UTU News Digest - Friday, March 12, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Friday, March 12, 1999

CN nears three-year goal of divesting track

OTTAWA -- The Canadian National Railway (CN) said it is nearing completion of a three-year program to divest itself of more miles of track.

CN said it will sell 104 miles of track in British Columbia and 52 miles in Ontario to short-line operators this year, and will discontinue short sections of track in five provinces totaling about 50 miles.

One two-mile spur in Michigan will be abandoned if CN gets approval from the Surface Transportation Board in Washington, the carrier said.

Last year, the railroad sold 1,275 miles of track to short-line operators and abandoned another 183 miles. The railway now operates 13,740 route miles in Canada and the U.S.

L.A. city attorney threatens BNSF with lawsuit for blocking road

WILMINGTON -- Los Angeles City Attorney James Hahn said Wednesday he will file criminal charges against Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Corp. (BNSF) if its trains continue to block roads near a Wilmington area school.

"It's more than just an inconvenience -- it's really a question of public safety," Hahn told the Los Angeles Times, noting that the trains are blocking emergency vehicles as well as normal traffic.

Hahn sent a letter Tuesday to the Fort Worth, Texas, corporation, demanding that BNSF discontinue the lengthy delays near Broad Avenue Elementary School. "We've had reports of them tying up intersections for over an hour," he said.

A state Public Utilities Commission order allows a 10-minute stop, but a city ordinance further limits delays to five minutes.

Hahn added that residents have told him delays have occurred for years, making students late for school or worse.

Hahn said if the situation is not resolved, the city attorney's office will file a misdemeanor violation for each delay, punishable by up to six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine.

Last year, Hahn's office prosecuted Union Pacific Railroad (UP) for a similar scenario in Boyle Heights. UP pleaded no contest and was required to donate $10,000 to a nonprofit organization.

NJ Transit okays expansion plan

NEWARK -- With ridership increasing and expected to explode after 2002, NJ Transit approved a plan Thursday to buy 400 train cars, and agency officials said they intend to purchase 650 transit buses.

"Our trains are overcrowded and we have anticipated growth," Stanley Rosenblum, NJ Transit's interim executive director, told the Bergen Record after the agency's board meeting. Displaying the figures for board members on an overhead screen, he noted there are roughly 2,600 riders on NJ Transit's lines who are forced to stand, and that number is expected to increase to 12,832 by 2005 unless new railcars are put into service.

The major cause of that jump will be the opening of the Secaucus Rail Transfer station, which will allow riders to transfer from all the North Jersey lines onto trains heading straight to Manhattan's Penn Station.

One way NJ Transit might try to lessen the expense of the train cars -- each one will cost between $1.4 million and $2.2 million -- would be to see whether Metro-North Railroad in New York City is interested in buying the cars jointly to get a more favorable price, an idea suggested at the meeting by a member of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers.

Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said she was not sure whether the two transit agencies would be able to use cars of the same height and width, but she said any cost-saving measure is worth exploring.

Metro-North has west-of-Hudson service on two lines in New York State: Pascack Valley, where it has three stops in Rockland County, and on its Port Jervis branch from Suffern, north through Orange County. Those are the areas where bi-level cars would work, she said.

"Any way you can squeeze more capacity onto the same amount of track, that is the purpose of bi-level coaches," Anders said.

NJ Transit's overall goal is to spend $1.3 billion to buy 200 railcars and 40 locomotives by 2002, and 200 bi-level railcars and 17 locomotives by 2004. A bi-level train is able to fit more passengers.

Though the train purchases will cost significantly more than the buses, it's the buses that carry more riders for NJ Transit: 260,000 a day vs. 94,000 daily on the trains.

For the roads, the agency anticipates spending $574 million over the next five years on short-distance transit buses and cruiser buses that handle the longer runs, such as from North Jersey to Atlantic City. Agency officials said the need to buy buses is simple: the fleet is aging, with more than half of the 1,900 NJ Transit buses at least 12 years or older, and hundreds almost 20 years old.

Rosenblum said the new buses will offer several features not seen on the older buses, including handicap-accessibility, slip-resistant floors, grab bars for passengers, and more comfortable and safe seats for the drivers.

STB's SEA issues final scope of DM&E Railroad study

WASHINGTON -- The Surface Transportation Board (STB) announced today that its Section of Environmental Analysis (SEA) has issued the final scope of study for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) regarding the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation's (DM&E) proposed railroad line construction and operation to coal mines in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.

The final scope reflects issues raised both orally and in writing by agencies and the public during numerous scoping meetings held in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The final scope also takes into account all comments received on environmental issues concerning DM&E's proposal.

In addition to issuing the final scope of the EIS, the Board and the cooperating agencies are providing a 30-day comment period for interested parties to submit comments on two new, proposed alternatives. This comment period is in addition to the public comment period that will be provided on all aspects of the Draft EIS (DEIS) when that document is made available.

DM&E's proposal involves the construction of approximately 280 miles of new rail line in South Dakota and Wyoming and the upgrading of approximately 600 miles of existing rail line in South Dakota and Minnesota. The project would allow DM&E to extend its existing system westward to access coal mines in the Powder River Basin. On June 10, 1998, SEA issued a draft scope for the EIS and provided a period for submission of written comments on it. On December 10, 1998, the Board issued a decision finding that DM&E's application had satisfied the transportation-related requirements of Section 10901 of Title 49, United States Code (49 U.S.C. 10901), and stated that it would issue a subsequent decision on the entire proposed project after completion of the environmental review process.

Written comments addressing DM&E's Modified Proposed Action must be submitted to the STB by April 10, 1999. For further information on how to file comments on these two new alternatives, telephone the STB's toll-free environmental hotline at 1-877-404-3044.

JOC: Rail labor adds voice to STB reauthorization debate

WASHINGTON -- Rail labor, in an attempt to preserve the terms of its collective-bargaining contracts in the event of a merger, is stepping up the pressure during intense Capitol Hill debate over competition issues and reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the Journal of Commerce said.

Growing awareness of labor's lobbying presence, which could produce an alliance with shippers, comes as Washington insiders expect a new STB bill any day now from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), who chairs the Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Subcommittee.

Sen. Hutchison's bill, which is expected to include some provisions to deal with shipper complaints over competition, represents the second legislative vehicle that would give the STB a long-term lease on life. The other bill, backed by railroads and introduced by Senate leadership, would reauthorize the STB for four years without any policy redirection.

"There was some responsiveness from some members of Congress (at a hearing chaired by Sen. Hutchison last week), who recognize that this legislation is a three-legged stool," said Ed Wytkind, executive director of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. "To this point, it has been a two-legged stool (carriers and shipper interests).

"The third point of the stool is rail workers that have been fighting for years to have their situation recognized. Now we have the opportunity to have that debate."

The rail unions that belong to the Transportation Trades Department are pressing for removal of the so-called cram-down provision from the STB's regulatory arsenal.

That provision allows railroads to propose -- and gain -- STB approval to override negotiated collective-bargaining contracts during merger cases.

"Railroads have far too much freedom to change collective-bargaining agreements that they otherwise wouldn't be able to alter without good-faith bargaining at the table," Mr. Wytkind said.

"Our focus has been to restore some balance to a process that is skewed in favor of railroads.

"There is no good faith in the process and there is not a level playing field where you can deal with issues that arise. That recognition came out in the hearing," Mr. Wytkind said.

"The best we can take from the table in the merger process (with 'cram-down' in place) is the status quo," he said.

Allies: Labor, shippers

The increasingly complex STB reauthorization picture also could produce a new, but not unprecedented, alliance of labor and shipper interests that have criticized STB decisions separately.

"This (a labor-shipper lobbying linkup) has been done before," Mr. Wytkind said. "It's called ocean shipping reform.

"Republican business interests recognized (as the Ocean Shipping Reform Act was being debated) that they needed labor at the table. Whether or not that formula can be tried with the STB bill is yet to be seen."

Ed Emmett, president of the National Industrial Transportation League, said, "Rail labor is a critical element in the STB discussion."

"There is no question that the league will talk with rail labor to see if there can't be a meeting of the minds somehow," Mr. Emmett said."

Welcome mat out

Diane Duff, president of the Alliance for Rail Competition, also welcomes labor's input.

"Shippers have been trying to figure out how to get that door to open (to labor).

"We would like to have that door open to discuss common interests. We have felt we are facing some of the same hurdles. We would love to see what they have to say about our issues," Ms. Duff said.

"Many think a more competitive environment would be beneficial to labor in terms of more jobs due to increased rail volumes," she said.

Added Mr. Wytkind: "Our intent is clear. We don't have a firm position on the shipper issues. We have said all along those issues have their legitimate place at the table.

"The issue (of the 'cram-down' provision) is in the forefront now," he said. "Those who want to advance an STB bill know the issue has been more crystallized. Carriers and shippers have their rifles placed on the table. Now the employees are getting more and more attention in Congress as an important party in the debate. The question is whether you can move a bill forward."

Mr. Wytkind acknowledged some apparent roadblocks, such as the bill that would fund the STB for four years without changing the "cram-down provision" or other current policies.

Railroads like override

Railroads maintain that the ability to override contracts should continue because that would allow them to capture operational efficiencies and cost savings as in recent mergers. Mr. Wytkind identified an additional problem -- statements from leadership of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that have expressed opposition to removal of the "cram-down provision."

"We think we have growing support," Mr. Wytkind said.

"The signals we are getting on both sides of the aisle is that we have some legitimate concern," he said.

"It is well-understood that our organization and transportation labor in general has a strong relationship with the (Transportation & Infrastructure) committee on both sides of the aisle, including some Republicans who have been forceful advocates of our position. That can't be ignored in this context," Mr. Wytkind said.

"Our goal is to convince members of the Congress that this step is beneficial."

Former Texas State Director Cowan dies at age 73

Retired former UTU Texas State Legislative Director Billy Cowan, who promoted rail safety and the rights of railroad workers during two decades of union leadership in Austin, Tex., died Tuesday at the South Austin Medical Center. He was 73.

"He exemplified everything that is good about the American labor movement," said Oscar Mauzy, a former state senator and Texas Supreme Court justice. "He wanted to make sure that his kids and everybody else's kids had a better chance than he did."

Cowan was born in the North Texas town of Sadler and grew up in Denison. He went to work for the Katy Railroad as a young man and joined the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT) in August 1944. During the next 20 years, he held a variety of leadership positions in the UTU.

He came to Austin in 1962 as state legislative director for the BRT, and served as a vice president of the Texas AFL-CIO.

Mauzy recalled that Cowan and other labor leaders not only fought for the rights of their members but also for the rights of nonunion workers. They pushed to extend the state minimum wage law to farm workers, which was passed in 1969, he said.

Harry Hubbard, the former president of the Texas AFL-CIO, said Cowan was respected throughout the labor movement in Texas because of his dedication to union members.

Cowan was known for "giving the best representation to the people...There's always a big need for that, and I think he recognized that," Hubbard said.

Cowan's survivors include his wife, Betty Rhymes Cowan of Austin, and two sons, Terrence Cowan of Sunset Valley and Michael Cowan of Round Rock.

A funeral service will be at 2 p.m. today (March 12, 1999) at the Amey Funeral Home, 7811 Rockwood Lane. Burial will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Layne Cemetery in Denison.