Rail & Labor News from RWU
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Weekly Digest Number 29 - July 16, 2024 | |
Welcome to the RWU Rail & Labor News! This news bulletin is produced and emailed out each Tuesday morning. We hope you find each week's news and information useful. If so, please share with co-workers, friends, and colleagues. If you like, you can sign them up to get all the news from RWU HERE. Or forward them the link. Got a hot tip? Please forward the article and a link to raillabornews@gmail.com. Note: If you read over this news bulletin each week, you will be sure to never miss the important news of what is going on in the railroad world from a worker's perspective! | |
Editor's Note: Coming on the heels of the NTSB Chair's admonishment of NS for its reprehensible behavior after last week's hearings in East Palestine, OH, NS is in severe damage control mode once again. The belligerent Class One carrier got itself in a corner from a PR standpoint and now simply must agree with everything NTSB recommends. Whether or not they actually act on all of this is another story. We must keep the carrier in the spotlight! | |
Progressive Railroading / July 11
Norfolk Southern Railway senior leadership has endorsed the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) national safety policy recommendations made in response to its investigation of last year’s NS hazmat train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. “We have a deep respect for Chair Homendy and the important work of the NTSB. We appreciate her leadership, willingness to collaborate with us on next steps, and direct engagement with our operational leaders," said NS President and CEO Alan Shaw. "Norfolk Southern and the NTSB share the same goal when it comes to safety. We're committed to taking action that addresses their recommendations and to becoming the gold standard of safety for the industry."
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Editor's Note: Across the country there are a myriad of organizations and ad hoc groupings that are fighting the Class One railroads, over blocked crossings, poor air quality, dangerous infrastructure, derailments, super long trains and more. Great to see various organizations coming together across state lines to share information, tactics and strategies to combat these behemoths. | |
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Facing the ongoing impacts of pollution and derailments, activists in East Palestine, Ohio, and Baltimore are teaming up to pursue justice for their communities.
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Nicole Fabricant / July 8
East Palestine is a glimpse into our dystopian neoliberal futures—where a sleepy, rural town of 4,681 (as of 2022) with a median household income of $44,000 can turn into a disaster zone due to corporate negligence. Though most rail lines in the United States run through historically marginalized communities, any geographic region—rural or urban, middle class or impoverished—can become a sacrifice zone or “collateral damage” for big businesses. Our activist group traveled to East Palestine to meet with the various community members attempting to hold Norfolk Southern accountable for the train derailment. We were there to connect those fighting Chessie, Seaboard, X (CSX) coal trains in South Baltimore to those holding Norfolk Southern accountable.
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Editor's Note: RWU encourages all railroad workers and our allies to take part in this important webinar to learn more about why public ownership and control of the rail industry in North America is a solution to may of our ills and problems. Register today! | |
Webinar: "Putting America Back on Track: The Case for a 21st Century Public Rail System" | |
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The Public Rail Now Team / July 9
Dear rail supporters and friends,
We hope you've had the chance to read the new report we sent you last week. It’s been a remarkable journey since December 2022, when railroad workers were prevented from striking and forced to accept contracts they opposed. Our white paper is particularly timely in advocating for the return of the US rail system to public control, especially in light of the findings from the NTSB hearing on the cause of the East Palestine derailment.
We warmly invite you to join our webinar on Wednesday, July 17 at 7 PM CT. During this session, Adam Barrington, our Public Rail Organizer, and Maddock Thomas, the report's author, will delve deeper into the white paper. We will also hear firsthand from railroad workers about their experiences and perspectives.
This one-hour webinar aims to contextualize the report and highlight its key findings. Our presentation will focus on research, providing the arguments, evidence, and proposals needed to advocate for a just transportation future.
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Editor's Note: Shortlines make rail work for lots of small shippers who otherwise wouldn’t get the time of day from the Class Ones. Basic communication and shared spreadsheets with shortlines seems like the least NS should be doing but at least they're doing that. | |
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Unpredictable interchange between short lines and Class I railroads has been an intractable problem. The Class I might skip a scheduled interchange entirely, show up late after the short line’s crews have gone home for the day, or deliver the wrong cars. It doesn’t happen everywhere, and it doesn’t happen all the time. But talk to any shortline leader and they’ll tell you that interchange problems are a headache that occurs all too often. And they’re a carload killer. NS and 40 participating short lines use a spreadsheet to track interchange performance. Both give their views on prior day’s interchange. If the views don’t match, it gets flagged for attention. Second, the NS First and Final Mile Markets group and shortline partners chat through Microsoft Teams to quickly resolve and prevent service issues.
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Editor's Note: It is exciting to see a former mainline - abandoned and unused for decades - be brought back to life. And not just revived, but modernized, equipped toi run trains at modern speeds, and dedicated to multiple passenger trains every day linking key city pairs, all free of Class One ownership, inefficiencies, PSR, and interference. | |
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Trains could run at up to 110 mph along portions of the route connecting two of the busiest train stations in the Southeast.
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Officials broke ground last week in Raleigh, North Carolina, on construction of a new passenger rail line along an existing freight rail corridor between Raleigh and Richmond. Virginia purchased 75 miles of the right of way from freight railroad CSX in 2020. North Carolina is in the final stages of completing the acquisition of its portion of the corridor, known as the S-Line. The states have not set a date for when trains could begin running along the line. ortions of the route will allow train speeds of up to 110 mph, potentially saving more than an hour of travel time between the two cities.
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Editor's Note: The irony of sun kinks is that rising/extreme temperatures have the ability to reduce the railroad's inherent efficiencies, efficiencies that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and assist in cooling the planet. | |
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As tracks heat up, they expand and buckle. That's forcing rail operators to adapt as the climate warms.
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One of the iconic sensory experiences of riding a train is actually the sound of ingenuity. As steel railroad tracks heat up, they grow: 1,800 feet of rail expands by more than an inch for every 10 degrees Fahrenheit of temperature increase. So rails used to be laid down in sections — each between 30 and 60 feet long — with small gaps. “The very specific railway noise that you hear — chuchat … chuchat … chuchat … chuchat … chuchat — is because there is a gap between the rails, and this gap is meant for such expansion,” said Dev Niyogi, who studies urban climate extremes at the University of Texas at Austin.
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Editor's Note: The disastrous privatization of British Rail in the 1990s resulted in poor service, skyrocketing fares, increased costs, calamitous train wrecks, and mass confusion to the travelling public. The re-nationalization of the rail industry in the UK is about to begin in earnest. We might have a lot to learn on this side of the ocean from our British counterparts. | |
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Setting up Great British Railways is one of the legislative promises that the King will read out at the State Opening of Parliament on 17 July
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Hugo Gye / July 6th
Labour will pledge to nationalise the railways in the King’s Speech which will set out Sir Keir Starmer’s agenda for government in less than a fortnight’s time, i understands.
The setting up of Great British Railways has been pencilled in as one of the legislative promises made in the text that the King will read out at the State Opening of Parliament on 17 July. The state-owned body will be the holding company for all of the rail franchises as they are gradually taken into public ownership over the coming years when the existing contracts with the private sector expire.
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Editor's Note: Slowly but surely, rail projects of many types are forging ahead in North America. Not only in the U.S., but in Canada and Mexico, expanded and higher speed passenger rail plans are in the works. | |
Jarah Wright / July 9th
Another high-speed rail project could eventually connect Las Vegas to additional stops throughout California. On Monday, High Desert Corridor Joint Powers Agency Board members and union labor representatives signed two agreements for the High Desert Corridor High Speed Rail Project. This project would connect Palmdale, California to Apple Valley, California. According to a press release, the labor agreements would create thousands of jobs to construct, operate, and maintain the project. Officials also estimate the project will generate $12 billion in the region.
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Editor's Note: Crossing elimination is crucial as all traffic increases and car and truck drivers are increasingly distracted. Spending this $1.1Bn just on changing level crossings to over/underpasses would fund about 50 to 60 projects. We need a lot more. | |
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U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced it was making more than $1.1 billion in Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) grant funding available. In the Notice of Funding Opportunity, the FRA said the money would be invested in improving railroad crossing safety and efficiency for projects including grade separation construction, safety devices at crossings, or at-grade crossing closings where roads and train tracks intersect. The grant funding furthers the FRA’s focus on addressing collisions and blockages at grade crossings, officials said.
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Editor's Note: RWU urges all supporters of this public rail initiative to make a donation to this important film project. Thanks! | |
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The Public Rail Now Team / July 9
Dear rail supporters and friends,
In 2022, we began an ambitious journey to create a video project that breaks down and simplifies the complex issues facing railroaders, trackside communities, shippers, and many others across the United States. Last fall, we proudly released our first micro-documentary, “Putting America Back on Track” offering a compelling overview of the U.S. rail system and proposing public rail ownership as a potential solution. Now, we're asking for your help to take this project to the next level. We aim to dive deeper into the multifaceted challenges within the rail system and advocate for a public rail system that serves the public interest. To achieve this, we've teamed up with Alan Fisher, the creator of the impactful rail nationalization video, to produce a comprehensive, multi-segmented documentary to serve as an essential educational tool to grow our coalition for public rail ownership, educate workers, and raise awareness among all those affected by the current rail system.
Help us reach our $4,000 goal to make this vision a reality!
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Editor's Note: Finally, the Surface Transportation Board is asking why the rail industry is moving so little freight compared to recent years. RWU has been beating this drum now for well over a year, and suspect our efforts have had something to do with this inquiry. It will be interesting to see how the Class Ones answer to some very difficult questions. With a growing economy and more and more truckloads moving down the highways, why are the Class Ones moving 24% less freight in 2023, than in 2006?! | |
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Federal regulators are summoning executives from the six Class I freight railroads to a rare public hearing to explain how their companies plan to invest in and grow their business amid concern over recent negative volume trends. In a notice published today (Friday, July 12), the Surface Transportation Board said it also welcomes railroad customers, suppliers, and rail labor to testify during the two-day hearing on Sept. 16 and 17 at STB headquarters in Washington, D.C. “The board has an interest in the health and growth of the industry and the need for rail customers to move their goods efficiently and reliably,” the notice states. “While the board recognizes that some shifts in volume may not be primarily within the control of rail carriers, the board has observed that over the past 10 years carload volumes have not grown, and have in fact decreased.”
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Editor's Note: Like in the U.S., there is a seemingly endless series of legal steps all designed to stave off rail strikes and support rail companies. Nevertheless, the rail unions in Canada have gone on strike numerous times against Class Ones CP and CN in the last decade. | |
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Canada Industrial Relations Board to determine if some shipments must continue even during work stoppage
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Trains Magazine / July 13
The Canada Industrial Relations Board aims to make a ruling by Aug. 9 on the question of essential services that has put a potential Canadian rail strike or lockout on hold, Canadian National Railway says. In a Friday update, the railroad said it the board will provide another update in the event another decision is not made by that time. CPKC said in its own update that the board had advised it would issue its decision without holding oral hearings. Canada’s Minister of Labour, Seamus O’Regan Jr, asked the board on May 9 to determine if some critical shipments might be required to continue even in the event of a work stoppage [see “Move by Canada’s labor minister will delay possible start of strikes …,” Trains News Wire, May 10, 2024]. That move prevents the start of any strike or lockout until after the board makes a ruling. Members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference had authorized strikes against both railroads that could have begun as soon as May 22.
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Editor's Note: CARB's rule is not as draconian as portrayed in general, but in particular by these disingenuous panelists. CARB's timeframe for the roll out of zero emission locomotives is possible technically, and state and federal grants could fund a major part of the cost. | |
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Four witnesses on July 9 discussed the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) request for authorization for a state-based regulation at a hearing of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.
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Carolina Worrell / July 10
The hearing, entitled, “An Examination of the CARB In-Use Locomotive Regulation,” included remarks from Dillon Olvera, President and CEO, Modesto and Empire Traction Company (the MET), on behalf of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA); Roger Nober, Director of GW Regulatory Studies Center and Professor of Practice at the Trachtenberg School, George Washington University; Ural Yal, Senior Vice President – Corporate Preconstruction Group, Flatiron Construction, on behalf of the Associated General Contractors of California (AGC California); and Heather Arias, Chief, Transportation and Toxics Division, CARB.
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NEWS FROM AROUND THE LABOR MOVEMENT | |
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"Airline carriers do not feel pressured to reach agreements quickly, likely because the flight attendants' ability to strike has rarely been allowed to be exercised," senators wrote to the National Mediation Board.
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Jessica Corbett / Jun 12
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday led 31 Senate Democrats in a letter calling on the agency that facilitates labor and management relations within the country's railroad and airline industries to allow flight attendants to strike if necessary. "Unlike workers covered by the National Labor Relations Act, workers covered by the Railway Labor Act do not possess the right to strike or engage in any other form of 'self-help' without a formal vote by the board," notes the letter. "We are concerned about the increasing number of contract negotiations before the NMB that are being unnecessarily drawn out at the expense of workers."
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Charlotte Goldstone / July 15
US East and Gulf Coast port workers are prepared to “hit the streets” on 1 October, according to the president and chief negotiator of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), Harold Daggett. The current master contract between the ILA and US Maritime Alliance (USMX) expires on 30 September, and Mr Daggett warned that the employers were “running out of time” to negotiate a new agreement. “Only 80 days remain before the end of our current contract and we are waiting on USMX,” he said on Friday. Mr Daggett said the ILA members were “100 percent behind him” and willing to “hit the streets” on 1 October if the union’s contract demands were not met. The ILA cancelled master contract negotiations with the USMX on 10 June, after union members took issue with APMT/Maersk’s “auto gate system”, which autonomously processes trucks, “violating our current master contract,” explained Mr Daggett.
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WEEKLY DERAILMENT DEPARTMENT | | | | |
