UTU News Digest - Wednesday, January 6, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Wednesday, January 6, 1999

Speech by Vranich: Amtrak-Style Trains Declining Worldwide

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Relatively fewer people are riding intercity passenger trains worldwide, an alarming trend for the financially ailing Amtrak system, according to Joseph Vranich, member of the Amtrak Reform Council.

"This is an historic moment because no nation is excluded from a passenger shift away from long-distance trains to airlines and highways, which are enjoying explosive growth," Vranich said in a speech to Chinese government reform officials. "This finding is based on the decline at Chinese Railways -- the last railroad in the world to witness a market share decrease."

China's state-run railroad is suffering market losses as travelers opt for lower fares on China's airlines or travel over an extensive new road system.

"This is another bad omen for Amtrak, whose steady market decline means Amtrak has the worst market penetration of any form of transport. Amtrak's market share -- a microscopic three-tenths of one percent -- is the lowest in history and continues to fall. Each year Amtrak becomes more of a bit player," Vranich said.

In countries where the number of rail passengers is growing, the rate is anemic when compared to the immense surge in highway and aviation use. European railways have lost ground except on high-speed and commuter lines. Amtrak doesn't have one true high-speed system on the drawing boards and most U.S. commuters ride on independent lines such as the Long Island Rail Road and Chicago's Metra system.

"Market share aside -- Amtrak's total ridership last year of 21.1 million passengers was lower than in 7 of the previous 10 years despite an all-time record level of domestic travel. This embarrassing performance speaks for itself."

He also addressed Amtrak subsidies:

"Most Americans are unaware of Amtrak's financial situation because Amtrak's news announcements routinely omit information about its losses. Amtrak year-end reports are so evasive they could be ridiculed by those who must meet the Securities & Exchange Commission's financial disclosure rules.

"Amtrak's operating loss of $823 million last year was the second largest in a decade. Amtrak's finances are expected to worsen as its request for $1.7 billion in federal subsidies represents an all-time high in Amtrak's 28- year life."

Vranich spoke before China's State Economic and Trade Commission, which is launching reforms at 110 state-owned enterprises as part of a switch to a market economy, where he also advocated eventual privatization of Chinese Railways.

He sits on the Amtrak Reform Council that must evaluate the railroad's future. If by this December the council finds Amtrak will need federal operating subsidies through 2003, then Amtrak restructuring and liquidation plans must be submitted to Congress.

Vranich worked to create Amtrak nearly three decades ago. He is the author of "Derailed: What Went Wrong and What to Do About America's Passenger Trains" published by St. Martin's Press, which is found at http://home.att.net/~JVranich/index.html on the Internet.

His speech also addressed railroad mergers involving Conrail, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Court rules STB has jurisdiction over job status from rail mergers

WASHINGTON – The Journal of Commerce reported today that a federal appeals court upheld key portions of a lower court ruling that found the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has jurisdiction over job status changes arising from rail mergers.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals last week ruled in favor of Norfolk Southern Corp. and rejected an appeal from the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, which claimed that work force reductions and job changes should be handled under Railway Labor Act procedures instead of at the STB.

The union brought its lawsuit against NS in the fall of 1997 during the STB's consideration of the joint acquisition of Conrail Inc. by NS and CSX Corp. Before the lawsuit was filed, the union served a so-called Section 6 notice on NS, seeking to renegotiate its labor agreement as a result of the job losses and relocation that would be caused by the Conrail purchase. Unions and railroads use Section 6 notices to propose changes in collective-bargaining agreements.

According to the merger application, 54 Conrail signalmen would have been transferred and 25 others would have lost their positions as a result of the acquisition. The applicants proposed to reassign some Conrail employees to lines operated by one or more of the other carriers. That change opened the door for revision because labor contracts covering union workers on NS, CSX and Conrail were not identical.

In May 1998, U.S. District Judge James C. Turk rejected the union's argument, saying that the Interstate Commerce Act gave full jurisdiction over merger-related job changes to the Surface Transportation Board because it reviewed all aspects of railroad consolidations.

In the decision approving the Conrail acquisition, the STB said the new agreements that implement job changes would have to be done in a few months, before NS and CSX take over their portions of Conrail early this year. The appeals court said Railway Labor Act proceedings could drag on without a fixed schedule and "have the potential to destroy a proposed merger." Rail contract negotiations under the RLA typically take two or three years.

The appeals court ruled that "the union was not entitled to circumvent STB's exclusive authority by entering into federal court and seeking to adjudicate the very same issues."

But the ruling favored the union in two other respects. Last week's decision found that Norfolk Southern Corp., which some consider a holding company rather than a railroad, was part of the lawsuit, as well as several railroads it owns. The lower court ruling had found that the corporation was not a part of the litigation.

The appeals court also threw out an injunction that Judge Turk issued that blocked the union from striking for one year from the date of the decision. The appeals court rejected the NS claim that it needed an injunction because a strike was imminent, saying, "The record contains no evidence indicating that any union intended to strike."

BERGEN, NJ -- About three years after its worst train crash, NJ Transit in March is set to become one of the nation's first railroads to install a radio-based train-stopping device that would have prevented the fatal 1996 accident in Secaucus.

Over the next three months, NJ Transit will start testing Positive Train Stop -- a technology used for years in Europe but new to the United States -- that automatically stops and slows trains with on-board computers.

As part of a $140 million effort that was accelerated following the 1996 collision, NJ Transit also is equipping trains and tracks with a second automatic braking technology to be integrated with Positive Train Stop, giving tens of thousands of commuters added protection.

Working together to stop and slow trains that run red signals or travel too fast for conditions, the two systems are designed to override the kind of human error that caused the rush-hour crash on the Secaucus-Jersey City border that killed two engineers and a Fair Lawn commuter and injured 158 passengers.

That crash occurred when one of the train's engineers ran a red signal, mistaking it for yellow. Officials say Positive Train Stop would have prevented the crash because it would have stopped the train automatically.

"This is the first time it's being done anywhere in the country. A lot of transit properties are watching what we are doing," said NJ Transit spokesman Ken Miller. "We're blazing a new trail."

In February, NJ Transit will begin testing the system with the other technology -- known as Automatic Train Control -- on a 4.6-mile segment of the Boonton Line in Denville. If all goes smoothly, Vacca said, the agency will begin installing Positive Train Stop by March.

By the end of 1999, the agency says, all of its commuter lines will have at least one of the braking systems, and all lines will have both by 2002.

"This is the only railroad we know, certainly the only passenger railroad, that's taken the initiative on this matter and decided to employ this technology," said Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration in Washington, D.C.

At the time of the Secaucus accident, NJ Transit was criticized for lagging behind other commuter lines in installing automatic braking systems.

Half of its rail lines lacked such protection – including trains traveling into Hoboken from Bergen, Passaic, and Morris counties. The agency responded by speeding up its plan to install the systems and by combining Positive Train Stop and Automatic Train Control.

Automatic Train Control uses electrical currents from the rails to relay continuous signals to the engineer's cab. It activates the brakes if the engineer fails to follow the signals. By contrast, Positive Train Stop is a radio-based system that uses transponders at various spots in the track. The transponders send signals to a train's computer, which then provides information to the engineer. The transponders can be programmed to stop or slow a train if the engineer fails to obey a speed restriction.

Over the past year, NJ Transit has outfitted its Hoboken-bound trains with Automatic Train Control, installing the system on almost 177 miles of track. Newark-bound trains have been equipped with the system for some time, and now, half of all Hoboken-bound trains have the braking system as well, Vacca said.

Following the February 1996 crash in Secaucus and a fiery crash the same month in Maryland that killed 11 people, federal regulators imposed new rules for railroads without automatic braking systems. Among other requirements, engineers were prohibited from traveling more than 30 mph to the next signal after leaving a station.

NJ Transit has spent $15.2 million so far on the braking systems, and an additional $25.9 million is budgeted for 1999. The system is being installed incrementally on various lines, and the rest of the $140 million will come in future years. Positive Train Stop is being designed, tested, and installed by Union Switch and Signal Inc. of Pittsburgh, NJ Transit officials said.

FedEx pilots mailed ballots this week for contract vote

MEMPHIS -- The pilots union at Federal Express Corp. mailed ballots to its members Monday for voting on a work contract. The ballots must be returned by Feb. 3 to be counted by independent auditors on Feb. 4.

The board of directors for the Fedex Pilots Association, an independent union, has recommended acceptance of the contract, which company and union negotiators agreed upon Dec. 18.

"For the pilots, I would say, the overall impression of the tentative agreement has been favorable," said union spokesman Bob Clement.

If approved, the contract would be a first for Federal Express and the FPA, which has represented the company's 3,500 flight crewmembers since 1996. The pilots threatened a Christmas holiday strike in October after contract talks broke off. The talks resumed after the pilots backed away from that threat.

The tentative contract calls for a 17 percent pay raise over five years and would give the union more say over flight-crew work rules and schedules. It also would increase retirement pay for the pilots.

The pilots are the only domestic employees of Federal Express represented by a union. They have been haggling with the company over a work contract since 1993, when the AirLine Pilots Association represented them. Since then, the pilots have rejected two tentative contracts sent to them by their union leaders.

Toronto Transit union wants its members protected from public

TORONTO -- The head of Toronto's Amalgamated Transit Union wants to meet with the mayor and police chief to find ways to protect TTC employees and the public from mentally unstable individuals who are walking the streets.

The call comes after a TTC streetcar driver was stabbed in the neck and jaw Sunday morning. Police describe his alleged attacker as an emotionally troubled man with a history of mental illness.

"Why are these people out on the streets?'' asked Vince Casuti, president of Local 113. "They should be in some kind of homes.''

Larry Sawchuk, 38, who has worked for the TTC since 1981, underwent emergency treatment at St. Michael's Hospital after he was slashed with a kitchen knife. Sawchuk had just stopped his eastbound streetcar on King St. at Sherbourne St. shortly after 8 a.m., when his only passenger ran to the front of the vehicle and jabbed a 15-centimeter blade into his neck.

The injured driver ran off the streetcar and his attacker barricaded himself in the vehicle. Police arrived seconds later and subdued the man.

Several TTC bus and streetcar operators said they are more nervous following Sunday's attack. "It does make us nervous,'' one man said. "It could have been anyone of us. There are a lot of weird people out there.''

China to invest 55 billion Yuban in railway

BEIJING -- China plans to pour at least 55 billion yuan into railway construction in 1999, Minister of Railways Fu Zhihuan said here today.

The country will establish 1,320 kilometers of new railway lines, 970 kilometers of double tracks, and 730 kilometers of electrified railways in the new year, Fu said at a meeting on this year's work. Meanwhile, China's railway transportation department anticipates an output of 96.4 billion yuan this year.

Fu also announced that China put 56.3 billion yuan into railway construction in 1998, 16.7 billion yuan more than in 1997.

Railway traffic halted from Hungary to Slovakia and elsewhere

PRAGUE -- Railway traffic from Hungary to Slovakia and across Slovakia to the west and south of Europe has been halted. Most of fast trains arriving in Slovakia from Hungary are many hours late, and some trains have been canceled altogether, Itar-Tass was told on Wednesday at the Slovakian Railways department.

The schedule of international railway transportation was broken because of a strike staged by Hungarian railway workers who have been protesting for three days demanding a considerable pay rise. It is not immediately known when a normal schedule of railway traffic will be resumed.

Railway sales saves Mexico four billion pesos

MEXICO CITY -- The privatization of the three major railway networks in 1998 will save the government four billion pesos in subsidies this year, said the National Railways Commission. Half of that amount would have been paid to pensioners, while the rest would have been used for investment and debt payments. At the same time the government will earn 320 million pesos in taxes from the system this year.