Locomotive for 'Scab' Railroad at USS/KOBE Derails Rupturing Fuel Tank and Spilling Diesel Fuel (11/25/98)

Locomotive for 'Scab' Railroad at USS/KOBE Derails
Rupturing Fuel Tank and Spilling Diesel Fuel

LORAIN, Ohio, Nov. 25 -- A used locomotive engine belonging to IRSS, the non-union railroad company replacing the legendary Lake Terminal Railroad at USS/KOBE Steel here, derailed Tuesday (Nov. 24) evening causing lost productivity and delay for several hours in the mill's hot metal operations.

Sources at USS/KOBE and the Lake Terminal Railroad confirmed that after the IRSS locomotive filled its water tanks at the Ladle House, it ran through a switch and derailed. Because IRSS and USS/KOBE lack the proper equipment and expertise to right overturned locomotive, they caused a diesel full tank to be punctured, sources said.

According to plant sources, several hundred gallons of diesel full spilled when a large forklift was used in place of the proper equipment and it ripped a hole in the used locomotive's fuel tank. A private hazardous materials clean-up team was called in by USS/KOBE Steel to handle the cleanup, sources said.

"We've been telling everyone that IRSS doesn't know what it's doing and has no safety record," said Tim Smith, United Transportation Union general chairman on the Lake Terminal. "Here they go and have a major derailment the first day they bring a locomotive in the plant and they don't even have a crew that knows how to handle the problem and they cause a serious diesel fuel spill. Not only that but they cause operations to lose productivity. What's next?"

IRSS this week brought in five old, used locomotives in anticipation of replacing the Lake Terminal Railroad on December 29. USS/KOBE did not renew its service agreement with the Lake Terminal, which is the only railroad to service the mill for the last 104 years, because it wanted cheap, non-union workers to replace well-trained, justly compensated union railroad workers.

The UTU has been waging a campaign to save the Lake Terminal Railroad and 170 union jobs. The Lake Terminal has won national awards for safety and is the most economically efficient railroad at any USX-owned steel mill. The UTU is the largest rail and transportation in North America. Its international headquarters is in Cleveland.