Rail Workers Weekly News Digest
Number 17 - July 16th, 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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2019-17 Article 1
ALERT:
Railroad Employee Working on Tracks Hit, Killed by Train
A commuter railroad worker in Philadelphia has been fatally struck by a train while doing work on the tracks.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content July 9, 2019, at 5:56 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A commuter railroad worker in Philadelphia has been fatally struck by a train while doing work on the tracks.Police say it happened Monday night at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's Erie Station on the Broad Street Line.
Workers with the National Transportation Safety Board are in Philadelphia to investigate.
Police say 54-year-old Darren Monroe was hit by an oncoming train when he fell backward. He later died.
Jim Southworth, an investigator with the NTSB, says another other worker was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. He says investigators will look at everything from video cameras in the train to what type of warning systems are in place. He says there are four sets of operating tracks at the station where the worker died.
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2019-17 Article 2
Former MBTA Official Says He Was Fired for Raising Safety Concerns
Ron Nickle, who had an eight-year tenure as the MBTA’s chief safety officer, says he was fired from his position in March in retaliation for investigating these and other MBTA mishaps and putting pressure on executives to increase transparency around them. The details were outlined in a
Boston Globe report
Sunday night.
“I believe efforts were exerted to undermine my authority, responsibilities, obligations, and duties as a Chief Safety Officer while actively dealing with major safety concerns on the [Green Line extension] project, and serious violations of federal safety laws, rules and regulations,” Nickle wrote in a 97-page federal complaint filed in May and obtained by the Globe.
Nickle’s complaint lists several instances in which MBTA officials seem to have tried to mislead outsiders on the gravity of the issues the system was experiencing. One of those incidents was the 2019 Patriots parade
Green Line derailment.
According to Nickle, the derailment was in part caused by wear-and-tear on the tracks, which should have been discovered in regular inspections. But he alleges that MBTA deputy general manager Jeffrey Gonneville and his team wanted to omit or misrepresent details like that from the reporting, out of fear of public criticism.
Read more ...
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2019-17 Article 3
Wall Street expects higher Class I railroad earnings despite U.S. traffic slump
Class I railroads will announce their second quarter earnings results over the next two weeks against a backdrop of declining traffic in the U.S. and indications that economic growth is slowing.
But a combination of rate increases, efficiency gains, cost-cutting, and share buyback programs is expected to offset the impact of traffic volume declines at the U.S. railroads. Wall Street analysts expect earnings at the six publicly traded Class I railroads to rise an average of 13% compared to the second quarter of 2018, according to I/B/E/S.
The average sinks to 9%, however, when Canadian Pacific is excluded. CP’s earnings are expected to rise 32%, according to consensus estimates. CP is an outlier largely because last year’s second quarter earnings took a hit from brief strike-related shutdowns.
Railroads may ratchet down their full-year outlooks in light of the traffic downturn, says independent analyst Anthony B. Hatch. In the first quarter, railroad executives said the year was off to a slow start due to trade uncertainties and harsh weather but reiterated their optimistic outlooks for the full year, Hatch says.
Read more ...
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2019-17 Article 4
Blue-Collar Workers: Let's All Support the Green New Deal
I am a blue-collar worker—a retired member of Sheet Metal Workers Local 104, which represents workers throughout northern and central California. The union leaders quoted in that article certainly don’t speak for me, nor for tens of thousands of other building trades workers.
I live on a fairly decent union pension and Social Security. I don’t have to worry about being retrained, but I am quite aware that my pension depends on contributions from working members of my union. I’m also concerned about my family’s well-being and the general welfare of humans and our planet.
I see no contradiction among these concerns. We can have growth of well-paying union jobs in a green economy, and my grandson can thrive in a just and sustainable world.
The Green New Deal is a strategy to achieve both objectives. If you haven’t
read the text
, please do—it’s not long! This is a Congressional resolution, not legislation. It defines a framework and establishes values and objectives for legislation that is yet to be written.
Read more ...
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2019-17 Article 5
U.S. rail traffic slump continued in Week 27
U.S. railroads started July the same way they ended June: a year-over-year decline in carload and intermodal volume.
The railroads logged 448,459 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending July 6, a 7.5 percent decrease compared with the same week last year, according to
Association of American Railroads
(AAR) data.
Total carloads for the week were 220,759 units, down 8.2 percent. Total intermodal volume clocked in at 227,700 containers and trailers, down 6.9 percent compared to 2018.
Read more ...
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2019-17 Article 6
Environmentalists question the safety of oil-by-rail shipments
Six years ago, the Quebecois town of Lac-Megantic went up in flames after a 72-car train carrying crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region derailed and incinerated a small downtown area, killing 47 people who were caught in the 0.6 mile blast radius.
Activists from the Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains joined other environmental groups called Empower NJ in a rally on the anniversary of the disaster to commemorate those who were lost. They voiced ongoing concerns about the transportation by rail of oil, ethanol, and other volatile materials.
Read more ...
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2019-17 Article 7
Railroad Stocks on Fast Track Ahead of Earnings
(Ed Note: While freight traffic continues to decline, shipper discontent is rampant, employees are furloughed and facilities downsized and shuttered, the orgy of profit making for the one percent goes merrily on)
Railroads have been a bright spot in the otherwise lagging transportation sector in 2019, with the three biggest players posting bull market and all-time highs. Strong
commodity
prices, the 10-year economic expansion, and domestic exposure have underpinned the rally, attracting investors seeking a
safe haven
from trade wars. Of course, the group is also levered to U.S.-Mexico commerce, but receding tensions with our southern neighbor have given these issues a lift as well.
The good times may continue after second quarter earnings, which start with CSX Corporation (
CSX
) on July 16. Union Pacific Corporation (
UNP
) follows two days later, while Norfolk Southern Corporation (
NSC
) reports on July 24. The smaller but equally interesting Kansas City Southern (
KSU
) is scheduled for July 19 after a quarter that may have lifted the dark cloud of Mexican
tariffs
and border closings.
Read more ...
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2019-17 Article 8
Is Filing a FELA Complaint Protected Activity?
Answer: Yes, it can be, according to the United States Department of
Labor. Joshua Cleveland v. Long Island Rail Road (SDNY) is a
Federal Rail Safety Act
case claiming the Railroad retaliated against an employee after he filed a FELA lawsuit. It is still to be decided by the district court judge, but the United States Attorney filed a
Statement of Interest
on behalf of the DOL confirming three scenarios when a FELA lawsuit can be FRSA protected activity:
"First, an employee’s FELA lawsuit can notify the railroad of the work-related personal injury under FRSA subsection (a)(4) if the employee has not already reported the injury to the railroad. . . .
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Railroad Workers United
Solidarity -- Unity -- Democracy
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