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John Previsich
By International Vice President John Previsich

Collective bargaining with Amtrak over revisions to the current wages, benefits and work rules agreement continues.

This report to the membership follows a briefing we provided the general committee during its recent quadrennial meeting.

Railway Labor Act Section 6 notices were exchanged with Amtrak in January 2010, and numerous bargaining sessions have been held since, with Amtrak General Chairpersons Roger Lenfest and Bill Beebe leading the UTU negotiators. I am serving as an adviser.

The next bargaining session is scheduled for mid-June.

Discussed at the most recent bargaining session in Philadelphia were improvements to the rates of pay, rules and working conditions, including conductor certification pay and an improved away-from-home meals allowance.

Given that Congress recently slashed federal assistance payments to Amtrak — and Amtrak is responding with an attempt to cut all its costs across the board — the negotiations are especially difficult.

In the face of these challenges, our negotiating team is working closely with the UTU’s financial and health care experts and the UTU National Legislative Office to ensure we are fully armed with concrete facts and data to support the items in our Section 6 notice.

At the most recent negotiating session, Amtrak restated its position that funds are not available for any costs beyond those already contemplated in its earlier proposal to the UTU. Amtrak says that given the difficult economic times, it isn’t possible to improve their initial offer.

In response, our UTU negotiating team advised Amtrak that their proposal is not acceptable — that it is “bare bones” and does not address many of the issues of concern to UTU members.

We told Amtrak that items in our Section 6 notice come directly from the membership as a result of membership outreach efforts by general chairpersons Beebe and Lenfest, and that each and every item requires good faith consideration during the negotiating process.

We continue to utilize an interest-based bargaining approach that takes into account the needs of both parties when crafting a final settlement. Interest-based bargaining historically has proven very effective in obtaining a satisfactory resolution, oftentimes producing results that are more favorable than those that can be obtained from a traditional demand-based negotiating process.

However, for the interest-based process to be successful, both parties must be fully committed to considering the needs and desires of each participating group. We maintain that a “take it or leave it” offer by Amtrak flies in the face of interest-based bargaining — and we have made that clear to Amtrak.

Amtrak responded that it will come to the next bargaining session in mid-June fully prepared to discuss the items set forth in our Section 6 notice.

While the UTU will continue to employ an interest-based strategy in negotiations, our negotiating team is fully prepared to move forward with a more traditional style of negotiations if at any time it appears that would be a more productive route.

The objective of the UTU negotiating team remains obtaining the best possible agreement for our members during these challenging economic times. As such, we will employ whatever proves to be the most effective strategy in accomplishing our goal.

The next negotiating session is planned for mid-June, and an update will be provided UTU members following that bargaining session.

WASHINGTON — Two House Republicans with transportation oversight authority — House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Rail Subcommittee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) — want to transfer ownership of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor to the private sector as the first step toward dismantling Amtrak and privatizing rail passenger service in the U.S.

The 457-mile long Northeast Corridor — two to six-tracks wide, fully electrified and with all but a handful of highway-rail grade crossings eliminated — connects Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. It carries almost one million intercity and commuter passengers daily on more than 2,000 trains — the majority commuter trains.

Amtrak, which was created by Congress to operate money-losing intercity rail passenger service in the U.S., acquired most of the Northeast Corridor following the 1970 bankruptcy of Penn Central and other Northeast railroads that had owned it.

While Amtrak owns 363 miles of the corridor, another 94 miles of the corridor is owned by the states of New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which similarly acquired their shares from the estate of bankrupt Penn Central.

Amtrak is responsible for operating intercity passenger trains, and providing maintenance and dispatching for other users, which include commuter agencies and freight railroads. Amtrak receives federal and state subsidies in exchange.

Mica said the transfer of ownership of the Northeast Corridor would permit the federal government to auction off train-operating and real estate development rights to the highest bidder. In 1987, President Reagan unsuccessfully proposed selling the Northeast Corridor to the highest bidder; and the George W. Bush administration had a similar objective.

Congress rejected the proposals, viewing them as attempts to destroy Amtrak and U.S. intercity rail passenger service. Among Republicans, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) have expressed opposition to any attempts at breaking up Amtrak’s national intercity rail passenger network.

Former Amtrak President David Gunn observed of a privatization proposal in 2002 that the Northeast Corridor will never be able to stand on its own financially. He said most of the overhead catenary providing electrical power between Washington, D.C. and New Haven, Conn., was erected during the 1930s and is in need of replacement. “Do you really think some company is going to come in and replace all those wires for an operation that, at best, might break even financially?” Gunn asked rhetorically.

The British-based and politically conservative Economist magazine reported in 2005 that the privatization of British Rail “has proved a disastrous failure … a catalogue of political cynicism, managerial incompetence and financial opportunism. It has cost taxpayers billions of pounds and brought rail travelers countless hours of delay.”

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) responded to the Mica proposal that Amtrak makes the Northeast region — one of the most densely populated in the U.S. — “work.” He said Amtrak was created in the first place because the private-sector could not earn a profit operating passenger trains.

Amtrak itself has been seeking private investors to help it finance proposed 220-mph high-speed rail over the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak, however, would retain care, custody and control of the corridor and continue receiving federal and state subsidies to operate passenger trains over it. Amtrak says more than 25 private investors have expressed an interest in participating with it in future high-speed rail projects.

Mica says he prefers full privatization, which is broadly seen as a backdoor attempt to destroy Amtrak and the nation’s national intercity rail passenger network.

Mica asserts his plan will hasten the development of high-speed rail on the Northeast Corridor. Currently, 65 percent of the corridor already has trains operating at between 110-mph and 150 mph, and Amtrak is the only rail passenger operator in the nation operating trains at speeds of at least 100 mph.

Aging Northeast Corridor infrastructure — including century old tunnels and track curvatures running through heavily populated areas — as well as federal safety mandates for passenger cars that are heavier than those used in Europe and Asia, have much to do with Amtrak’s inability to operate trains faster than currently are operated by Amtrak.

WASHINGTON — Amtrak President Joseph Boardman told the Senate Appropriations Committee May 17 that Amtrak will never “be able to cut costs enough on long-distance trains to make them profitable. It becomes more a question of policy whether we are going to have border-to-border, coast-to-coast connectivity.”

Boardman urged the lawmakers not to cut back on long-distance train subsidies, which he said would deprive a significant area of the country with train travel that is essential to rural Americans without airport options.

The Amtrak CEO also testified that he wants to increase security patrols of the nation’s rail passenger network — much of it owned by freight railroads over which Amtrak trains travel — using new technologies, including ultrasonic and laser devices, to provide advance pinpoint warning of track tampering in the face of elevated terrorist concerns.

He warned lawmakers that trains are more vulnerable to attack than commercial airliners because terrorists have widespread access to the track, bridges and tunnels used by passenger trains.

WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s vision for high-speed rail along the Northeast Corridor gained a significant boost May 9 when the Federal Railroad Administration redistributed to Amtrak $795 million of some $2 billion in high-speed rail grants previously rejected by Florida.

Portions of that grant money also were distributed to 15 states that have plans for high-speed and higher-speed rail.

The funds come from unobligated amounts appropriated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which has not been affected by recent congressional budget cuts. That law, intended to stimulate the economy at the depth of the current recession, provided some $10 billion for rail projects. Some $6 billion of that $10 billion has now been distributed.

Some of the funds directed to Amtrak May 9 are earmarked for 24 miles of Northeast Corridor track in central New Jersey — between New Brunswick and Morrisville — to be upgraded to handle 160-mph train operations. The current top speed over that segment is 135 mph via Amtrak’s Acela trains.

The Northeast Corridor connects Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

Midwest states will receive $404 million to upgrade tracks between Detroit, Chicago and St. Louis for 110-mph passenger-train operations. Work already has begun — as part of a joint project among Union Pacific, Amtrak and the FRA — to upgrade tracks between Chicago and St. Louis to 110 mph for passenger-trains.

California will receive $300 million toward initial construction in the Central Valley of a planned high-speed line linking Sacramento, the Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Following is a breakdown of the grant allocations:

Northeast Corridor

  • $450 million to Amtrak to improve NEC track, and power, signal and catenary systems in one of the corridor’s most heavily traveled areas, creating a 24-mile segment of track that can handle 160 mph train operations.
  • $295 million to New York to build new routes that enable Amtrak trains to bypass the Harold Interlocking in Queens on Long Island — one of the country’s busiest passenger-rail junctions.
  • $25 million to Rhode Island to design and construct an additional 1.5 miles of third track in Kingston, enabling trains operating at speeds up to 150 mph to pass other trains on a high-volume section of the corridor.
  • $22 million to Maryland to conduct engineering and environmental work to replace the century-old Susquehanna River Bridge.
  • $3 million to Rhode Island to conduct preliminary engineering and environmental work to renovate the Providence Station.

Northeast Region

  • $58 million to New York to upgrade tracks, stations and signals along the Empire Corridor, including replacing the Schenectady Station and constructing a fourth station track at the Albany-Rensselaer Station.
  • $40 million to Pennsylvania to rebuild an interlocking near Harrisburg on the Keystone Corridor.
  • $30 million to Connecticut to build double-track segments between New Haven and Springfield.
  • $20.8 million to Maine and Massachusetts to construct a 10.4-mile section of double track between Wilmington and Andover, Mass., improving service along Amtrak’s Downeaster route.
  • $1.4 million to New York to conduct preliminary engineering and environmental reviews for a new Rochester intermodal station along the Empire Corridor.

Regional Equipment Pools

  • $268.2 million to Midwest states to purchase 48 high-performance passenger cars and seven quick-acceleration locomotives for eight corridors in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Missouri.
  • $68 million to California to acquire 15 high-performance passenger cars and four “uick-acceleration locomotives for the Pacific Surfliner, San Joaquin and Capitol corridors.

Midwestern Region

  • $196.5 million to Michigan to rehabilitate track and signal systems between Kalamazoo and Dearborn, bringing train speeds up to 110 mph along a 235-mile section of track.
  • $186.3 million to Illinois to construct track along the Chicago-St. Louis corridor between Dwight and Joliet to accommodate 110 mph trains.
  • $13.5 million to Missouri to advance design work to replace the Merchant’s Bridge over the Mississippi River along the Chicago-St. Louis corridor.
  • $5 million to Minnesota to complete engineering and environmental work to establish the Northern Lights Express, which would connect Minneapolis and Duluth with 110 mph trains.
  • $2.8 million to Michigan to conduct an engineering and environmental analysis to construct a new station in Ann Arbor.

Southern Region

  • $15 million to Texas to conduct engineering and environmental work to develop a high-speed rail corridor linking Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston.
  • $4 million to North Carolina to conduct an environmental analysis of the Richmond-Raleigh section of the Southeast High Speed Rail Corirdor.

California and the Northwest Region

  • $300 million to the California High Speed Rail Authority to extend construction on the Central Valley corridor by another 20 miles, from Fresno to the Wye junction, which will provide a connection to San Jose to the west and Merced to the north.
  • $15 million to Washington state to construct a Port of Vancouver grade separation, which will eliminate a congested intersection and bottleneck between freight and passenger tracks.
  • $1.5 million for analysis of overnight parking tracks for passenger trains on the southern end of the Pacific Northwest Corridor at the Port of Vancouver, adding new capacity for increased passenger and freight-rail service.
  • $15 million to eliminate a congested intersection and bottleneck between freight and passenger tracks along the Pacific Northwest Rail Corridor at Eugene, Ore., by elevating one set of tracks over the other.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says he wants Amtrak and the Department of Homeland Security to create a “no-ride” list for intercity passenger trains, similar to the Secure Flight monitoring program in place for airlines whereby names of air travelers are cross-checked against the federal government’s terror watch list.

Separately, Virginia Railway Express has instituted a program whereby armed federal officers riding those commuter trains between their jobs in Washington, D.C., and Virginia suburbs act as volunteer train marshals during their commute.

Creation of an Amtrak no-ride list, Schumer said, would keep suspected terrorists off the U.S. rail system. Such a list would not apply to commuter trains.

Schumer called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to expand to Amtrak the Secure Flight monitoring program, which cross-checks air travelers with the terror watch list in an attempt to prevent anyone on the “no-fly” list from boarding commercial airliners.

Schumer said also he would push for restoring the $50 million Congress recently cut from rail and port security grants, saying that information obtained from Osama bin Laden’s hide-out — that al-Qaida had considered targeting U.S. passenger trains for terrorist acts — warrants reconsideration of rail security funds that were cut as part of the congressional budget compromise.

Schumer also called for increased funding to allow more rail-commuter and rail-passenger track inspections.

“Circumstances demand we make adjustments by increasing funding to enhance rail safety and monitoring on commuter rail transit and screening who gets on Amtrak passenger trains,” Schumer said May 8.

Following the 9/11 attacks, the September 11 Commission recommended rail-passenger names be checked against terror watch lists prior to boarding. The recommendation was not adopted for intercity passenger trains.

As for Virginia Railway Express (VRE), the Washington Examiner reports that 140 federal armed officers ride those commuter trains daily and serve as a volunteer police force for the commuter railroad, which does not have its own police force.

VRE, reports the Washington Examiner, gives those armed federal officers — employed by the FBI, Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security — zero-price rides in exchange for their remaining alert.

The Washington Examiner quoted a VRE spokesperson as saying the commuter railroad knows which trains those armed officers ride and where they sit, and that their passes contain a special marking allowing conductors to know who they are.

California’s Amtrak-operated Pacific Surfliner and San Joaquin routes are due for an equipment upgrade following a Federal Railroad Administration $100 million direct grant to the California DOT (Caltrans).

Amtrak operates the routes under contract to Caltrans.

The money must be used for 27 domestically manufactured bilevel passenger cars and two domestically manufactured diesel-electric locomotives, under Buy America provisions of the grant.

The Pacific Surfliner route experienced a 65 percent increase in ridership over the past 10 years, while the San Joaquin route had a 45 percent increase in ridership over 10 years.

 

WILMINGTON, Del. — Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman, FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo and former BNSF top attorney Jeff Moreland, now an Amtrak board member, were enroute here from Washington Saturday morning for dedication of the new station renamed for Vice President Joe Biden.

They got as far as Baltimore on their first-class passes.

A power problem on the Northeast Corridor stopped all Amtrak trains dependent on the overhead catenary for power.

Fearful they would miss the dedication, they made a call and soon left the train, piling into an automobile quickly provided, and reached Wilmington only a bit late. Biden was patiently awaiting them.

“We would not have gotten off the train if we could have sequenced it faster, but the event would have been over … and that’s the evaluation we made,” Boardman told ABC News.

The news dispatch reported they “were escorted from the coach by security guards and a small entourage of assistants.” ABC News said rental cars were obtained for the entourage.

Biden understood. He said later he had taken more than 7,000 roundtrips between his home in Wilmington and Washington while a U.S. senator; and, yes, not all were on time.

The remaining passengers on the train endured a two-and-a-half hour delay, later attributed to a malfunctioning transformer in Philadelphia.

Boardman used the opportunity to make a pitch for more federal funds for the Northeast Corridor. “If we’re going to really grow the Corridor the way it needs to be grown, we have to substantially increase the amount of power that’s available so that we don’t trip these transformers,” he told ABC News.

WASHINGTON — Amtrak reported March 9 that it has marked 16 consecutive months of ridership growth, and that February was the best on record, with 2.1 million passengers.

“The ridership increase shows the continued popularity of rail travel and the need for continued investment in passenger rail service,” said Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman. “We anticipate demand for rail travel will increase with the rise of gasoline prices, and Amtrak is prepared to be there for passengers who want to leave the car behind.”

Amtrak’s strong performance, said Boardman, is part of a long-term trend that has seen Amtrak set annual ridership records in seven of the past eight fiscal years, including more than 28.7 million passengers in 2010.

There was a 7.6 percent increase in riders in February 2011 vs. February 2010, or more than 147,000 passengers. The 16 straight months of ridership growth spans from November 2009 to February 2011, and averages a 6 percent growth rate over this period, Amtrak said.

BOSTON — Some 450 UTU-represented conductors and assistant conductors on Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR) have a tentative new agreement covering wages, benefits and working conditions.A ratification vote is currently underway, with ballots to be counted March 17.

The tentative four-year agreement is retroactive to July 2009, and may be reopened for amendment in July 2013 under provisions of the Railway Labor Act.

Included in the tentative agreement are retroactive pay, a signing bonus, a 13.7 percent overall increase in wages by July 2013, certification pay for conductors, a cap on health care cost-sharing, and a provision that discipline records will not be retained beyond a maximum of 36 months (other than substance abuse violations, which are subject to record-keeping under federal law).

Noteworthy in the tentantive agreement is an increase in compensation for release-time — from the decades-old 50 percent of the full-time rate to 62.5 percent.

The agreement was negotiated by UTU General Chairperson Roger Lenfest and Assistant General Chairperson Dirk Sampson (both, Amtrak, GO 769), with assistance from International Vice President John Previsich. Praised was Local 898 Chairperson Don Wheaton for his input and participation in all aspects of the negotiations.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has reached a separate tentative agreement with the MBCR. The UTU and the BLET negotiated jointly to reach those separate craft agreements, with the expectation that a better agreement for each craft would result if negotiations were held jointly.

The Transportation Communications Union and shopcrafts recently were released from mediation with the MBCR by the National Mediation Board, but a presidential emergency board (PEB) has yet to be appointed.

WASHINGTON — Since its creation four decades ago, Amtrak has perennially teetered on the edge of financial extinction, annually fighting down to the wire for minimal funds to keep it operating.This year is no exception. And while UTU member and retiree phone calls — along with tens of thousands of others from Amtrak supporters nationwide — helped defeat an Amtrak-killing effort in the House of Representatives Feb. 17, the assault on Amtrak continues.

And as one should always expect a train at a highway-rail grade-crossing, we should always expect a congressional assault on Amtrak.

Indeed, there are those who do NOT love a train; but there are far more who do.

Limiting the ability of those in lawmaking authority to kill Amtrak — or so severely hobble Amtrak that death would follow — is a perennial effort requiring vigilance and education.

For rail employees — freight and passenger — this is a matter of job survival and family financial security.

This is because Amtrak’s survival means more than jobs for 20,000 Amtrak workers.

It means survival of Railroad Retirement.

Without Amtrak — and its workforce that numbers 9 percent of all active rail workers — Tier II of Railroad Retirement would suffer the same fate as Amtrak. Railroad Retirement Tier II cannot remain solvent should 20,000 Amtrak workers disappear from the employment roles and participation in Railroad Retirement.

Thus, Amtrak’s survival is as important to all active and retired rail employees as it is Amtrak’s current workforce.

Here are points of light for rail employees to communicate to lawmakers:

  • The high cost of fuel, along with traffic and airport congestion, is drawing travelers back to trains for commuting and travel between cities as much as 500 miles apart.
  • A Pew Research poll found that the number of Americans who enjoy driving fell by 10 percentage points over a recent 15 year period — and highway traffic congestion, rather than higher fuel prices — was the reason.
  • The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials predicts that by 2020, some 90 percent of urban Interstate highways will be at or exceeding capacity.
  • Philadelphia officials estimate 50 additional flights daily would be needed to handle Amtrak passengers arriving and departing from that city.
  • Federal transportation officials estimate that without Amtrak service into Manhattan, 20 additional highway lanes, 10 new tunnels under the Hudson River and hundreds of acres of new more parking would be required.
  • Civil engineers estimate that two railroad tracks have the capacity to carry as many people each hour as 16 lanes of highway; and 300 miles of railroad use less land than a single commercial airport.
  • Railroads require less land than new highways and airports, they are less expensive to construct, they are more fuel efficient than highway or air transport, they are environmentally preferable to all competing forms of motorized transportation, and they are notably safer than highway travel.

To communicate these points to your elected lawmakers, click on the following link, and then type in your address and zip code to receive the name and direct office phone number of your elected lawmakers in the House and Senate:

www.contactingthecongress.org/