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Twelve safest railroads honored by FRA

WASHINGTON – Twelve railroads with the best employee safety records, as documented by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), were recognized Friday at luncheon where they were given gold, silver and bronze E. H. Harriman Safety Awards.

Group A winners (carriers whose employees worked 15 million employee hours or more in a year) were: Norfolk Southern, gold medal for the 9^th straight year; BNSF, silver for the 2^nd consecutive year; and CSX, bronze earning a medal for the 8^th straight year.

Group B winners ((line-haul carriers with 4-15 million employee hours) were: Illinois Central, gold; New Jersey Transit Operations, Inc., silver; Kansas City Southern, bronze for 2^nd consecutive year.

Group C winners (less than 4 million hours) were: Guilford Rail system, gold; Gateway Western Railway, silver; Texas Mexican Railway, bronze.

Group ST winners (switching and terminal companies) were: Port Terminal Railroad, gold for 2^nd straight year; Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, silver; Pataspsco & Black Rivers Railroad, bronze.

The annual rail employee safety awards were founded in 1913 in the memory of Edward H. Harriman, a pioneer in American railroading. A committee of individuals in the transportation field chooses winners.

UP service report shows slower deliveries for the week

WASHINGTON – Union Pacific Railroad’s weekly report to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) reveals that overall service slowed last week and that the number of hours that crews were delayed increased.

The number of hours that train crews were delayed due to congested tracks and terminals rose to 1,782 hours last week up from 1,571 hours two weeks ago.

UP said congestion is worsening because the company is replacing rails and installing new ties through its central corridor, especially in Wyoming and Nebraska.

Coal deliveries to U.S. electric utilities also slowed last week from the previous reporting period, and average train speed slowed to 13.7 mph.

Railroads break off talks with shippers

WASHINGTON -- U.S. railroads broke off negotiations with shippers when the Association of American Railroads (AAR) last week failed to offer a counter-proposal to a plan put forward by shippers that would have broadened profitability calculations.

Until late last week, the AAR was discussing with shippers a possible change in the way rail profit is calculated by the STB. Individual railroad earnings are measured against the existing formula annually.

STB directed the talks in an April 17 decision that reviewed several competition and rail rate issues. But the carriers decided to halt the talks by not offering a counter-proposal saying that it wouldn’t be "fruitful."

Shippers proposed that rail profitability should be determined by multiple factors, including common financial standards such as ratios between a carrier’s stock price and its earnings. The issue of rail profitability formulas has been controversial for more than a decade.

SEPTA talks break off with no new talks scheduled

PHILADELPHIA – No new talks are scheduled today in the SEPTA strike after 8 days of talks broke off last night with the TWU saying it might disrupt regional rail service and a visit to the city by the Democratic National Committee today.

TWU Local 234 President Steve Brookens said the two sides were $15 million apart and that the talks were "a complete bust."

SEPTA spokesman Stephan Rosenfeld stopped short of calling Brookens a liar, but asked reporters, "How can you believe anything that comes out of the mouth of the TWU?"

Brookens said the TWU "will be "wherever the DNC will be" today when it visits Philadelphia looking for a city to host the next Democratic convention in 2000.

LAMTA board approves adding more debt

LOS ANGELES – The board of directors of the Los Angeles MTA approved a plan late last week to add another $442 million to its $7 billion debt, but took action to curb the agency’s borrowing.

Board members also took action to put limits on MTA’s habit of using funds obtained for one project to pay for another.

Much of the expenditure approved last Thursday would be used to pay for subway cost overruns and rail cars – some of which will never be used. Much of the cash so far has been used to pay for a subway line to North Hollywood that now will cost an estimated $5 billion. The L.A. Times said that top MTA officials also planned to propose to use money already borrowed for a Pasadena light-rail project to pay expenses for subway extensions to Eastside and Mid-City Los Angeles.