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by Published on 06-15-2011 10:41 AMCategories:
By Taylor Kuykendall
Register-Herald Reporter
A congressional Republican plan to privatize Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor would be the “death knell” for service to southern West Virginia, Congressman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said.
Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are expected to introduce a proposal to privatize Amtrak Wednesday. The GOP says privatization would open up private-sector investment and increase public-private partnership and the success of passenger-rail service.
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, a government entity that does business as Amtrak, was established in the early 1970s for inter-city passenger train travel. Amtrak’s board of directors is appointed by the U.S. president.
“Under the false promise of better service and cost savings, Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will soon unveil a partisan plan to dismantle Amtrak and auction off its assets to the highest bidder,” Rahall wrote in an op-ed last week. “Doubling down on this risky bet, they want to hand over the conductor’s cap to the same folks who ran the stock market off a cliff.”
...by Published on 06-15-2011 10:36 AMCategories:
By Erin Golden
OMAHA WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Railroad tracks around the Midlands are looking a bit different these days.
Some are surrounded by sandbags and levees. Other stretches are elevated a few feet off the ground. A few crossings are without their warning arms and flashing lights, monitored instead by workers with flags.
There are areas where the rails have been closed altogether because of floodwaters or work to prevent flooding, including sections of BNSF tracks in Omaha and near Hamburg, Iowa, where a levee tore open Monday. And there are places like Union Pacific's stretch of tracks between the Kansas City area and Nebraska City, where trains are still running — but only until the water gets too close.
Crews from U.P. and BNSF have been working round the clock to protect critical transport lines and monitor flood threats. Already, there have been some successes — notably, an effort in North Platte to patch up a breached dike near a U.P. railroad bridge east of town.
...by Published on 06-03-2011 09:20 AMCategories:
A 17-percent pay increase, retention of the $200 monthly cap on health care cost sharing, FRA certification pay, a faster process for new hires to reach full pay rates, and no rollback of the January 2011 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) highlight the new five-year national rail agreement negotiated between the UTU and the National Carriers' Conference Committee (NCCC).
Railroads represented by the NCCC include BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and many smaller railroads. Some 38,000 UTU members, including yardmasters, are covered by the tentative new agreement.
UTU District 1 general chairpersons voted unanimously June 2 to submit the tentative agreement to the membership for ratification under the craft autonomy provisions of the UTU Constitution. The general chairpersons also voted unanimously to recommend ratification.
...by Published on 06-03-2011 10:37 AMCategories:
LOS ANGELES -- A lawsuit brought by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen against Los Angeles Metrolink to eliminate inward-facing video cameras in the cab has been dismissed by a judge here.
Superior Court Judge Luis Lavin said the inward-facing cameras, which monitor crew activities in the cab, do not violate privacy rights, reports the Associated Press.
Metrolink ordered that inward-facing cameras be installed in commuter-train cabs following a September 2008 catastrophic accident in Chatsworth, Calif., in which a Metrolink train ran a red signal and collided with a freight train, killing 25 and injuring more than 100 on the Metrolink train. The Metrolink engineer, who died in the crash, was found to have been texting repeatedly.
Following that accident, the Federal Railroad Administration banned the use by train crews, nationwide, of most electronic devices.
...by Published on 06-03-2011 09:27 AM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 2, 2011 – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported steady results in weekly rail traffic with U.S. railroads originating 288,049 carloads for the week ending May 28, 2011, up 0.7 percent compared with the same week last year. Intermodal volume for the week totaled 234,668 trailers and containers, up 4.2 percent compared with the same week in 2010.
Seven of the 20 carload commodity groups posted increases from the comparable week in 2010. Commodity groups posting significant increases included: metallic ores, up 48.9 percent; grain, up 18.5 percent, and lumber and wood products, up 13.7 percent. Groups posting a notable decrease included: primary forest products, down 23.1 percent; farm products excluding grain, down 19.7 percent, and nonmetallic minerals, down 15.4 percent.
Weekly carload volume on Eastern railroads was up 0.7 percent compared with the same week last year. In the West, weekly carload volume was up 0.7 percent compared with the same week in 2010.
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