn up.

When the Stevenson overhaul begins Monday, many motorists will wind up on Metra, exacerbating an already poor situation on the Heritage Corridor line to Joliet, said Kirk Hartley, who heads a grass-roots organization of Heritage Corridor riders.

"It's obviously going to be a disaster,'' Hartley said. "These problems should have been foreseen. You are now playing catch-up. We are paying the price.''

Metra officials promised to work with the railroads and highlighted a $201 million proposal for short- and long-term improvements. Members of UTU Local 281, 653 and 1290 work on Metra.

Only about 760 commuters use the Heritage Corridor line. But Hartley says that doesn't count many would-be Heritage riders who drive to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line, which has better schedules.

There are only two morning and two evening trains on the Heritage Corridor. Delays of 35 minutes or more are not unusual, said Jan Dreyer of Lockport.

"I pay the same amount for my ticket as all other Metra riders, but I don't get the same service, not even close,'' Dreyer said. "They treat us like we're the forgotten stepchild.''

The Heritage line is especially prone to delays because so many different railroad companies are either using the tracks or crossing over them. The tracks and crossings are controlled by the various railroads.

"I'm not here to make excuses,'' said George Hardwidge, Metra's chief transportation officer. "I appreciate your frustration because we share it.''

Metra officials plan to meet with their counterparts at the Illinois Central and other railroads to discuss the problem, Metra Executive Director Philip A. Pagano said.

"We are going to try to improve the schedule, we are going to try to improve the number of trains,'' Pagano said. "I will say this: There is only so much you can get in a basket.''

IC officials "will see what we can do to add service,'' spokesman Jack Burke said.

As for capital improvements, money already is available for $16.2 million in proposed short-term improvements, including installing new signals and connecting tracks. That work would be done in the next two to three years.

Another $185 million in long-term projects, including building elevated commuter-only tracks over problem areas, would require the state legislature to approve a bond sale.

The work could be done in five to seven years, or more.

Hartley offered to use his group to push for state and federal funding. "Tell us whom you want us to talk to,'' he said. "We've got a big group. We'll help.''

Vandals unleash clay slurry from NS railroad cars

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Backhoes scooped thick, gooey clay from railroad tracks Monday after vandals opened valves on railroad tankers, spilling thousands of pounds of kaolin near a residential area.

The kaolin, a fine, white clay mined in middle Georgia, formed heaps of powder on Norfolk Southern's railroad yard along Comer Avenue in Garden City. The clay also covered parts of Comer Avenue, and cars swerved to one side to avoid splashing it.

"Vandals opened the bottom of three tank cars that had a mixture of kaolin and water," said Nick Gardner, superintendent of Norfolk Southern Corp.'s railroad yard in Savannah.

A Norfolk Southern employee discovered the spill around 9 a.m. Monday while switching cars on the tracks. The kaolin was mixed with water inside three tankers owned by ECC International. An estimated 12,000 gallons poured from the cars, and some flowed along drainage ditches into the Savannah River, said Ron Reed, division manager with SWS, a Savannah environmental response company hired to clean the spill.

Kaolin is non-toxic and will not pose an environmental hazard to neighbors or to the river, Reed said. Kaolin will dilute in the river, and the clay cleaned off the railroad tracks and street will be taken to a landfill, he said. Reed expects to finish the cleanup today.

Kaolin is used to make a variety of substances, including china, paper coating, pigments and medicines such as Kaopectate. In its dry form, kaolin is among the top five exports from Georgia's ports.

When it is dry, kaolin feels like a fine powder, smoother than talcum. However, kaolin turns to a thick, white paste when mixed with water.

While railroad employees didn't discover the spill until Monday, residents along Comer Avenue said the clay slurry started flowing Friday night.

"All I know is when I came out late Friday I saw this stuff pouring out in front of my door," said Ruth Brown, who lives across the street from the tracks. "I said 'oh my God, look at that stuff coming out."'

Angie Fields, another nearby resident, said she thought the white liquid running from the tracks was paint."When it rained, it made it worse," she said.

Brown and Fields don't know who released the kaolin from the tank cars, but they suspect that the vandals are neighborhood children and teen-agers who play on the railroad tracks. Several rail lines run parallel to Comer Avenue and there is no fence to keep people off the tracks. The children ignore neighbors' pleas to leave the tracks, both women said.

"They'll be walking on top of the trains and climbing under them," Fields said. "These children will cuss you."

Norfolk's police and railroad employees try to keep trespassers off the tracks, Gardner said. The company also encourages neighbors to call the police when they see people playing on rail cars. Sometimes, people on the tracks threaten railroad employees when asked to leave, he said.

"The only way I know to keep them from doing that is to erect a 40 foot tall fence with 6 foot thick steel and 2,000 volts of electricity running through it," Gardner said.

House Democrats blast GOP probe of Teamsters

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats say a Republican-led investigation into the 1996 Teamsters election was abusive, wasted taxpayer money, implied guilt where none was proved and turned up nothing not known from other government investigations.

Despite the criticism, the House Education and the Workforce subcommittee on oversight and investigations agreed by voice vote Wednesday to approve a report summing up the panel's 17-month probe of the election.

After the race, federal monitors overturned former Teamsters President Ron Carey's re-election over James P. Hoffa after investigators found that his campaign improperly benefited from donations the union made to third-party political organizations.

The subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., said the report revealed abuse of power, financial mismanagement and a "profound lack of accountability by past Teamsters leaders."

The influence of organized crime on the union has decreased over the past 10 years, but Hoekstra said the report raises questions about whether the 1989 court order that put the union under supervision of the federal government is working well enough in preventing corruption not related to organized crime.

Rep. Tim Roemer, D-Ind., the subcommittee's highest-ranking Democrat, said rather than raise questions about the effectiveness of current law, the investigation revealed that the system is working as it was intended to work.

The report "contains nothing new," Roemer said. "This subcommittee spent over a million dollars to discover that it could not find any illegal activity that was not already being redressed. I question the use of this much money to conduct an entirely duplicative effort."

Roemer also said the panel's Republican majority appeared to have turned its investigation "into a partisan effort to attack political opponents and dredge up issues that could be used for partisan advantage."

In one finding, the report said a review of subpoenaed documents produced by the Teamsters showed that Charles Ruff, now White House counsel, conducted legitimate anti-corruption work for the union.

Hoekstra had questioned the legitimacy of legal work Ruff and private investigator Jack Palladino did for the union from 1993 to 1995, investigating possible corruption in union locals. The union has said Ruff hired Palladino to help him in tasks related to the union's Ethical Practices Committee.

Federal prosecutors in New York have been looking into the union since 1997, but Hoekstra said he believed their investigation has been stalled.

Since three Carey campaign consultants pleaded guilty in September 1997, federal prosecutors have "managed to obtain only guilty pleas from two minor players, and the indictment of the (union's) former political director," Hoekstra said. "Not one individual has gone to trial."

Union Pacific Update

LOS ANGELES -- West Colton, UP's gateway to the Los Angeles Basin, has taken on a new look with additional yard tracks, two significant main line connections and a new dispatching command center.

The command center, located in the administration building, opened January 30 and dispatches territory from Los Angeles north to San Luis Obispo and from Los Angeles to Riverside Junction, near West Colton.

The terminal originates 24 manifest trains daily and handles 45 run-through trains. Four new departure tracks are under construction and are scheduled to open in May, which will give the yard a total of 14 departure tracks, with 48 classification tracks.

A new 10,000-foot connection was recently completed between UP's main line and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line east of the yard, enabling UP trains to bypass the West Colton terminal to reach the Sunset Route. Another new quarter-mile connection, at nearby Hiland, links UP's Valley line with BNSF's Cajon Pass route. UP trains headed for the Basin from Yermo formerly were restricted to using the BNSF route all the way; now they can use the connection to get on the UP line into Los Angeles.

The new connections, as well as the connection at Pomona opened last year, tie the track infrastructure into a common physical plant.

In other UP News: Through January 25, IdeaWorks has been introduced to 13,476 employees in 48 work units. So far, 337 ideas have been registered, including 111 ideas focused on safety improvements. UP's approval rating continues to track above national averages at 74 percent of all eligible ideas. Completed ideas have generated annual savings of $10.6 million. An additional 46 ideas estimated to produce $4.8 million in savings are currently in the implementation pipeline.

CN selects Toronto for 1999 annual shareholders' meeting

MONTREAL — Paul M. Tellier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian National, announced that Toronto will be the site of CN's 1999 annual meeting of shareholders. The meeting will be held April 27, starting at 10.30 a.m. in the convention facility of the Westin Harbour Castle, One Harbour Square.

"For CN, 1998 was a year of significant accomplishment," Tellier said. "CN announced a merger with Illinois Central Corporation, introduced a comprehensive service plan and demonstrated durable financial results in a challenging environment.

"The CN-IC transaction will produce extended market reach and new single-line efficiencies for shippers, and we remain optimistic that the U.S. Surface Transportation Board will approve the transaction in a vote on March 25, 1999."

For 1998, CN reported net income of $569 million, excluding a special charge and cumulative effect of change in accounting policy for pensions.

Canadian National Railway Company serves all of Canada and the U.S. Midwest, including the ports of Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax, and the key cities of Toronto, Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo, with connections to all points in North America.

Man dies in NYC subway accident

NEW YORK -- Police say a commuter slipped and fell to his death between subway cars during the busy morning rush hour.

The 36-year-old man died on the northbound No. 5 train at the 59^th Street and Lexington Avenue station. A Transit Authority spokesman says the man's body apparently triggered the train's emergency brake. The driver inspected under the train, but saw nothing. The driver of the next train spotted the body.

US Airways flight attendants seek arbitration

WASHINGTON -- Flight attendants for US Airways Group, Inc. said late Wednesday they have asked the National Mediation Board to help resolve their stalled two-year-old contract talks with the airline.

"We're looking to speed up the negotiations process significantly and our hope is that mediation is the answer," said Lynn Lenosky, president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) executive council for US Airways.

"The flight attendants are tired of the company's stalling tactics and we're prepared to take this fight to the next level," she said.

US Airways flight attendants have been in talks with the airline about a new contract since Dec. 31, 1996. AFA, which also represents flight attendants at America West Holdings Corp., earlier this month rejected an offer to submit its contract dispute concerning that airline to binding arbitration, setting the stage for a strike.

In declining to allow an arbitration panel to resolve the union's differences with Phoenix-based America West Airlines, the AFA triggered a 30-day period after which it could legally call a work stoppage. The National Mediation Board (NMB) is the federal agency that referees labor relations in the airline and railroad industries.

Britain’s Blair puts rail operators on trial

LONDON -- Prime Minister today Tony Blair challenged train companies to negotiate new franchises aimed at improving services -- or face the end of the line in the industry.

Blair told a specially summoned rail summit that poor performers would not be allowed to renew their operating franchises. "I want to make it perfectly clear to you that you are on trial," he told his audience of industry bosses. "You are failing your customers and those who continue to fail them have no place in the rail industry of the future. You know we intend taking more and better powers to promptly punish poor performers, but today I want to go further and say this to you:

"Don't think either that the length of the franchises held by train operating companies means that everything between us is set in stone.

"Don't think that because the franchises are contractually in place there is nothing we can do to drive forward improvements -- that we will have to wait until the franchises come to an end."

The Prime Minister acknowledged that the Government was bound by contractual arrangements reached under the previous administration. But he went on: "We are willing to go beyond those arrangements by opening negotiations now, negotiations which will lead to an extension of the franchise for the best performing companies, regardless of when their current franchises are supposed to come to an end.

"We know that there are companies who will steer clear of this offer. The poor performers, those who are unwilling or unable to improve. For them, the end of their franchise will mean exactly that."

The conference, in London's QEII Centre, was being addressed throughout today by a clutch of ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott who called the meeting to address the rising tide of customer complaints about poor service on the railways.

Industry bosses were due to have their say, too. This afternoon Railtrack chief executive Gerald Corbett was expected to point out that investment in the railways has been doubled to 1.4 billion, with more cash being pumped in over the next three years.

Mr. Blair stressed: "Today should be a new beginning for rail in Britain."

Opening the conference he stressed: "It is transport - our trains, and buses and roads - that often determine the quality of our life."

Blair said he spoke "from the heart, as a regular railway user." People often talked about the "rotten day they have had" when they mean the rail journey they had just taken, when their train might have been cancelled, delayed or overcrowded. "This has got to stop. A modern Britain needs a modern transport system," he said.

That meant fast, punctual trains with passengers being given proper information, timetables that were easy to use with fares "that don't break the bank."

He went on: "That is the agenda of passengers. And John Prescott and I are at this summit to champion the frustrated passenger. Today's summit is about how we end the misery and deliver for passengers. It will take time ... these things take time. But today must be a day of commitment."

Mr. Blair acknowledged the work done within the industry but said starkly: "I have to say that overall, the rail industry is not getting good enough results. It is not doing well enough. Its service standards are not high enough. It needs to start doing better. And it needs to start doing better now."

Mr. Prescott said the Government "need a new deal with Railtrack," the company which owns the track and manage stations. He echoed Blair’s tough language, telling the summit: "Companies that continually fail the public will have no future in the industry. As we used to say in my seafaring days, if you don't shape up you can ship out. It's as simple as that."

He warned train companies: "If you want it, we can have a running battle. But I don't want that, I believe you don't want it either."

Mr. Prescott told firms seeking franchises that they would have to make the Government "an offer we can't refuse." Mr. Prescott told the summit: "A record number of rail millionaires alongside a million complaints is unacceptable and hopefully behind us."

He said the industry had a "blame culture" for delays and poor services while the passenger "couldn't care who's to blame." The Deputy Prime Minister said attitude and management skills needed to improve and added: "It was foolish to make so many train drivers redundant."

He said dirty trains and toilets were not a matter of investment but "good quality management concerned with services." All passengers should be treated as first class customers and he confirmed that the Government planned a national passenger survey to air their views and concerns about rail services.

Mr. Prescott repeated the Prime Minister's message that train companies were failing their passengers by running services late or by canceling scheduled journeys.