Are Things really this bad for the U.P. out West?

[Clutch Cargo]

I work in the Superior Itasca yard and although we hear about problems in the west I had no idea it was this bad....


/ Business




Oregon and SW Washington

Friday June 4, 2004

Union Pacific workers picket over unsafe conditions .






Union Pacific railroad engineers picket at a Seattle rail yard. (KING Photo)
SEATTLE -- Railroad engineers for Union Pacific said Wednesday that they're working too many hours without enough time off and warn that could lead to disaster on the rails.


The Teamsters union members of the Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said Union Pacific is not hiring enough train service people, and they're the ones who get railroaded into working longer, more stressful hours.


The union rank and file made their claims during an informational picket in a Seattle rail yard. Their comments come following Monday's deadly accident in Woodland, Wash. where a man and child were killed after being struck by a Union Pacific train on a bridge.


The train was headed from Seattle to Gillem, Ore., when it struck the man and four children who were using the rail bridge to cross the Lewis River. "No Trespassing" signs are posted but residents often use the bridge to cross from Woodland to Ridgefield.


While company officials have said the train involved was not speeding and blew its horn and activated its emergency brakes prior to striking the pedestrians, the engineers participating in Wednesday's picket said the event nonetheless adds to the stress of the job.


"It really takes a toll on your mental health and your physical health and that adds to the fatigue problem," said union spokesman Tom Frederick.


The union also cited a train wreck in Longview, Wash. that happened in 1993; last November, another wreck happened in the same spot. The engineer in that accident was reportedly exhausted because of scheduling problems with the company, union leaders contend.


"He was going into his second sleep cycle," said Frederick. "When he should have been in bed, he was having to perform his job as a locomotive engineer."


One engineer told reporters that he's on duty 12 to 24 hours at a time, he doesn't get enough rest or enough time at home, and leaving home to go to work is getting to be unbearable.


"It makes me very angry," said engineer Brian Taullie. "A lot of times my daughter's in tears, you know, 'Dad, don't go to work,' but what can you do."


The rail workers said they are also concerned about the community. They said having exhausted engineers hauling nuclear waste, hazardous materials and deadly chemicals is a disaster waiting to happen.


"If something was to happen a crew, or engineer falls asleep and we'd de-rail or we hit another train it could be right in the middle of townand you're looking at a hundred people maybe a thousand or maybe Seattle, it could happen in Seattle."


Union Pacific Railroad officials admitted they don't have enough people right now because of retirement and an upswing in the economy has brought in more business.


"We agree that we're shorthanded and we're doing a very aggressive hiring program nationally to address that," said John Bromley, a Union Pacific spokesman.


Union Pacific plans on hiring nearly 5,000 people by the end of the year, Bromley said.


But one other issue still nags at the union: The use of remote control trains in the rail yards instead of a train crew. The union contends using people is actually safer and more efficient.

[JoeKoh]

Well things are bad when they offer to fly people from the midwest to that area to run trains.
stay safe
Joe

[Anonymous]

The UP is really cracking right now in terms of backlog and not enough RTEs.

Right now there are so many bulkhead centerbeam flats loaded with lumber backloged on the UP that lumber mills up here in BC are barely getting a tiny fraction of the number of cars they are ordering.

Because of this, for the first time in decades, lumber mills have resulted to sending lumber on the ocean and through the panama canal to the east coast of the states.

Things are BAD.

[Anonymous]

Oh well! that's all Ive got to say.
A nation wide meltdown is no dout Is in the wings.
I just can't understand why the government won't do anything.
As the UP continues to crumble under their own feet, Im just waiting to see just what will realy will happen this great so-called railroad.

In the mean time,Im going to get myself a cold one AND just sit here and ask myself "where the hell is the crew for this train?" "It's been sitting here for day's now"