UTU News Digest - Tuesday, December 29, 1998

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Tuesday, December 29, 1998

Amtrak posts ridership gains and tops $1 billion in revenues

WASHINGTON - Amtrak, the nation's passenger rail carrier, carried 21.1 million passengers in fiscal 1998, 4.5 percent more than the previous year and the largest annual increase in a decade. Passenger revenue topped a billion dollars for the first time in the corporation's 27- year history, and on-time performance improved four percentage points to 78 percent, the highest in 13 years.

Amtrak President and CEO George D. Warrington said, "All the employees at Amtrak have rededicated ourselves to providing a customer-focused, commercially viable rail system, and these ridership increases prove that we're heading in the right direction, not only on the Empire Builder, but with our national system, as well."

Amtrak's Chicago-Seattle/Portland Empire Builder, posted a robust 22 percent ridership gain during fiscal year 1998 (Oct. 1, 1997-Sept. 30, 1998), reflecting similar improvements throughout the passenger railroad's nationwide system. The Empire Builder, which operates daily between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest via Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, North Dakota, Montana, Seattle and Portland carried 422,174 passengers during FY'98, a more than 75,000-passenger increase over FY'97 when 346,535 passengers rode the train.

Amtrak recently unveiled a new Strategic Business Plan, which includes initiatives to build a market-based network and develop higher speed corridor services. The business plan will enable the railroad to achieve operating self-sufficiency, as mandated by Congress, and build a modern national passenger rail system. During the first two months of the new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, the positive trends established in FY'98 are continuing. Amtrak system-wide ridership increased 2.9 percent during the two-month period, with November ridership up nearly five percent. On-time performance system-wide improved to more than 80 percent in November.

The Empire Builder, equipped with bi-level Superliners, operates daily between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest, offering both coaches and sleeping cars as well as a Sightseer Lounge car and a full-service dining car.

Created in 1971 to take over the rail passenger operations of the railroads, Amtrak today serves more than 21 million customers annually on its national network of intercity trains and employs more than 24,000 people. Amtrak trains and connecting Thruway Motorcoaches serve more than 500 communities in 45 states. An additional 54 million customers use commuter services operated by Amtrak under contract to regional transportation authorities.

The fiscal year of Amtrak, created in 1971 to take over the rail passenger operations of the railroads, runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

UP employees help carrier save big money

OMAHA, Neb., Dec. 28-- Union Pacific Railroad employees helped save $8.2 million over the last two years as a result of a suggestion program called "IdeaWorks," the carrier said in a press release.

IdeaWorks, established in February 1997, rewards employees who have quality ideas for improving the railroad while enhancing safety, saving money and/or improving performance or service.

Employees earn points by developing an idea, implementing the idea once it is approved and attending periodic program training. The employees can redeem accumulated points for a variety of merchandise, ranging from coffee cups to big screen televisions or vacation trips.

The program is proving to be popular. For example, a Union Pacific employee in Salt Lake City, Utah earned enough IdeaWorks points to redeem them for a custom-painted Harley Davidson motorcycle, which will be delivered to him in mid-January.

Examples of cost savings ideas:

•A De Soto, Missouri freight car repair shop employee's idea is saving the railroad $90,000 annually and helping the environment. He suggested using a different type of paint that was less labor intensive to apply and had less of an effect on the environment while not sacrificing quality.

•Locks used by traveling employees installing cross ties were too small to secure latches on track switch stands. Instead of purchasing new locks, an employee suggested drilling a hole in the end of a large bolt to accept the undersized lock. The large bolt would secure the latch and could not be removed because of the lock. This results in safety being maintained by insuring security of the switch.

•A team of UP employees in Salt Lake City saved $264,730 in the first year by using propane gas instead of acetylene gas for metal cutting or heating applications. Propane is more readily available, less expensive and a more stable fuel.

IdeaWorks will be fully implemented across the entire UP system by late 1999. All active, full- or part-time Union Pacific Railroad employees not on a leave of absence are eligible to submit ideas.

Third big bus accident hits New Jersey

WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ --A bus bound for Atlantic City casinos crashed, injuring 13 people in the third such accident in less than a week. None of the injuries were life threatening.

What caused the Greyhound bus to crash into a bridge abutment Monday evening wasn't immediately clear. The right front of the bus hit the abutment, cracking the windshield and sending glass flying.

Thirteen people were taken to hospitals for treatment of minor injuries such as bumps, bruises and cuts. The two earlier crashes, both of buses taking New York City gamblers to and from Atlantic City casinos, prompted lawmakers to press for increased bus safety, such as seat belts and higher fines for safety violations.

A Christmas Eve crash on the Parkway in Sayreville killed eight people. And an accident Sunday on the New Jersey Turnpike injured all 31 people aboard a casino-bound bus. Authorities say excessive speed probably was a factor in that second crash. The cause of the first crash was still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies.

However, according to today's editions of The Record of Hackensack, only one of the 55 serious accidents on the casino route in the past two years involved a bus -- the one on Christmas Eve. Approximately 410,000 buses carry 10 million gamblers into Atlantic City each year.

Investigators find no evidence of mechanical failure in fatal bus accident

SAYREVILLE, NJ -- Federal investigators have found no early evidence that mechanical failure caused a bus to run off the Garden State Parkway, killing eight people on Christmas Eve.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies began examining the wrecked Bruins Transportation bus Monday. Robert Accetta of the NTSB said a check of the tires and braking systems found no defects.

The driver, Val Viner, told investigators he was trying to avoid an icy patch on the highway. Investigators are trying to determine whether Viner, a 52-year-old Russian immigrant, was fatigued or suffered from any condition that may have caused the accident.

Meanwhile, police blamed a second casino tour bus crash in New Jersey on excessive speed, saying a driver couldn't negotiate a turn on a curving ramp linking a state road to the New Jersey Turnpike. An Academy Bus Co. vehicle crashed into an oak tree Sunday, injuring all 31 people aboard. Seven people remained hospitalized Monday.

Canadian Wheat Board sues CP Rail for lost sales

TORONTO - The Canadian Wheat Board, the world's largest seller of wheat, filed a C$45 million lawsuit last week against CP Rail System for more than 1.5 million tons in lost grain sales in early 1997.

The grain shipments were delayed from January to March of 1997 by avalanches, extreme cold and diesel locomotive failure which caused a backlog of dozens of ships on Canada's west coast.

The CWB said one vessel waited as long as 62 days to load.

"We're still open to an out of court settlement certainly but we've had numerous discussions that didn't bear fruit," CWB spokeswoman Deanna Allen said from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The suit filed in Federal Court of Canada stems from a ruling at the end of September by a federal, quasi-judicial agency that found CP Rail did not give grain shipments headed to Vancouver "a reasonable share" of the railway's capacity. CP Rail is North America's sixth largest railroad.

"We did not willfully discriminate against grain and therefore we will be vigorously defending that," Rick Sallee, CP Rail's vice president of agriproducts told Reuters. "The main point of contention between us is the causes behind the demurrage bill," Sallee said.

Canadian National Railway, which had also been sued by CWB, settled with the grain agency earlier this year for an undisclosed sum.

FHWA hires convenors to look at hours-of-service rulemaking

WASHINGTON -- Federal Highway Administrator (FHWA) Kenneth R. Wykle today announced that the agency has hired two convenors to consider the feasibility of negotiated rulemaking as an approach to developing hours-of-service rules for commercial drivers.

"Safety is President Clinton's highest transportation priority, and negotiated rulemaking holds great promise for reaching consensus on this important safety issue," Wykle said. "Secretary Slater has asked everyone in the department, along with our industry partners, to join him in creating a visionary and vigilant U.S. Department of Transportation to lead the way to transportation excellence in the 21st century. It is for these reasons that we are making the first comprehensive effort to improve hours-of-service rules since they were established in the 1930s."

Under the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1996, convenors impartially assist an agency in determining whether it is feasible and appropriate to enter into a negotiated rulemaking process. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation, hired the two convenors; they are Alana S. Knaster of Los Angeles and Charles Pou of Washington, D.C.

In a negotiated rulemaking, an agency invites interests likely to be affected by a regulation to work together on a negotiating committee to develop a consensus draft of the proposed rule. If the FHWA approves, the consensus proposed rule is then published by the agency for public comment under traditional regulatory procedures.

Neutral convenors interview affected interests, including drivers, motor carriers, safety groups and enforcement officials. They then submit a report of findings and recommendations to the FHWA as to whether a negotiating committee can be assembled that fairly represents all affected interests and is willing to negotiate in good faith.