UTU News Digest - Tuesday, March 16, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Tuesday, March 16, 1999

Illinois: At least 12 killed in Illinois Amtrak Derailment

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Rescue crews climbed through a twisted, charred rail car today, hoping to find survivors after Amtrak's City of New Orleans struck a truck and derailed, killing at least 12 people.

"We've removed 12 bodies," Capt. Ed St. Louis of the Bourbonnais Fire Protection District said this morning. "We believe there to be six to eight more people."

Rescuers were focusing their search in one of the sleeper cars, said St. Louis, adding that Amtrak officials were still trying to determine if there were 214 people on the train or 216. Eighteen crewmembers were on board.

He said 196 survivors from the train had been taken to hospitals or a local school for treatment by the Red Cross. More than 100 were taken to hospitals and at least 11 were in critical condition.

"I was trying to go to sleep. Then all of the sudden everything just started crashing and catching on fire and people hollering and running. It was awful," said Blanche Jones, a passenger from Memphis, Tenn.

"We was trying to get out. We couldn't get out, couldn't find a way out. That was the most devastating thing of all," Jones said as she limped out of a school that served as a temporary shelter. "By the grace of God, I just went down a stairway and found a way to get out and let everybody know how to get out," she said.

The train consisted of two engines and 14 railroad cars. Both locomotives and all but the last three of the passenger cars left the tracks. One of the engines split in half. Bourbonnais Fire Chief Mike Harshbarger said the collision caused the train engines and a sleeper car to catch fire. The fire was later put out.

The train, bound from Chicago to New Orleans, careened off the tracks shortly after 9:30 p.m. Monday after it slammed into a semitrailer loaded with heavy steel bars at a crossing 50 miles south of Chicago. The truck was leaving a nearby Birmingham Steel Co. facility.

"The windows rattled," said Don O'Dell, who lives a block away from the scene and was watching TV when he heard the crash. "We got up and looked around to see what was going on."

Crewmembers clambered atop overturned cars and two derailed engines -- one was split in half -- searching through an eerie, smoky haze for trapped passengers. Firefighters doused flames on one of the engines and another car.

Alan Ramsey, chief of the fire department in nearby Herscher, said eight cars derailed, with three of them ending up on their sides. Amtrak officials said two engines and 11 cars derailed.

Police Chief Joseph Beard said most of the injured were in one sleeper car, which Amtrak officials said was behind the engines and a baggage car. Some of the rescuers peeled off their coats for the victims.

Authorities said 101 people were taken to hospitals in nearby Kankakee. One was airlifted to Loyola Medical Center in suburban Chicago. Of the injured, 11 were listed in critical condition and at least 19 in serious condition.

The injured included a person with an amputated foot, another with head wounds and others with severe burns. The condition of the truck driver wasn't immediately known, Beard said. The train did not strike the cab of the truck.

Authorities said they were investigating whether gates and lights -- which were flashing after the accident -- were working before the collision. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were also being called to the scene.

The worst accident in Amtrak's 27-year history occurred on Sept. 22, 1993, when 42 passengers and five crewmembers died in accident near Mobile, Ala. A towboat pilot became disoriented in a dense fog and plowed a barge into a railroad bridge. Minutes later, the Sunset Limited, with 210 passengers aboard, hit the bent tracks and plunged into the bayou.

Lee Bullock, president of Amtrak's InterCity service, said the train's "black box" data recorder would not be removed until a team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived at the scene.

The train was traveling the same route the late singer-songwriter Steve Goodman recounted in his song "City of New Orleans" about a pre-Amtrak version of the train. Arlo Guthrie turned Goodman's song into a '70s era hit.

Amtrak officials and engineers have long complained about vehicles being where they shouldn't be: on railroad tracks.

In 1997, 245 Amtrak trains were involved in accidents reportable to the Federal Railroad Administration, according to Amtrak statistics. They caused 1,020 crew injuries and 266 passenger injuries, most of which were minor.

Of all the reportable accidents, 183, or 74 percent, were attributable to motor vehicle operator inattention or impatience. Some 114 of those accidents occurred at crossings with active warning devices, such as gates, flashing lights and bells.

That same year, 50 highway users died in collisions with Amtrak trains at highway-rail intersections. Amtrak trains struck and killed another 69 people who were deemed to be trespassing on Amtrak rail line.

Industrywide, collisions at grade crossings killed or seriously injured about 2,100 people in 1996, according to Federal Railroad Administration statistics.

Because of its heft, an eight-car passenger train traveling at 79 mph -- a standard Amtrak speed -- takes over 6,000 feet to stop. The train involved in Tuesday night's collision was 16 cars in length, or twice as big, and was authorized to travel at 79 mph in Bourbannais, according to Amtrak officials.

A 150-car freight train traveling at a routine 50 mph needs 8,000 feet to stop, or about 1.5 miles.

Last week, Amtrak unveiled its new high-speed service that will start serving the Northeast Corridor by November or December. Equipped with technology that allows them to tilt through turns, the new "Acela" trains race between Washington, New York and Boston at top speeds of 150 mph, trimming travel times to 2 1/2 to three hours per leg.

Washington: Amtrak official improperly awarded $2 million in consulting work

WASHINGTON – Traffic World reported that Amtrak's Philadelphia-based chief engineer for the Northeast Corridor may have improperly awarded her neighbor more than $2 million in consulting work and misled the Amtrak board about the expenditures, according to the General Accounting Office.

Acting on a telephone tip to the GAO's FraudNET hotline last summer, investigators determined that "Amtrak paid over $2 million" for consulting work requested by chief engineer Allison Conway-Smith "without adequate planning and identification of Amtrak needs" and without "obtaining expenditure approval from an appropriate approving official."

GAO's findings are in a 10-page letter to Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who requested it after learning in February of the GAO probe.

The allegations of mismanagement come after Amtrak was accused by the GAO of understating its actual losses from train operations. Amtrak claimed to have lost only $353 million last year. GAO transportation expert Phyllis Scheinberg said the actual loss was $823 million. Department of Transportation Inspector General Ken Mead said Amtrak would not meet its promised goal of operating self-sufficiency by 2003.

Although Amtrak received some $600 million in subsidies from Congress last year, Scheinberg said the national passenger railroad was forced to borrow $100 million to meet payroll and keep trains running. Amtrak is seeking $571 million in subsidies for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Congress provided Amtrak with another $2.1 billion in 1997 for new equipment and track upgrades.

"Amtrak must do more to reduce costs," said Scheinberg. But earlier this year the Amtrak board ignored a $150,000 congressional cap on the Amtrak president's salary and upped George Warrington's pay to almost $200,000.

As to the allegations of contract favoritism, GAO Office of Special Investigations Assistant Director John Ryan told Traffic World that Amtrak's inspector general has issued subpoenas in what could become a criminal investigation. GAO has no police powers. It is up to Amtrak's IG "whether a case should be made" and whether to call in the Justice Department, said Ryan.

Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold told Traffic World he had not decided whether to notify the Justice Department. Weiderhold said 95 percent of Amtrak's consulting contracts he reviewed "did not have proper approval authority or proper written justification on file." Mead, the DOT IG, told Traffic World, "Common sense and integrity tell you not to give contracts in that fashion."

A House attempt to scrap the Amtrak IG and turn the function over to DOT's more independent IG was rejected by the Senate in 1997. Where Amtrak's IG is appointed and removed by the Amtrak president, the DOT IG is nominated by the White House, confirmed by the Senate and may be removed only by the White House.

It was in September 1996 that Conway-Smith asked her Morrisville, Pa., neighbor Chris Leyenberger, employed by Bovis Construction Co., to serve as her "personal services consultant," said the GAO.

Conway-Smith "did not conduct any competition to obtain these services" said the GAO. When Bovis submitted invoices for $134,426, said the GAO, Conway-Smith directed subordinates to pay them even though Amtrak policy required competitive bidding and a written contract that did not exist.

Leyenberger terminated his employment with Bovis in January 1997 and formed his own company, CenterLine Associates, which was paid more than $81,000 for two months-work at the direction of Conway-Smith, said the GAO. She determined that CenterLine was "the only firm that is most capable of providing necessary skills," the GAO said.

In March 1997 Leyenberger formed The Rise Group and it was awarded "six professional service agreements" worth almost $1 million at "the encouragement and approval" of Conway-Smith, said the GAO. In late 1997, Conway-Smith "determined she would need additional work from the Rise Group. This time she sought Amtrak board approval for a $1.3 million contract." Conway-Smith "advised us that she prepared an executive summary for the board's review in approving the contract and admitted that the summary was misleading," said the GAO. Leyenberger "stated that the executive summary contained statements that stretched the truth in order to obtain the board's approval of the contract," the GAO said.

Three months before signing the $1.3 million Amtrak-board-approved contract with the Rise Group, said the GAO, Conway-Smith "knew" that her office had "outgrown the need for Mr. Leyenberger's consulting services." Although GAO said the contract could have been terminated at any time, it was not, "causing the unnecessary expenditure of approximately $1.3 million by Amtrak."

Pennsylvania: Ridge announces $1.3 Million for rail-freight improvements

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- On behalf of Gov. Tom Ridge, Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Bradley L. Mallory today announced more than $1.3 million in grants for rail-freight improvements.

Mallory said the State Transportation Commission (STC) has authorized $1,305,683 in rail-freight assistance funds for 12 projects to improve railroads that serve existing employers and to construct rail lines to new facilities.

"Shortline and regional railroads play an integral role in moving goods throughout Pennsylvania," Mallory said. "These grants will support Gov. Ridge's economic development strategy by using rail-freight improvement projects to create jobs and get goods to market faster."

Mallory said applicants estimate the funding will help create more than 400 new jobs and retain about 800 employees. Also, railroads will be used to transport goods that otherwise would use about 30,000 trucks.

Mallory said the grants are made available under the Rail Freight Assistance Program authorized by the General Assembly in 1984. The program provides grants to preserve essential rail service where feasible and to preserve or stimulate economic development through new or expanded rail- freight service.

Pennsylvania leads the nation with 70 shortline railroads, which act as feeders to the major carriers and enable local businesses and manufacturers to quickly transport goods.

The STC is composed of Secretary Mallory, who is chairman; 10 appointed private citizens; and the majority and minority chairmen of the state Senate and House transportation committees.

New York: Metro-North Commuter mulls cell phone car

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- The smoking car on trains is a thing of the past, but could the talking car be a feature of the future?

The Metro-North Commuter Railroad is considering designating separate cars for cellular phone users, who often intrude on the reading, sleeping and thinking of their fellow travelers by talking loudly into their little phones.

"For reasons that we can't figure out, people are hollering into their cell phones," Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said Monday. "They're talking as if this were the beginning of the telephony age and you had to shout."

The railroad, which takes passengers between Grand Central Terminal and New York City's northern suburbs, lately has been averaging half a dozen complaints per week about loud phone calls, Brucker said.

"It's happened to me a couple of times," James Said of White Plains said as he waited for a train to take him to work in New York. "If the train is noisy and they have to shout, they're being obnoxious and they don't know it. You have to give them a look."

One woman complained to the railroad after finding herself surrounded by five people on cell phones. Another passenger resorted to turning on a tape recorder in front of a lawyer who was talking loudly to clients.

"Your attorney-client privilege is no longer privileged," the rider said.

For now, the railroad is just asking cell-phone talkers to keep their voices down. But Brucker said one solution being considered is "having a train car dedicated to cellular phone users -- an all-talking train car, the way we used to have a smoking car."

"Of course, this raises little problems like free-speech issues,'' Brucker said. ``How do we enforce it, tell people they can't talk?"

Brian Nightingale of Greenburgh said he doesn't use his cell phone while riding the train to and from work in the city, but he stood up for the rights of those who do.

"It's just talking," he said. "Last time I looked you were allowed to talk on the train."

Northern California: Starting date for project, detour undecided

SAN JOSE -- Highway 25, the main commuter route for thousands of San Benito County residents who work out of the area, will be closed for one week -- probably this spring -- to repair two of three deteriorated Union Pacific Railroad crossings. The third crossing in the city of Hollister will be replaced separately.

An exact starting date for the first phase of the $1.4 million project could be set March 23 when state transportation officials and representatives of Santa Clara and San Benito counties and the railroad meet in Gilroy.

A Union Pacific traffic control contractor will have to devise a detour plan to satisfy the state Department of Transportation. California Highway Patrol officers will play a role in detouring traffic during construction.

Commuters have complained for years about the condition of the railroad crossings on Highway 25, used weekdays by approximately 8,000 San Benito County residents to reach jobs in Santa Clara County and on the Peninsula. Drivers use the shoulders of the highway to slip around the rails, cross diagonally to avoid jarring or brake sharply to creep across the tracks.

Now, more than four years of effort to line up local and state support as well as federal funding appear to be paying off, said San Benito County Supervisor Richard Place. Place began his campaign to get the crossings repaired when he still commuted to San Jose's Willow Glen area where he had an insurance and financial consulting service. He was elected to the board of supervisors in 1996.

Scheduled for repair during the one-week closure of Highway 25 from its junction with San Felipe Road on the northern edge of Hollister to Highway 101 south of Gilroy are:

* Two parallel tracks just east of Highway 101 that accommodate freight convoys and Amtrak passenger trains. The three-mile stretch of parallel tracks, which runs from Luchessa Avenue in Gilroy to the Sergeant overpass to the south, allows northbound and southbound trains to pass each other.

* A branch line that crosses Highway 25 a couple of miles farther south. The crossing, located in San Benito County, is used two or three times a week by freight trains delivering materials to manufacturing firms in Hollister.

The third crossing, in Hollister near the intersection of San Felipe and Santa Ana roads, will be replaced at a different time, probably on a weekend when there is little commuter traffic.

Work will include removal of track, asphalt, wood panels and ballast and the installation of a concrete track panel. Signal arms will be replaced at the same time.

The detours will route motorists along Highway 156 to the west and along San Felipe Road and Highway 152 to the north. Both routes will lead to Highway 101. However, drivers who are familiar with secondary roads in the area may find their own way to Highway 101.

Pittsburgh: Port Authority OKs Maglev partnership

PITTSBURGH -- The Port Authority has made a landmark decision, agreeing to participate in a public-private partnership seeking federal funds to develop a major part of a low-speed maglev transit system in Pittsburgh.

The deal was finalized at the last minute yesterday, in time for Western Pennsylvania Maglev Development Corp. to meet a Monday deadline to apply for $10 million in planning funds from the Federal Transit Administration.

At the Port Authority's request, San Diego-based General Atomics Corp. -- which controls the maglev technology – will be designated as primary applicant for the federal funds, while the Pittsburgh-based WPMD will be a "team member."

The Port Authority's decision culminated several weeks of negotiations and intense lobbying headed by WPMD, a nonprofit corporation whose officers also formed a for-profit corporation, Crawford Parking Corp., to act as consultant and manage maglev and related activities.

Crawford Parking Corp. and 21 other businesses affiliated with WPMD, including General Atomics, stand to profit by developing large parking garages, linking them with the world's first low-speed maglev transit system and establishing the region as the center of a new high-tech industry.

Although the Port Authority's role will be limited and mostly advisory, at least at the outset, its entry into a venture involving new transit technology and a unique consortium of private business is unprecedented in the public agency's 35-year history.

Port Authority General Manager Paul Skoutelas said he doesn't want to impede progress or pass up federal funds. At the same time, he wants to guarantee maglev plans do not conflict with Port Authority plans. He said the Port Authority also wants to ensure federal funds are spent properly and that maglev research and studies involve the "necessary expertise."

There was more good news yesterday for WPMD: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said it will put up $100,000 toward the $1 million local match for a separate $1 million federal grant for maglev.

This $2 million total would be used for the next step of a $147 million demonstration project that would include a 2,200-foot elevated maglev shuttle linking a new 5,000-space parking garage behind the Civic Arena to the Steel Plaza light-rail subway station.

The $10 million grant application with the Port Authority as public partner must be matched with $10 million in private contributions. This $20 million total would be used to start planning a future maglev extension, most likely from Downtown to Oakland, with a parking garage off Second Avenue in the Greenfield area Skoutelas said that WPMD agreed to all stipulations, including placing most responsibility and control in the hands of General Atomics, the high-tech company that has spent years developing superconducting magnets and electrodynamics that are to levitate, propel and guide 70-passenger cars at speeds up to 40 mph and on grades up to 7 percent.

Once funds are lined up, WPMD has a 42-month development and construction schedule, putting maglev completion at late 2002, at the earliest. Any extension would come later,

Skoutelas said, "because if they can't demonstrate the technology is viable there, then it's not viable anywhere else."

Norfolk: NS makes its annual report available

NORFOLK, Va. -- Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) has released its 1998 Annual Report, printing 236,000 copies and publishing it on the company's World Wide Web site at www.nscorp.com.

The annual report's theme is "Countdown to Growth." The report focuses on the company's extensive preparation to operate a substantial portion of Conrail and describes the scope of the new Norfolk Southern system.

The story is told through the words of Norfolk Southern people participating in integration planning for safety, training, customer service, operations and information technology. Many of those featured are former Conrail employees.

Norfolk Southern creates its annual report in-house and distributes it to stockholders, the financial community, news media and libraries. To receive a copy, write to: Norfolk Southern Corp., Public Relations Department, and 110 Franklin Rd. SE, Roanoke, Va. 24042-0043.

OMAHA: UPRR accepting offers for UP cabooses and CNW locomotives

OMAHA, Neb. -- The Union Pacific Railroad Company and Southern Pacific Transportation Company will consider offers at or above the specified minimum bid amount (select the page listed above to view minimum bid amounts for each piece of equipment) on the equipment listed above, which is now considered surplus.

The railroad is accepting offers subject to the information provided in this solicitation, and reserves the right to accept any or no offers. Please be advised that the equipment is offered in "as is" condition, and that no delivery will be made by the railroad of the equipment, should a successful sale take place. The prospective buyer is responsible for all expenses involved in reviewing the equipment and is responsible for any delivery costs or taxes.

This section includes specifications and exterior photos of the locomotives and cabooses, as well as a minimum bid amount. Interested buyers may arrange a time and date to view the equipment by e-mailing a request to Robert E. Dombrowsky (ForSale@notes.up.com), or faxing your request to his attention at 402-271-6284. Prospective buyers must also convey an earnest intent to purchase by having their bank fax (also to the attention of Robert E. Dombrowsky) a letter of credit for a minimum amount of $50,000.00, effective for a minimum period of 45 days. Upon inspection of the equipment, parties wishing to place a bid will be provided with an "Invitation to Bid" form. This document will be required for the submission of all offers.