Rail Workers Weekly News Digest
Number 38 - December 10th, 2019
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Below is a series of articles compiled over the previous week.
They are of interest to railroad workers.
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Editor's Note: This week's News Digest shows a rail industry in crisis mode. We have three more fatalities to report. A major oil train derailment and explosion, and reports of the failures of the rail industry and regulatory agencies to adequately provide a safe work environment.
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Article 1
CP Rail worker dies on job in Port Coquitlam
(Editor's Note: See chart at Right for a recap of the carnage that has taken place on CP and CN in Canada over the past two years. Is this the legacy that we have to look forward to with PSR in the U.S.?)
A CP spokesman says the company is investigating the accident but it is not releasing any details about what happened.
The employee’s name has not been released.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents 16,000 rail workers in Canada including 3,500 workers at CP, says the victim was a 56-year-old father with 32 years of service. The union says the circumstances surrounding the accident are unclear at this stage.
The B.C. Coroners Service says the man was from Mission.
“Our hearts go out to the locomotive engineer’s family and everyone who worked with him,” said Teamsters Canada Rail Conference president Lyndon Isaak. “The rail industry is in crisis. We have lost 10 of our sisters and brothers over the past 24 months. It’s 10 too many.”
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Article 2
Worker killed in north Wichita industrial railroad accident
(Editor's note: The worker was an employee of the Witchita Terminal Association, jointly owned by the Up and BNSF).
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) A railroad worker is dead following an industrial accident in Wichita.
Emergency crews were called to the 2600 block of N. New York around 6 p.m. for a person who was trapped under the train.
Police say a railroad worker was moving rail cars when he was pinned underneath one of the cars. The worker died at the scene.
Worked stopped on the tracks as police investigate the fatal accident.
"it appears, although no one was with this individual, that he got in the wrong place and was run over by the train, or by one of the cars," Wichita Police Sgt. Bart Brunscheen says. Police on scene didn't identify the worker as his death remains under investigation.
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Article 3
Amtrak worker killed in Bronx yard explosion
(Editor's note: A month ago, Amtrak management was extolling the virtues of their new safety program. Since then, three Amtrak employees have been killed on the job in three separate incidents).
An Amtrak maintenance man working on an electrical line in a Bronx Con Ed yard was electrocuted and killed Thursday morning, police officials said.
Two other employees suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to Amtrak officials.
The explosion erupted at 11:05 a.m. in Con Ed’s Van Nest Yard, which the company shares with Amtrak, on Unionport Road near White Plains Road in The Bronx.
The line was supposed to be powered off by a transformer, but it wasn’t, officials said.
Amtrak officials issued a statement that read: “We are deeply saddened to report the death of an Amtrak employee. The incident happened at approximately 11:05 a.m. at a substation just outside of New York City. A full investigation is underway.”
Officials for Amtrak said the two other employees suffered “non-life-threatening” injuries and are “doing ok,” at a local hospital.
A Notify New York notification as of 6:54 p.m. Thursday indicated that Amtrak service was suspended between New York and Boston was suspended in both directions. As of 4:56 a.m. Friday, a notification was sent indicating service had resumed.
That area is also anticipating a Metro North station per the MTA’s planned East Bronx expansion slated for 2021.
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Article 4
Train safety technology hasn't quite reached the station
Fatalities add up as cost and complexity delay full implementation of 'positive train control' system
After years of delays, a railroad safety system that federal regulators say could have prevented some 300 deaths since 1969 is finally close to full implementation — but large gaps remain, with commuter railroads using the system on fewer than half of the tracks required by December 2020.
Overall, the news for supporters of the so-called positive train control system is promising — 92 percent of the 58,000 track miles required to implement the safety system have it installed, according the Federal Railroad Administration, which is overseeing compliance with the law.
But while Amtrak is using positive train control on 99.8 percent of its track miles and Class 1 freight railroads — which account for 53,718 of the track miles covered under the statute — are operating the system on 95.4 percent of their tracks, commuter railroads and miscellaneous railroads have a way to go.
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Article 5
Sound Transit removes safety chief after ‘sobering’ review of fatal Amtrak derailment
After reviewing the results of an independent review of 2017’s fatal Amtrak derailment,
Sound Transit
announced late Wednesday that it would be removing top safety chief Salah Al-Tamimi.
The announcement came from Sound Transit head Peter Rogoff. He noted that findings from the review were “sobering,” outlining a handful of potential causes that led to the death of three people, and injuries to 80 others.
"There can be no compromises when it comes to safety,” Rogoff said in a news release. “We are grateful for the thoroughness of our consultant’s independent review as well as the NTSB investigation. You have my personal commitment that we will execute appropriate responses to every pertinent finding and recommendation to ensure that safety is priority #1 at Sound Transit.”
The train was on its inaugural run on the new bypass when it entered a 30 mile-per-hour curve at almost 80 miles per hour. It was previously concluded that the engineer at the controls had little experience on the route and missed speed limit signs warning him to slow down.
A lengthy federal investigation
placed blame at the feet of Amtrak, Sound Transit, and the Washington State Department of Transportation.
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Article 6 -
Partisan antics during CN strike may alienate Canadians
Elected officials took different approaches to handling the Canadian National Railway strike, but none of them came out of it looking good.
When roughly 3,200 yard workers and train conductors represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference walked off the job Nov. 19, they did so in protest of safety concerns. They highlighted issues related to worker fatigue.
Railway accidents did increase last year, and the number of fatalities related to railways remains higher than 50 a year. The workers had every right to take a stand and strike. Like it or not, it’s a constitutional right.
Which is why the almost immediate calls to end the strike with back-to-work legislation, coming notably from Alberta and the opposition Conservatives, were premature.
Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage and Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen made the request less than 12 hours after the strike started. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer made similar calls a few hours after that.
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Article 7
CP Rail train derails in Canada sparking fire that closes highway
SASKATOON -- The fiery overnight derailment of a Canadian Pacific (CP) freight train carrying a load of crude oil left a large swath of highway in Saskatchewan closed Monday morning.
A plume of thick, black smoke could still be seen rising from the wreckage as drivers were diverted from a stretch of Highway 16, west of Lanigan.
According to a news release from CP, the train derailed around midnight local time and no injuries were reported.
Melanie Loessl could see the flames from her driveway. “It was horrible when I looked out the window and saw all the flames and everything engulfed. I actually thought it was my daughter’s place that was involved because we both live on the same driveway,” Loessl told CTV News.
She was unable to leave her home because emergency crews blocked her driveway.
Loessl said firefighters had knocked on her door, informing her of the derailment, and warned of a possible evacuation.
The railway said that according to initial reports there had been no impact on any local waterways, adding that crews would work to ensure the area is cleaned up and restored.
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Article 8 - GREEN NEW DEAL
How Supporters of the Green New Deal Are Showing Up for Workers
alls for a “just transition” have become central to a robust and revitalized environmental movement in the United States aimed at preventing climate catastrophe. The idea behind a just transition is that, as our economy shifts away from dependence on fossil fuels, the workers in the fossil fuel and related industries should be treated with dignity and respect, and guaranteed good union jobs.
The principle of a just transition was included in the
Green New Deal
, a resolution put forward by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). The Green New Deal calls for “a just transition for all communities and workers.” While the Green New Deal has garnered some
criticism from Indigenous scholars
and
the Left
, it is the most progressive policy option to garner some support among Democrats in Congress, and is also popular among environmentalists, including progressive youth climate organizers. Demands for a Green New Deal and just transition echoed throughout the U.S. contingent of the latest student climate strike marches, which took place in more than 150 countries with
approximately 4 million participants
worldwide.
But there is still more to be done to build the alliances between the environmental and labor movements.
Some
unions have expressed skepticism and even outright opposition to the Green New Deal, citing concerns that a just transition will not deliver on promises to workers, leaving them abandoned. But pockets of labor and climate movements have been joining forces to push a shared agenda and build relationships. Trade union members, including members of
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1
in Chicago, joined student climate strikers for their day of marches in September.
Stay in the loop
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Article 9 - STRIKE NEWS
French Strike Against Pension Reform Continues
(Editor's note: Rail workers and their unions are in the forefront of these actions to save the French pension system).
French unions on Friday called for a new day of mass protests and strikes next week over President Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms, a day after some 800,000 people took to the streets across the country over the retirement overhaul.
"Everybody in the street on Tuesday, December 10, for a new day... of strikes, actions and protests," Catherine Perret, a senior member of the CGT union, France's biggest public-sector union, told reporters after a meeting of four unions.
At least 800,000 took part in rallies around the country on Thursday, according to the interior ministry, one of the biggest demonstrations of union strength in nearly a decade.
"There were lots of people on strike, now we need even more if we want to influence these decisions," Philippe Martinez of the hard-line CGT union told LCI television.
While most of the rallies Thursday were peaceful, police fired tear gas to disperse dozens of black-clad protesters smashing windows and throwing stones during the Paris march, with one construction trailer set on fire.
Several dozens of people were arrested, and three journalists were injured after reportedly being hit by tear gas or stun grenades, including a Turkish journalist who was struck in the face.
Clashes were also reported in Nantes, Lyon and other cities, recalling the violence that has marred several of the weekly "yellow vest" protests which erupted last November.
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