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UTU engineer listed in "good" condition after Amtrak accident

ROUND ROCK, Texas – The engineer of an Amtrak train was listed in "good" condition following an accident here Tuesday that left a garbage-truck driver dead and injured 11 people.

Rodolfo P. Quesada, a member of UTU Local 857 in San Antonio, was treated in a Breckenridge, Texas, hospital. Other injured persons, according to new reports, were taken to various hospitals treated and released.

Amtrak’s Texas Eagle with 104 passengers on board hit a garbage truck on Tuesday while crossing private property here killing the truck’s driver and injuring 11 people. Seven cars were also derailed.

The crossing where the tracks pass through the horse farm where the accident occurred is guarded only by a stop sign. Of more than 18,000 rail crossings in Texas, more than 6,500 are private and not regulated by the state.

One of two locomotives that derailed caught fire, but it was quickly contained.

Union Pacific CEO says congestion is now cleared

FORT WORTH – At Union Pacific’s Centennial Yards in western Fort Worth, the top officer of the troubled carrier said his company’s troubles are over.

On Tuesday, UP CEO Dick Davidson said that the congestion that has plagued the UP since its merger with the Southern Pacific has been cleared.

"We have gotten rid of the congestion. What we’re working on now is restoring excellent service. That’s going to take a while.

Davidson told reporters that the south Texas system, where gridlock was the worst, has cleared. He said that business remains heavy in the Midwestern grain belt, and will remain so until more capacity is added, but that there is no gridlock. He also said delays remain in Southern California, but those tracks remain clear there.

Davidson predicted that with Asian imports expected to increase, it would be difficult to handle all the West Coast business.

"I think all railroads will be strained," he said.

BMWE ratifies pact with Canadian National

WINNIPEG – The 4,000 members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees ratified a new three-year contract with the Canadian National Railroad.

The pact is retroactive to January 1 and makes the BMWE the fourth of CN’s seven unions to agree to a deal.

The contract calls for significant pension plan improvements, better benefits and wage increases. The agreement is similar to those signed and ratified by the Canadian Council of Railway Operating Unions, which includes the UTU and BLE, and other unions. A wage of increase of 2% annually and improvements to benefit, dental and extended health care are included.

Trinity Industries to build more coal cars for UP

DALLAS – Trinity Industries received a $32 million order to build 640 aluminum rotary gondola cars for the Union Pacific Railroad and already started delivering them in April. The cars will handle 121 tons of coal per car and are being built in Montgomery, Ala.

Game of chicken results in injury

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. – A 22-year-old man competing with a friend to see who could stand the longest in front of an oncoming CSX train was tossed 70 feet and seriously injured.

David Flannery Jr., was hit by the CSX train Sunday night and was taken to the hospital in serious condition.

"The unseen victims are the train crew," said CSX spokeswoman Cathy Burns. ‘It’s the kind of thing they’ll remember the rest of their lives."