UTU News Digest - Thursday, October 21, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Thursday, October 21, 1999

ILLINOIS: Ex-Amtrak official admits kickbacks

CHICAGO -- The former Amtrak official in charge of rehabilitating Chicago's historic Union Station pleaded guilty yesterday to taking more than $120,000 in kickbacks from contractors.

Raymond Corcoran, 48, of Arlington Heights admitted that he approved inflated bills that Union Station contractors submitted to Amtrak over a three year period starting in July 1991.

He admitted taking $120,000 in payoffs from five contractors, though federal prosecutors said the actual amount topped $200,000. One contractor paid Corcoran's cellular phone bills and bought him gasoline in exchange for getting bills approved, according to the plea agreement.

Corcoran was initially charged with five counts of mail fraud, but under the agreement with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to one. He faces up to two years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 3.

The cavernous old train station was where federal agents and mobsters shot it out in the movie "The Untouchables."

VIRGINIA: Norfolk Southern plans improvements

NORFOLK -- Norfolk Southern Corp. (NS) unveiled a $250-million infrastructure improvement program to remove traffic bottlenecks and enhance operations on its expanded rail system.

In a press release yesterday, the freight railroad operator said the cost of these improvements is consistent with its capital spending limits, including initiatives to secure other funding, and is in addition to already completed Conrail-related infrastructure improvements.

NS said it expects the improvements will increase the railroad systems' capacity, increase service reliability and provide additional capability for traffic growth.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: FRA outreach coordinator named

WASHINGTON -- Sgt. Gary W. Horton of the Erie County, New York, Sheriff's Office has begun a one-year detail to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to serve as a national outreach coordinator to law enforcement agencies and organizations across the nation, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater.

Horton’s mission will be to educate the law enforcement community about highway-rail crossing safety and railroad trespass prevention.

"I am very pleased that Sgt. Horton has joined us to help achieve results in our most important mission, improving safety, which is President Clinton's highest transportation priority," said Secretary Slater.

Sgt. Horton is the fifth member of the law enforcement community to serve as the FRA's national law enforcement outreach liaison. This detail program was developed in partnership with the National Sheriffs Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. It is a key trespass prevention and highway-rail grade crossing safety initiative in the U.S. Secretary of Transportation's Rail-Highway Crossing Safety Action Plan published in 1994.

Since the Action Plan's inception, there have been significant improvements in highway-rail crossing safety. Since 1993, highway-rail crossing collisions have declined 28 percent, crossing fatalities are down 31 percent, and injuries have decreased 29 percent. Even though awareness about the dangers at highway-rail crossings and railroad trespassing has increased, nationwide in 1998 there were 431 grade crossing fatalities and 536 trespass fatalities.

"We know there are dramatic declines in grade crossing and trespass fatalities and injuries where there is increased enforcement of existing laws by local law enforcement," said FRA Administrator Jolene M. Molitoris. "Sgt. Horton will continue the FRA's efforts to work with state and local law enforcement and judicial agencies in enforcing existing grade crossing safety and trespass laws."

The officer detail is an element of FRA's education, enforcement, engineering and advisory efforts to continue to reduce the number of highway-rail grade crossing collisions and casualties and railroad trespass incidents.

In 1997, the FRA drafted and provided to every state two model state laws to prevent railroad trespassing and vandalism. Since then, one state, Iowa, has adopted the model legislation as law and several others are actively considering doing so.

In addition, the Clinton Administration's rail safety reauthorization bill for 1999 calls on the FRA to develop another model state law, one to deter motorists from committing grade crossing signal violations. Currently, almost half of all grade crossing accidents occur at crossings that have properly functioning active warning devices. The FRA's proposed model legislation would encourage states to adopt tougher, more uniform penalties for violating grade crossing signals and to use more effective enforcement methods in order to promote signal compliance. Automated photographic enforcement technology is one such method.

Sgt. Horton has more than 24 years of experience with the Erie County Sheriff's Office as a patrol officer and as the commander of its traffic bureau in the Police Services Division. He has extensive knowledge and experience in motor vehicle accident investigation and highway-rail grade crossing collision investigation. He has worked with Operation Lifesaver, Operation Safe Stop and the SAFE KIDS Coalition.

MISSOURI: Cops suspect homicide in teens rail death

SELIGMAN -- Authorities have begun investigating the suspicious death of a 14-year-old boy who was hit by a train after he was either knocked unconscious or killed and put on the tracks.

Justin Hocutt, an eighth-grader at Southwest High School, was last seen being chased away from his girlfriend's house by her father about 4 a.m. on Oct. 8, about two hours before he was hit by a freight train, authorities said. His body was found a day later.

"This young man was not on the tracks by his own means," said Ron Sparks, director of special investigations for the Arkansas-Missouri Railroad.

"Right now, everyone is still a suspect," said Capt. James Smith of the Barry County Sheriff's Department.

Authorities began investigating the case as a homicide after being given conflicting statements from several people, Smith said. An autopsy showed Hocutt had no alcohol or drugs in his system.

Hocutt had lived in Seligman, a town of fewer than 600 people near the Arkansas line, for only a few months before his death. No one was at Hocutt's home Wednesday.

Hocutt hadn't been home since Oct. 7, according to his parents, who told authorities that they didn't report their son missing because they thought he was staying at another boy's home.

"That really wasn't uncommon for that family," Smith said. "He was allowed to roam probably more than he should have been."

RHODE ISLAND: Amtrak unveils new uniforms

PROVIDENCE -- Amtrak employees today staged a fashion show to display the new uniforms that conductors, ticket agents, Red Caps and other workers will begin wearing systemwide, starting with the launch of Acela high-speed and regional service next year in the Northeast.

The new Amtrak uniforms were created by acclaimed fashion designer Stan Herman whose impressive array of clients already includes Federal Express, McDonald's and New York's Parker Meridien Hotel.

The new uniforms -- grey with Acela blue accents for the Northeast -- are the result of extensive input from Amtrak employees and customers. The uniforms will be modified for other Amtrak services nationally to reflect their distinctive nature.

"Our new uniforms have a contemporary and more progressive look, reflecting Amtrak's transformation to a world class transportation provider whose style is delivering superior customer service," said Barbara J. Richardson, Amtrak's executive vice president. "Because the launch of Acela service is leading that transformation, it's appropriate that we introduce the new uniforms in conjunction with Acela Express and Acela Regional service."

The new uniforms will be phased in next year for 1,300 conductors and assistant conductors, 850 station employees, such as ticket agents, ushers and Red Caps, and 450 on-board service employees, such as cafe car attendants, as high-speed Acela Express and Acela Regional service is introduced on the Northeast Corridor between Boston, New York and Washington. The uniforms will then be modified for Amtrak's long-distance Intercity trains and for its West Coast trains.

In designing the new uniforms, Amtrak and the Stan Herman Studios held eight focus groups with employees in Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Washington. In addition, Amtrak business and leisure customers as well as air shuttle customers in Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Washington were surveyed for their reactions and input to the new uniforms.

"Customers clearly made the connection that improved comfort, as well as a professional appearance, for our employees would translate into improved service," Richardson said.

Amtrak selected the Stan Herman Studios, of New York, from among several nationally known design houses. A three-time Coty Award winner, Herman has over 30 years experience and serves as president of both the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Seventh on Six, a New York-based fashion organization. Herman met personally with employees to get a true sense of their needs and preferences throughout the design process.

PENNSYLVANIA: Gore earns Steelworkers’ endorsement

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Vice President Al Gore has picked up another labor union endorsement, this one from the United Steelworkers of America, which says it was backing him because he understands the human costs of free trade.

Union President George Becker, who as a delegate to the AFL-CIO convention last week also voted to endorse Gore, announced the decision of the Steelworkers' executive board at a news conference Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

Becker said Gore voted in favor of labor's positions when he was a senator and has been "a champion of the rights of workers to organize into unions and a strong supporter of labor law reform."

Becker said Gore has supported the inclusion of labor rights in international trade treaties. He said the vice president is sensitive to labor issues and helped reduce steel imports from Russia.