Weekly Digest Number 12 - March 23, 2021 |
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EDITOR'S NOTE:
Currently, none of the news reports we can locate report that this tragedy was actually a BNSF crew in a contracted crew transport vehicle. But we have received statements that verify this is the case.
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Chadron Man Killed In MVA Northeast Of Kearney |
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The Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office says a Chadron man was killed shortly before 5:00 Friday morning in a 2-vehicle head-on crash on Hwy 2 about 4 east of Ravenna or 35 miles northeast of Kearney.
52-year old Curtis Deines was a passenger in one of the two vehicles and was pronounced dead at the scene. The other 4 people in the vehicle with him were taken to a Kearney hospital, one by air ambulance.
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BMWED-IBT Suing CSX Railroad For Payroll Errors |
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For several months, after unilaterally implementing the "TimeTrax" program, CSX Transportation continues to short and/or mistakenly pay its rail maintenance employees, occasionally by thousands of dollars, while not effectively addressing the problems.
Earlier this year the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) Allied Federation filed suit in federal court in Kentucky challenging CSX's unilateral implementation of the TimeTrax program.
In the lawsuit, BMWED Allied Federation is seeking a court order directing CSX to stop using the TimeTrax program until the bargaining parties have negotiated and reached agreement on how the program would work. BMWED Allied Federation is also seeking an order directing CSX to fix the payroll mess that it and its botched TimeTrax program have created.
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BNSF Railway fined for firing injured worker |
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The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered BNSF Railway Co. to pay more than $290,000 in damages for terminating a worker following his work-related injury, the department announced Wednesday.
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(Editor's Note: While RWU applauds this victory, we know from history that the rail carrier will almost certainly appeal to the courts, where the facts of OSHA's findings will be declared inadmissible, the case will drag on for years and be subject to carrier appeal after appeal, while the worker is demoralized and starved into submission. This law needs to be strengthened to ensure workers can win!)
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CP Rail leaves mountain train parked without crew or handbrakes near site of deadly 2019 runaway crash |
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Canadian Pacific Railway is under fire after leaving a 2.5-kilometre-long grain train parked without handbrakes last month high in the mountains of eastern B.C., above the site of a deadly runaway two years ago that killed three employees.
Transport Canada calls the latest case "an immediate threat" that could have led to another deadly derailment. The regulator has ordered CP to stop leaving trains unattended on the hill without first applying handbrakes to the rail cars.
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CP Rail Agrees to Buy Kansas City Southern for $25 Billion |
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Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. agreed to buy Kansas City Southern for $25 billion, seeking to create a 20,000-mile rail network linking the U.S., Mexico and Canada in the first year of those nations’ new trade alliance.
The transaction creates the only network that cuts through all three North American countries, giving CP access to the Kansas City, Missouri-based company’s sprawling Midwestern rail network that connects farms in Kansas and Missouri to ports along the Gulf of Mexico. The network would also let CP reach deep into Mexico, which made up almost half of Kansas City Southern’s revenue last year.
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Tuesday, March 30
11:00 PT / 13:00 CT / 14:00 ET
The High Speed Rail Alliance is excited to be the lead sponsor for this event, hosted by the Rail Passengers Association.
Includes special guests Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-6); Brian Kelly, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority; and Carlos Aguilar, President & CEO of Texas Central.
Register now. Space is limited to 1,000 attendees and we expect the event to fill up quickly.
And if you missed them, here are links to two important webinars earlier in March....
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U.S. freight railroads log carload, intermodal growth in Week 10 |
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Total U.S. freight-rail traffic rose 12.5% to 520,736 carloads and intermodal units during the week ending March 13 compared with the same week a year ago, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.
U.S. railroads logged a total of 230,684 carloads, a 2.1% increase, and intermodal volume of 290,052 containers and trailers, a 22.4% increase, compared with the same week in 2020.
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Editor's Note: Port congestion continues to affect intermodal operations
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Nationalization of Rail in the United Kingdom |
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New HS2 pilot project swaps steel for retired wind turbine blades to reinforce concrete |
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This from our friends at Solutionary Rail:
It's a bold concept: electrify America's rail corridors with clean power from wind and solar energy. Upgrade the corridors for fast, frequent service for both passengers and freight, free up the highways by shifting from road to rail, and plug America into clean power by using rail corridors as the backbone for a national clean power grid. There are so many ways this would be a win for America and the world - some of them that may seem surprising.
Take wind power for one example. We need more of it to get off fossil fuels. The costs keep coming down, the efficiency keeps going up - but what to do with wind turbine blades at the end of their useful life? (Currently about 20 years.)
Instead of sending them to land fills, they are now being recycled into useful structures - like the HS2 High Speed Rail expansion under way in the United Kingdom. Substituting the recycled blades for steel cuts the carbon emissions from making steel, and reduces the waste stream from the wind turbine industry. It's a new way for wind energy and railroads to work together.
This kind of experimentation and investment is vital. Rebuilding the economy away from carbon and upgrading infrastructure to cope with climate disruption means this kind of reuse is going to become more common. We can do this - we must do this.
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LIRR labor leaders: MTA must pause work by outside contractors after mishaps |
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LIRR labor leaders are calling on the MTA to pause all construction being carried out by outside workers following what they say is a string of safety-related mishaps in recent weeks, including the electrocution of a contractor on the Third Track project Saturday. |
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Amtrak Playing Hardball With CSX, NS on Gulf Coast Service |
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In a move that appears to be a pre-emptive strike, Amtrak has asked the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to intervene on its behalf if CSX and Norfolk Southern don’t cooperate on hosting proposed new service between New Orleans and Mobile.
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From the Editor: We continue to see more and more news reports regarding public problems with longer trains! |
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