SMART UnionBNSF Railway executive vice president Carl Ice has been promoted to the newly created position of president and chief operating officer, with responsibility for rail operations, marketing and technology, BNSF announced Nov. 1.
Ice is a former Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe executive, having held senior positions in engineering, mechanical, operations, finance and information systems.
Rail workers may now file biweekly claims for railroad sickness benefits directly online with the Railroad Retirement Board.
The agency said rail workers may now access this online service at www.rrb.gov by clicking on “Benefit Online Services.”
The RRB implemented a similar system for unemployment benefits in 2004.
First-time users must request a password request code (PRC), which they will receive by regular mail within 10 days. Those who have already established online accounts do not need to do so again.
Railroad employees who miss work due to illness or injury will still have to file a paper form that serves as their initial application for sickness benefits. Once the application is received, they will continue to receive paper-based claim forms, generally for specific 2-week periods, by regular mail.
However, they now have the option of filing the claims online in order to expedite processing and payment.
A new round of federal funding will aid development of 54 separate high-speed rail lines in 23 states, says the Department of Transportation.
Those projects will share $2.4 billion in newly approved federal funding announced last week by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
The new funding is on top of $8 billion provided last fall by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – federal funds earmarked for improved track and new passenger stations and equipment, as well as development of high-speed rail projects.
Much of the $2.4 billion in new funding goes to California ($901 million for a proposed high-speed rail line linking San Diego with Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento); and Florida ($715 million for a proposed high-speed rail line linking Tampa with Orlando and, eventually, Miami).
Some $230 million was awarded to Iowa for new passenger service between Iowa City and Chicago that will be jointly by Iowa Interstate Railroad and Amtrak; plus some $160 million awarded to Michigan for a high speed line linking Chicago and Detroit.
By UTU International President Mike Futhey
When UTU members vote for labor-friendly candidates, we are voting for our union’s access to the highest levels of government — and improved opportunity for better wages, benefits and working conditions.
Labor-friendly candidates understand the concerns of working families, and they deserve our vote on Election Day, Nov. 2.
When we helped to elect President Obama in 2008, we helped elect a president who nominated the first rail-union officer in history to head the Federal Railroad Administration — former UTU Illinois State Legislative Director Joe Szabo, who knows firsthand the safety concerns of UTU members.
President Obama’s choice to head the Surface Transportation Board (STB) was former UTU Associate General Counsel Dan Elliott. Among the responsibilities of the STB is to impose labor protection following rail mergers.
Because of President Obama’s election, we have, at the National Mediation Board, a labor-friendly majority that made it easier for rail and airline workers to gain union representation. The NMB also made dramatic reductions in outstanding grievances, and streamlined the process for bringing grievances and obtaining more timely awards.
At the Federal Aviation Administration, President Obama selected former Air Line Pilots’ Association President Randy Babbitt as administrator.
As for the Congress, a labor-friendly majority passed the most sweeping changes in rail workplace safety in generations. Among provisions of the Rail Safety Improvement Act passed by labor-friendly lawmakers was to provide for conductor certification, tighten penalties for carrier intimidation and harassment, and provide whistleblower protection.
Labor-friendly lawmakers we help to elect support changes making it easier for bus industry workers to organize, and labor-friendly lawmakers are pledged to protect Railroad Retirement, Social Security, Medicare and FELA.
Health care reform passed by a labor-friendly Congress allows children under age 26 to remain on their parents’ health care insurance plan without regard to student, marital, residence or financial dependent status. Health care reform also eliminated the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage for preexisting conditions and prevents insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefit payments
Labor-friendly lawmakers support improvements in workplace safety affecting bus and transit members, support providing Amtrak with sufficient dollars to keep operating, and are pledged to fund the development of high-speed rail projects.
On Election Day, Nov. 2, the most important consideration for working families is job security, better wages, better benefits and improved working conditions.
By voting our paychecks and retaining a labor-friendly Congress, we help elect lawmakers who understand the needs of working families — and who open their doors and ears to labor leaders.
We endorse labor friendly candidates without regard to political party.
UTU endorsements of labor friendly candidates are based on commitments from those candidates to listen carefully to labor and put working families first.
In these difficult economic times, I urge you to join with me and cast a ballot on Nov. 2 for candidates who will put working families first.
To view the list of labor-friendly candidates, click on the following link:
https://static.smart-union.org/worksite/PDFs/2010_cong_endorsements.pdf
Faster than a bird and a plane is the vision of Amtrak President Joseph Boardman for future Amtrak high-speed service throughout the Northeast megalopolis, north from Washington, D.C., to Boston — a transportation corridor home to almost 50 million residents that represents more than 17 percent of the population on just 2 percent of the nations land area.
Boardman’s $117 billion vision, to be implemented over the next 30 years, is for Amtrak to operate trains up to 220-mph over a high-speed passenger-rail right-of-way linking Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.
Using a combination of public and private investment, Boardman would like construction to begin in 2015 and be fully operational by 2040.
Faster than a bird or a plane? Birds dont carry people. And air travel, with its attendant check-in, boarding and runway delays, cannot match the center-city to center-city speed of high-speed rail.
Boardman envisions Amtrak whisking rail passengers between Philadelphia and New York in 38 minutes; New York and Boston in 84 minutes; and New York and Washington in 96 minutes. Average speed between New York and Boston would be 148-mph, and 137-mph between New York and Washington.
“This is the same bold vision that linked our east and west coasts by rail during the mid-19th century, and gave America the Interstate highway system during the mid-20th century,” said UTU International President Mike Futhey.
“The implementation of high-speed rail corridors throughout America already has the full support of President Obama, Vice President Biden and all in rail labor. It is a project our growing nation, beset with transportation congestion, cannot afford to delay,” Futhey said.
The project would entail some 420-miles of mostly dedicated high-speed rail right-of-way — more than 40 percent being new right-of-way.
The new high-speed rail service, said Boardman, would require a $4.7 billion annual investment over 25 years and generate an annual operating surplus of $900 million for Amtrak. The project would create some 44,000 construction jobs annually through 2040.
The Federal Transit Administration has placed a hold on $900 million in federal grants destined to Houston’s light-rail transit system – Houston Metro — for alleged violation of “Buy America” procurement regulations, reports the Bureau of National Affairs in its BNA Transportation Watch.
BNA quoted the transit systems’ officials as saying they would rebid procurement contracts that previously had been signed with a rail car manufacturer headquartered in Spain.
Siemens, an international engineering firm with its U.S. headquarters in Washington, D.C., and plants throughout the U.S., has won a $466 million contract from Amtrak to build 70 Sprinter ACS-64 electric locomotives for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and Keystone Corridor.
Important to train crews, the new locomotives will incorporate the latest crash energy management components, such as “push-back” couplers to keep the locomotives upright, in-line and on the tracks in the event of a collision, said Amtrak in a press release.
The new Siemens locomotives are to go into service beginning in February 2013.
The new locomotives also will have regenerative electrical systems that return power to the grid. They will replace AEM-7 locomotives that are up to 30 years old and have traveled an average of 3.5 million miles each, Amtrak said in a press release.
Amtrak said the new locomotives will be capable of speeds up to 125-mph on the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston, and 110-mph on the Keystone Corridor west from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pa.
The new locomotives and their components will be built and assembled in Siemens plants in Sacramento, Calif., Norwood, Ohio, and Alpharetta, Ga.
UTU Local 377 members — engineers, conductors and brakemen — employed by Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad have ratified a new five-year agreement by an almost 8-to-1 margin.
Balloting was by craft under provisions of the UTU constitution guaranteeing craft autonomy; and each of the crafts was solidly in favor of the agreement.
More than 90 percent of members cast ballots, which UTU International officials termed “outstanding and quite typical of Local 377’s membership.”
The newly ratified agreement provides for general wage increases, guaranteed extra boards, 401(k) plan enhancements, and personal incentive bonuses.
UTU General Chairperson John Lesniewski (GO 049), who led the negotiations, called the ratified agreement “a great contract in the best of times, and extraordinary during this lean economic climate.”
Lesniewski praised the efforts of his negotiating team, which included Vice General Chairperson Steven Mavity and Local 377 Chairperson Harry Mahaffey.
Lesniewski also thanked UTU International President Mike Futhey and GO 049 Vice General Chairperson Jeremy Ferguson “for their advice and support directed towards reaching this pact.”
Buffalo & Pittsburgh, acquired by holding company Genesee & Wyoming in 1988, is a 368-mile regional railroad serving western New York and western Pennsylvania, and connects with major railroads Canadian Pacific, CSX, and Norfolk Southern.
By Bonnie Morr
Alternate Vice President – Bus Department
Right now in our country, economics is spelling out what transit and transportation will look like now and in the future.
The UTU Bus Department has been following the trends for funding that are necessary for passenger and public transportation to meet the needs of an aging population and growing automobile congestion.
It does not look good.
In every town and community, hard decisions must be made — and we want those decisions made by lawmakers who understand the importance of adeuate, reliable and safe public transportation, including transportation of school children by bus.
We have a responsibility to our families, children and community to make sure that the funding for public transportation stays in place. We can do that with our votes on Election Day, Nov. 2.
When we say, “vote your paycheck,” keep in mind that the jobs of UTU Bus Department members depend on adequate, reliable and safe funding for public transportation.
We need to get out the vote for labor-friendly candidates who support adequate, reliable and safe public transportation.
Think jobs, because there are candidates out there who are coming after our jobs.
When you cast your ballot on Election Day, support candidates who will do the right thing when it comes to funding and ensuring adequate, reliable and safe public transportation.
I am a laborer. I drive a bus. I want the labor protections that labor-friendly candidates will honor with laws and regulations that my mother fought for as an organizer for the Ladies Garment Workers Union.
We have protections as union bus operators, and we want to extend those protections to the unorganized.
Let us all support candidates who are pledged to increased funding for public transportation, job security, safe working conditions and an environment that respects working families.
To view the list of labor-friendly candidates, click on the following link:
https://static.smart-union.org/worksite/PDFs/2010_cong_endorsements.pdf
Union Pacific, frequently identified – rightly or wrongly – as a foe of joint freight/passenger rail operations, may be the first major railroad to sign such an implementing agreement, reports the Journal of Commerce.
The Journal of Commerce quoted UP CEO Jim Young as saying he is “confident” that UP and the State of Illinois will agree on terms to operate a 110-mph Amtrak train over UP tracks between Chicago and St. Louis.
The cost of improving the right-of-way to handle higher speed trains, plus the cost of the equipment and stations, is estimated at some $4 billion, and Union Pacific and the State of Illinois are expecting a federal stimulus grant totaling some 25 percent of the projected cost.