Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

For

Report: STB rejects Cleveland’s plan to reroute freight trains

CLEVELAND – The environmental committee of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has recommended that the board reject a plan submitted by Cleveland’s mayor to reroute freight trains from the city to some of its suburbs.

The committee rejected virtually every part of Mayor Michael White’s plan instead agreeing with the CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads that are acquiring Conrail. The STB is holding hearings on the acquisition next week here.

In its environmental impact report revealed last Friday, the committee recommended what the railroads are already offering: sound buffers, additional railroad crossing protection if there is a major increase in train traffic and training for hazardous material response personnel.

Cleveland is the last major city that has challenged the Conrail takeover.

USDA-STB create task force to avoid harvest foul ups

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the STB in an attempt to stem off grain delivery problems this year are creating a task force designed to generate better information about demands for transportation service.

This move by the federal government comes after railroads were blasted by a broad group of agricultural interests for delays during the 1997 harvest that left grain undelivered and market opportunities missed.

A main reason for this effort are the problems on the Union Pacific Railroad, which has experienced the worst shipping problem in U.S. rail history.

B&O rail history on display in historic railroad town

GARRETT, Ind. – Through early June, visitors to the Garrett State Bank will be able to experience the great traditions of the nation’s first railroad through a display of 19^th Century artifacts and photographs from the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad.

Garrett, a rail community with more than 100 years of history as an important terminal, is the home of UTU Local 298. The local boasts many second- and third-generation railroaders.

Items ranging from antique lanterns to conductors’ caps on loan from the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore will be on display until June 5. CSXT traces its roots back to the B&O Railroad, the nation’s first freight railroad chartered in 1827. CSXT is sponsoring the exhibit, which will stop in La Porte, Dekalb, Elkhart, Marshall Porter, Lake and Noble counties in Indiana.

TWU threatens strike against SEPTA in June

PHILADELPHIA – After more than two months without reaching a new contract, the Transportation Workers Union (TWU) said that it would strike SEPTA across the region on June 1 unless talks produced a new contract before then.

This marks the first time the TWU has set a strike deadline since the March 15 expiration of its old contract for about 5,200 city transit workers. Two suburban contracts, covering about 300 TWU members, expired last month.

United Transportation Union Local 1594, which represents about 280 vehicle operators in Delaware and Chester counties, agreed to a contract last month.

While negotiators for SEPTA and TWU Local 234 have been meeting regularly, both sides report little progress has been reached.