Weekly Digest Number 35 - August 29th, 2023

Editor's Note: It is always a surprise these days - and a delight - when a federal judge refuses to issue an injunction requested by a corporation to break a strike. Kudos the Judge O'Hearn.

Judge denies NJ Transit's motion to stop strike authorization

Progressive Railroading

A federal judge rejected New Jersey Transit’s request for an injunction that would have stopped the agency’s locomotive engineers from holding a strike vote.

Editor's Note: On-the-job training for new trainmen has been cut back to the point where trainees are hardly trained at all in the field. It is not surprising that CSX killed two trainees in recent months. What IS surprising that more have not been hurt or killed given how bare bones the training has become, especially since PSR has taken hold and cost cutting is the name of the game at all Class One carriers.

Rail union calls for more extensive conductor training following 2 deaths

Joanna Marsh Thursday, August 24, 2023

Following two recent deaths involving conductor trainees, the union representing train conductors is calling for more stringent training than what’s being offered now at the freight railroads, according to an internal safety advisory produced by the union. “Our trainees are dying. I appreciate the [Federal Railroad Administration] putting out a list of recommended fixes to this problem in their Safety Bulletin, but suggestions aren’t going to keep my people alive. It is time for actions and time for enforcement against these unsafe practices,” SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson said in a Wednesday release.

Editor's Note: The technology that would give first responders a heads up as to the contents of a train on the ground doesn't have to be exotic or expensive, as is detailed in the report. This needed to happen ten years ago and it's immoral to put first responder lives at risk any longer.

PHMSA extends comment period for proposed rule on train consist information

Progressive Railroading

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has extended to Oct. 27 its deadline for comments on a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require all railroads to generate in real time and in electronic form certain information regarding hazardous materials in rail transportation and provide that information to first responders, emergency response officials, and law enforcement personnel.

Editor's Note: Western Colorado has lost most of its freight trains since UP took over the Rio Grande operations in the 1990s. Tennessee Pass remains shuttered despite attempts by shippers/carriers to buy or lease it and restore operations. All through freight remains re-routed through Wyoming. And BNSF hardly exercises its trackage rights over the Moffat line. Options abound - including passenger operations - for restored Colorado railroading, options that would have the support of the state's workers and citizens. The Uinta Basin oil boondoggle is not one of them.

Court Halts Uinta Basin Railway Project



Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor

The Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) December 2021 approval of the construction and operation of the Uinta Basin Railway was struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which called it “arbitrary and capricious.” The Court wrote that “[t]he poor environmental review alone renders arbitrary the Board’s consideration of the relevant Rail Policies and the final order’s exemption of the Railway.”

Editor's Note: Clearly there is a 'track' and it's electrification. This piece features comments from the Rail Electrification Council about marrying the needs of freight rail with those of the electric grid.

Is there a track to net zero for US railroads?

The Uncontained Matt Miller Aug 21, 2023

Railroads might be the most energy-efficient way to move freight in North America, but it isn’t green. The challenge facing North America’s Class 1 railroads is how to build a greener network — and how to do it fast. “As sustainable as rail transport is now, there is still considerable room for improvement,” wrote the Boston Consulting Group in a 2022 study.

Editor's Note: This trucking company's website gives a hard sell to recruiting drivers and it's no wonder why with this treatment of those unlucky enough to sign on with them elicited this response.

West Texas truck drivers receive unexpected response after protest

Noe Ortega CBS7

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) -Many West Texas truck drivers were notified that they weren’t going to be working with the cargo and freight company known as 5F anymore. The group of truckers held peaceful protests so that they can get better work hours and pay. The drivers say they received a call from someone from 5F who says they are not needed because there isn’t enough work for them.

Editor's Note: What is the AAR afraid of? Typical Class One behavior. When they were all under the gun last spring for their safety failures, they all agreed to what is a popular safety program used by the airlines and some passenger railroads. Now when it comes down to brass tacks, they renege on that agreement.

Railroads resist joining safety hotline because they want to be able to discipline workers

BY JOSH FUNK August 24, 2023

The major freight railroads say a disagreement over whether they will be allowed to discipline some workers who use a government hotline to report safety concerns has kept them from following through on the promise they made back in March to join the program after a fiery Ohio derailment prompted calls for reforms.

Editor's Note: It is always positive when a federal agency appoints an actual worker to a position on a government "advisory council." However, rail workers and union officials must always be on guard and never be led to believe that somehow we are "power sharing" and that we are equals to the rich and powerful. These are occasional bones we are thrown.

STB appoints rail union leader Ferguson to RSTAC

Progressive Railroading

The Surface Transportation Board has appointed rail labor leader Jeremy Ferguson to the board's Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council (RSTAC) as an at-large member. Ferguson is president Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD). He has nearly 30 years of railroad industry experience and began his career as a freight-rail conductor.

Editor's Note: Perhaps here on this side of the Atlantic, rail carriers who are responsible for catastrophic train wrecks should likewise be subject to criminal charges. Can you imagine BNSF being criminally charged for the wreck of Amtrak's Southwest Chief in June of last year, or of the wreck of the Empire Builder less than a year before that? Both wrecks resulted in scores of injuries and multiple fatalities. AND the railroad knew of the existing hazards at those locations well in advance ... and did nothing to abate them. Yet no charges - or even discussion of charges - were levelled against the carrier.

Network Rail faces criminal charges over fatal Scottish crash

Simon Walton, UK correspondent for RailTech.com

The UK infrastructure agency Network Rail is to face criminal charges over the fatal derailment at Carmont in the North East of Scotland in August 2020. Three people died in the accident which saw the Aberdeen to Dundee main line blocked for several weeks. The route is often regarded as the northern end of the East Coast Main Line. Independent investigations, by the Office of Rail and Road, put the responsibility firmly on the shoulders of Network Rail.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE LABOR MOVEMENT

Editor's Note: Just like the Teamsters at UPS and the freight rail workers last year, workers in basic industry are fed up, pissed off, ready to fight, and ready to strike. All three groups voted overwhelmingly to strike in the last 12 months. Just like the UPS workers, the auto workers deserve the support of every railroad worker out there!

97% of 'Clearly Fed Up' UAW Big Three Autoworkers Approve Strike

Common Dreams Brett Wilkins Aug 25

Members of the United Auto Workers at General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike should negotiations for a new contract fail, the union announced Friday.

UPS Teamsters Overwhelmingly Approve 'Historic' New Contract, Averting Strike

BRETT WILKINS Aug 22, 2023

United Parcel Service workers in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday overwhelmingly ratified what the union called "the most historic collective bargaining agreement in the history of UPS," avoiding what experts said would have been a crippling strike.

Teamsters members voted by 86.3% to approve the new tentative contract, which raises wages for full- and part-time workers, creates more full-time jobs, and secures "important workplace protections, including air conditioning."

Sen. Fetterman Addresses Wabtec Union Members on Strike

August 21st 2023, By Elspeth Mizner

It's been nearly 60 days since Wabtec union members went on strike and over the past several weeks, they have gotten support from the community and elected officials.