UTU News Digest - Monday, March 15, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Monday, March 15, 1999

JOURNAL OF COMMERCE: UTU takes stance against CN-IC merger

WASHINGTON -- The United Transportation Union is making a last-minute bid to derail the proposed merger between Canadian National Railway and Illinois Central Corp., the Journal of Commerce reported.

The UTU urged that the Surface Transportation Board, which has a voting conference about the merger plan set for March 25, delay any action on the proposal until the Federal Railroad Administration and the STB establish final rules to handle safety issues raised by mergers.

The union asked the STB to block CN-IC from imposing a new labor agreement that would override existing contracts except in cases that would provide commercial benefits without hurting labor.

Contract preservation in merger proceedings has been a high-priority issue for rail unions. The union said it was upset with prospective substitution of some Illinois Central collective-bargaining agreements on union members who now work for lines owned by CN in the United States.

UTU President Charles Little also voiced concern over the prospect for longer working hours with reduced rest.

The union also asked the STB to block the use of some switching jobs as they are now done by IC on grounds that those assignments could have serious safety consequences. While the UTU stepped up last-minute efforts to block the deal, the CN and IC have won support for their merger plan from two other unions, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.

"Nothing we have heard from the CN and IC gives the UTU any reason to believe that the contemplated transaction is intended for anything other than transferring wealth from the railroad workers to the stockholders," Mr. Little said.

Washington: Subway trains ordered to slow down

WASHINGTON -- Subway train operators in the nation's capital were ordered Friday to slow down and use manual controls while a potential safety problem is investigated.

Switches that control signals, speed and train separation have failed three times in the past three months. Another one failed in February 1997.

"Each instance was immediately detected and immediately addressed," said Richard White, general manager of the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority. He said the incidents presented no dangers to train passengers or operators, but he defended his decision to slow the system, saying, "We're not going to take any chances whatsoever."

The problems included signal lights that failed to change within five to 10 seconds of a train's departure. Another signal allowed a train to travel at 45 mph when it should have slowed automatically to 15 mph. A subsequent relay placed 100 feet from the failed unit slowed the train to its proper speed, officials said.

"We have 24,000 of them (relays) located in train control rooms throughout the Metro system," said White. The faulty relays are being tested to determine why they failed. "The remaining 23,997 relays are in operation and properly functioning," White said.

For the average customer, the order to slow the trains for at least three to four weeks means "their ride will take somewhere between five and 10 minutes longer," White said.

About 540,000 use the 96-mile system each day. It serves a 1,500-square-mile region, including the District of Columbia and nearby suburbs of Maryland and Virginia.

New York: Amtrak’s high-speed trains take on air shuttles

NEW YORK -- Amtrak's new high-speed Northeast Corridor service takes dead aim at airlines flying the lucrative Washington-New York-Boston shuttle route, but the two carriers that currently feast on that market don't appear concerned.

"There are different kinds of travelers and they make their choices and we hope they choose us," Delta AirLines spokeswoman Kay Horner said Tuesday. US Airways officials refused comment.

Last week Amtrak unveiled the name -- "Acela"(uh-SELL-ah) and marketing components of its $2 billion, 150-mph train system that will begin operation in November or December.

Amtrak says the new trains will travel between Boston and New York in three hours -- an improvement of 90 minutes over the current trip – and from New York to Washington in as little as 2 1/2 hours, a saving of a half-hour.

Amtrak officials hope the Acela service will be a model for similar trains in the Great Lakes, the Gulf Coast, California and the Pacific Northwest.

"We know we have a product here that will absolutely knock the socks off the competition," Amtrak President George Warrington boasted to his workers. "USAir, Delta, General Motors, Ford, you name it, only Amtrak's Acela will provide a very special journey for customers who will travel downtown to downtown."

In addition to pledging speed, Amtrak promised an unparalleled service. Acela's snub-nosed, silver-and-turquoise trains will have business-class seats with audio and power jacks, special check-in areas and concierge service, plus dining cars with meeting tables, upgraded food and beer on tap.

The schedule has not been set, but Amtrak officials said it probably would maintain most current stops, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Haven, Conn., and Providence, R.I. The railroad will also retain its slower Northeast Direct service.

A one-way trip will cost about $130 to $140 each way between New York and Boston or Washington, an increase from the current Metroliner fare of $114 but still less than the $199 walkup fare charged by US Airways and Delta Air Lines. They are the two primary airlines offering shuttle service between Washington, New York and Boston.

Amtrak projects that Acela will generate $180 million in new profits its first full year of service. Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, chairman of the Amtrak board of directors, said he hopes the next stop for high-speed rail will be the Midwest. Amtrak has already announced it will spend $25 million to work on a high-speed network linking nine Midwestern states.

Similar projects are being considered between Charlotte, N.C., and Washington, D.C.; Birmingham, Ala., and Houston; and up the Pacific coast. Thompson said Acela should generate the necessary congressional support.

"As soon as we kick off the Northeast Corridor, Trent Lott is going to say, `Why can't I have it in Mississippi?' and Speaker Hastert is going to say, `You know, I think it's what's needed in Chicago and the Midwest,'" Thompson said, referring to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

New Jersey: Magnetic levitation makes sense for industrial, not transportation

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. -- The promise of using magnetic levitation to facilitate a new generation of mass transit systems is still at least a decade away and may never be fulfilled, according to "Magnetic Levitation: Getting Mag Lev Off the Ground" a new Fututetech report from Technical Insights, a unit of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The barriers to viable maglev train systems are formidable. Most particularly, maglev finds itself up against proven technologies such as France's TGV, that run on existing tracks and as a result are cheaper to implement. Whereas a typical maglev track would have to be built from the ground up at anywhere from $12-26 million per kilometer, the TGV can run on existing tracks, at no additional cost, or on its own specially designed tracks for the relatively low starting price of $6 million per kilometer.

According to Tony Eastham, an expert on high-speed trains and a professor in the departments of civil and electrical engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the window of opportunity for implementation of maglev in transit systems is closing. Though maglev's technological refinements and regulatory blocks can be resolved, Eastham believes, this technological triumph is in danger of becoming a white elephant.

"I have become more pragmatic and realistic," he says, "and I personally doubt that maglev is commercially viable."

Harry Goldstein, editor of the Technical Insight's maglev report, sees a silver lining in Eastham's dark cloud. "While the ultimate fate of maglev transportation systems is still up in the air, the technology is finding a place in certain industrial applications today," he says. "The advances in the basic science of maglev might be the most valuable outcome of research into these kind of transportation systems. Maglev is a viable way to move objects, but only on a smaller scale than trains. It's a case where a technology that is not economically viable for what has been long perceived its most promising application is in fact perfectly feasible for other important uses, including precision motion systems and haptic interfaces."

The report details the efforts of German, Japanese and American research groups as they try to improve maglev technology and get the costs down to reasonable levels. In addition, the report takes a hard look at the economic barriers facing the maglev transportation community and weighs its possible advantages against its rather considerable drawbacks.

It also explores other more viable applications for maglev that range from launching NASA's space shuttles to the development of a new type of haptic interface that would enable computer users to physically interact with simulations on their computer screens, as well as a recently patented maglev stage for photolithography steppers developed at MIT. Several university laboratories around the world are investigating new uses for maglev, all of which could potentially benefit from the billions already spent on developing the technology for trains. Perhaps decades of refining a maglev train system won't be entirely futile.

"Magnetic Levitation: Getting MagLev Off the Ground" features a concise overview of competing maglev technologies and how they work. It includes an assessment of the likely commercial impact of these systems in both the transportation and industrial sectors. Like all of the Futuretech series, this report details funding, development, and licensing opportunities, and lists key patents. Readers get full contact information, including names, mail and e-mail addresses, phone and fax numbers of key developers.

STB reviews environment impact of DM&E plan

WASHINGTON -- The Surface Transportation Board announced the final scope for the environmental review of Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad's plan to create a new rail route for coal traffic from Wyoming's Powder River Basin, the Journal of Commerce reported.

The agency decision does not give a date when the final environmental report will be released or a time for issuance of the draft environmental impact statement that represents the next step in review of those issues.

The STB last fall approved the project from a commercial and transportation standpoint, but said its final decision would take environmental issues into account. According to the STB, the final environmental review will include 15 factors. Among them are effects on land use, biological resources, geology and soils, air quality and cultural and historic resources.

The STB's earlier environmental review steps were modified in the current stage of the study to include: more analysis of the impact on construction on land and water resources; more attention to the impact of the project on the railroad's eastern terminus on the Mississippi River; additional analysis of safety issues; quality-of-life issues and paleontological resources.

At least seven possible routes are under consideration for new construction from the DM&E's existing lines in South Dakota to the coal fields, the largest single rail traffic origination in the United States.

The STB also requested comment on a proposal from Rochester, Minn., to build bypasses or take steps to reduce noise and rail interference with highway traffic.

The city, whose officials have opposed the project, pegged the cost of environmental mitigation at more than $115 million.

Canada rail freight down 5.4% in week to Feb. 28

OTTAWA -- Canadian rail freight volume, excluding intermodal traffic, totaled 4.6 million metric tons in the week ended Feb. 28, down 5.4% from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said.

The number of rail cars loaded during the week declined 3.4% from a year earlier.

Intermodal (piggyback) volume totaled 376,000 tons in the week, up 13% from a year earlier.

Total traffic in the week, including carloadings of freight and intermodal traffic, declined 4.2% from a year earlier. For the year to date, traffic totaled 38.6 million tons, down 6.1% from a year earlier.

High-speed ground group to meet in Seattle

WASHINGTON -- The High Speed Ground Transportation Association will host its 1999 Annual Conference in Seattle, Wash., June 6-9, 1999. The conference, the association's 16th annual, will feature key industry leaders, as well as technical, economic and public policy sessions.

The Association will also hear from the Washington State Department of Transportation (Washington State Secretary of State Ralph Munro and Secretary of Transportation Sid Morrison) and Amtrak officials to discuss the success of their new Cascade service. Since its service began late last year, ridership for the Cascade train has already tripled. Other highlights include talks from David Carol, Vice President of Amtrak, and Jolene Molitoris, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.

The conference will also have an international focus and with Pierre Louis Rochet, president of SNCF International (French National Railways); Marc Le Francois, chairman of VIA Rail Canada, and Lothar Ibbrueger, deputy minister of the German Ministry of Transportation all addressing the attendees.