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NTSB report blames Devine crash on "overworked, undertrained" dispatchers

DEVINE, Texas – The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that dispatcher error caused last summer’s head-on collision of Union Pacific trains here that killed four people.

Among the dead were two UTU members, Neal A. Wilhelm and Terry E. Yarbrough. A third UTU member, Randy W. Dennis, was seriously injured.

The Devine crash was the first of three fatal accidents last summer that highlighted the severe problems on the Union Pacific Railroad in the aftermath of its merger with the Southern Pacific.

The NTSB report noted that overworked and undertrained dispatchers were on duty the night of June 22 when a dispatcher allowed a southbound freight train to enter a segment of the main track occupied a few miles ahead by a northbound train. The dispatcher failed to tell the southbound train to wait on a sidetrack for the oncoming train to pass.

In addition to the two UTU members, two stowaways were also killed and the exploding diesel fuel created a fireball seen miles away.

Union Pacific tells STB train crew workers don’t work weekends

WASHINGTON – In its latest report to the federal government, The Union Pacific Railroad says that nearly half of its train crew members are laying off duty and not working on weekends on some major routes.

This is the second week in a row that the UP has told the Surface Transportation Board (STB) that crew shortages are causing problems on some key routes.

The troubled railroad’s latest weekly report recognizes that widespread train crew staffing problems exist in Texas, the West Coast and across UP’s central corridor, including Nebraska and Wyoming.

Today’s edition of the Journal of Commerce quotes the UP report as saying it is "struggling with what has become a large number of train crew members laying off on the weekends."

The UP has been severely plagued with delays and congestion for the last year, which has caused uncommon hardships on operating railroad workers. A hotline set up recently by the UTU to gather UP-related problems has received more than 550 calls reporting, among other issues, serious hours of service and line up problems.

The paper reported that UTU International President Charles L. Little said about the UP’s claim: "That outrageous. The union members working on the Union Pacific have saved it from going belly up during a crisis the railroad created for itself. To blame workers for problems in Southern California or Nebraska or anywhere else is a miscarriage of justice.

In the West, the UP said that more than 1/3 of engineers and 30% of trainmen were unavailable for work. In the central corridor, the carrier said layoff rates typically exceeded 35% and reached as high as 53%. In Houston, the UP said that more than 50% of the engineers were not working.

Bid for Pan Am increased by Guilford

MIAMI – Guilford Transportation, a New England railroad operator, raised its bid to buy bankrupt Pan Am World Airways to $29.5 million, including $5 million working capital.

The two companies reached an agreement with NationsBank Corp., Pan Am’s largest creditor. The way the deal’s structured, Guilford would pay $15.2 million to buy Pan Am’s assets, including the name, logo, operating certificate, three plans and spare parts.

Conrail’s Licate joins NS Labor Relations

NORFOLK, Va. – Anthony Licate has joined Norfolk Southern Corp as director of labor relations based in Norfolk. He had been senior director of labor relations for Conrail.

Russian coal miners cut main Siberian railway routes

MOSCOW – The crisis in the Siberian coal mines for the last two weeks has spilled over onto the train tracks.

Striking coal miners have cut both main railways routes across Siberia and workers elsewhere are joining the growing labor protests. Coal miners are demanding to be paid because their wages are six months overdue. Teacher, scientists and other workers are joining the protest nationwide. The Kremlin is trying to restore calm.

With both tracks stopped, more than 100 trains have been forced to stop on the tracks.