UTU News Digest - Thursday, March 25, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Thursday, March 25, 1999

TENNESSEE: Munitions train derails

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. -- A 77-car CSX train carrying Marine Corps munitions derailed yesterday, forcing the evacuation of a rural quarter-mile area. No injuries were reported.

Six containers carrying munitions split open when eight cars of the train jumped the tracks at about 12:30 a.m., according to railroad spokeswoman Jane Covington.

The cause of the accident, which occurred about 55 miles southeast of Nashville, has not yet been determined.

The speed limit in that area is 60 mph, and Covington said there are no indications the train was speeding.

The train was headed from Jacksonville, Fla., to Louisville, Ky., she said.

The munitions were projectiles that could include anything from bullets to artillery shells, said George Voryas, a public affairs specialist for the Military Traffic Management Command in Falls Church, Va. Fuses were shipped separately, so there was no danger of explosion without a fire, he said.

The munitions were being shipped from Blount Island Shipping Terminal in Jacksonville, Fla., to Crane Army Ammunition Activity at Crane, Ind., Voryas said.

Only a few people were evacuated, and a spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said the evacuation was simply a precaution.

WASHINGTON: HSGTA/NARP Host Legislative Action Day

WASHINGTON -- The High Speed Ground Transportation Association (HSGTA) and the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) yesterday hosted a Legislative Action Day, drawing almost 50 industry professionals and interested parties to a two-part seminar.

The first session focused on the legislative issues faced the high speed ground transport industry and Amtrak. Officials from the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak gave their perspective on issues included funding for highway-railway grade crossing hazard elimination, the high speed rail and maglev programs, and Amtrak. The second session enabled participants to meet with relevant congressional staff to discuss these issues.

"We want to insure that funding for high speed rail, maglev and Amtrak continues into the year 2000, said HSGTA president Mark Dysart. He continued, "We are especially concerned about making highway-railway crossings safe, particularly in the light of last week's tragedy in Illinois."

The sessions with congressional staff in the afternoon reinforced these points. Both HSGTA and NARP will continue their efforts to obtain full funding for rail programs

HSGTA is a trade association based in Washington, D.C., that advocates the development of high speed ground transport systems in the United States. Its members include equipment suppliers, engineers, unions, public officials and consultants.

NEW JERSEY: Water-main break delays commuters

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- At least 7,600 North Jersey commuters were late to work or missed other appointments Tuesday morning due to a Jersey City water-main break.

The main sprang a leak about 4 a.m., spewing a 30-foot geyser. Complicating matters was the pipe's location -- directly beneath an NJ Transit rail bridge near Jersey Street and Observer Highway.

The 8-inch line, operated by United Water, carries water to NJ Transit's Hoboken Terminal, said United Water spokesman Rich Henning.

Water soaked the overhead electrical lines, forcing NJ Transit to shut down service on its Morris and Essex lines into the Hoboken Terminal, spokesman Steve Coleman said.

Commuters headed east into Hoboken were taken off the trains one stop early, at Newark's Broad Street station, Coleman said. They were then transferred to buses bound for Penn Station, where they could take the PATH train into Manhattan, Coleman said. Or they could take the Midtown train into Manhattan.

Although the Morris and Essex lines are largely electrical, Bergen County trains run primarily on diesel fuel, Coleman said.

By 6:30 a.m., transit officials began using diesel trains to supplement service on the Morris and Essex lines.

United Water dispatched a repair crew shortly after the leak was detected, but its efforts were complicated by flooded streets.

CALIFORNIA: Appeals court blocks Teamsters from picketing BNSF terminals

SAN FRANCISCO. Cal. -- A ruling has affirmed a lower court decision that had blocked the Teamsters union from picketing at two Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) intermodal terminals near Seattle, according to the Journal of Commerce.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco backed an earlier U.S. District Court ruling that the union could not picket BNSF after the carrier ended a contract with a unionized company that provided terminal services and replaced that contractor with a non-union operator.

The railroad had obtained a court order that prohibited picketing its facilities after the change in contractors occurred in 1997.

WASHINGTON: UP/SP merger review rejected

WASHINGTON -- A shipper group’s bid for review of the 1996 approval of the Union Pacific/Southern Pacific railroad merger has been rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The Western Coal Traffic League (WCTL), whose members are coal-burning utilities, argued that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) erred in approving the UP/SP merger, an argument rejected by the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, according to reports.

WCTL asserted the merger would result in anti-competitive effects on competition, pricing, and trackage rights fees paid by Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) to use UP and SP tracks. The STB granted trackage rights to BNSF that were meant to preserve competition wherever it was reduced by the UP/SP combination.

The appeals court ruled that "the challenged conclusions of the Board were supported by substantial evidence and were reached by reasoned decision-making."

JOURNAL OF COMMERCE: Tongue River wins extension

WASHINGTON -- The Surface Transportation Board removed a requirement that the long-delayed Tongue River Railroad Co. project, which proposes to transport coal from Wyoming's Powder River Basin, must be completed by Nov. 9.

In November 1996 the STB gave the Tongue River Railroad three years to complete its projected 130-mile rail line, which could shorten the distance between the coal fields and some Midwest utilities by 15% to 20%.

Late last year, Tongue River asked the STB to remove the three-year deadline on the grounds that it never was a realistic time-frame for completing the job. The railroad cited environmental requirements, a route-alteration proposal and the need to complete engineering, land acquisition and financing.

The latest decision does not set a new completion deadline for the project, which dates to the early 1980s. At that time, Tongue River Railroad received approval to build 89 miles of track south from Miles City, Mont., to Ashland, Mont. The 1996 decision approved the remaining 41 miles from Ashland to Decker, Mont., site of some coal mines and a rail connection with another railroad, Burlington Northern & Santa Fe.

BNSF hauls the majority of coal out of the Powder River Basin, the largest single origin point for U.S. rail tonnage.

Tongue River and BNSF are negotiating an operating contract that could allow coal now moving over a longer BNSF route to travel over the shorter Tongue River line between Decker and Miles City.

The extension was opposed by the Northern Plains Resource Council, an environmental group, two groups that represent American Indians and one rail union.

The Northern Plains Resource Council and the tribal representatives argued that an extension would reward Tongue River for failing to capitalize on the opportunity to complete the project, the decision said.

Representatives of the United Transportation Union, which could lose jobs due to possible rerouting of coal traffic, argued that Tongue River should start the application process again, with BNSF as a co-applicant.

The STB rejected the opponents' arguments.

"We are now satisfied that the three-year condition has served its purpose and that (Tongue River) is moving forward as rapidly as possible," it said. "The railroad has made large capital expenditures and is devoting significant human resources to the project."

The board cited the company's expenditure of $11 million and steps to arrange construction, engineering, financing, land acquisition and some state environmental permits.

According to the STB, Tongue River now has access agreements covering 60% of the land where the final route has been determined.

Last year Tongue River proposed to change the routing on the southernmost 17 miles of its project. The STB is considering whether to approve that new alignment.