49 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

May 6, 2020  

 

U.S. Secretary Elaine Chao Thanks America's Railroad Workers

 
"U.S. rail workers have also been critical in keeping supply chains moving, facilitating the movement of critical medical and grocery supplies to Americans all across the country," says U.S Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

 

Watch

 

[CNJRoss]

Los Angeles Times via YouTube
 

Trains chugging along, even as pandemic creates disarray in the freight industry

 

May 10, 2020

Los Angeles Times

 

At the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway transit hub in La Mirada the trains continue to deliver essential goods to local businesses.

 

[CNJRoss]

BNSF employees show why they're railroaders

 

May 14, 2020

BNSF Railway

 

BNSF employees show up every day to keep essential goods moving during the #Covid19 pandemic. Employees at our Cicero Intermodal Facility in Illinois had something to say about why they’re railroaders.

 

 

Check out the placard at 1:02 

[CNJRoss]

Railway Age 5/14/20

 

 

America’s Integrated Rail Network Is Delivering for the Nation

 

Written by Ian Jefferies, Association of American Railroads, and Chuck Baker, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association

 

Editor’s Note: The following editorial by Ian Jefferies and Chuck Baker was originally published on May 8 by Morning Consult, a Washington D.C.-based tech company. – William C. Vantuono

 

 

The Washington policy community is abuzz regarding commentary from entrepreneur Marc Andreesen, who argues now is the time to “build.” Against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, Andreesen advances his thesis in a town where Infrastructure Week has become a joke: Beset by bureaucracy and dysfunction, policymakers have proven unsuccessful to date in tackling even those policies that are widely supported, like investing in existing or new transportation networks.

 

“Where are the supersonic aircraft?” Andreesen asks, while also envisioning “millions of delivery drones,” hyperloops and flying cars.

 

The answer is complicated, and the current pandemic should spur a call to action on how to build better systems – from facets of manufacturing to health care to transportation. But from where we sit, today’s crisis also validates the value of existing systems that are already delivering for America.

 

One such system is the nation’s integrated, 140,000-mile freight rail network – made up of companies ranging from Fortune 150 entities to five-person small businesses. Driven by its dedicated workforce, sustained investments and years of network planning, freight railroads are operating safely amid the coronavirus situation to deliver a range of the critical goods we all depend on.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Railway Age 5/13/20
 

Note:  Transit impact is discussed through 27:02;  remaining 12 minutes focus on freight rail impact.

 

Special Podcast Series—The Coronavirus and the Rail Industry: How Much Will It Hurt and When Will It End?

 

Railway Track & Structures Editor-in-Chief Bill Wilson and Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono discuss how hard the rail industry has been hit due to the pandemic and when it might recover.

 

Rail Group On Air

 

Special Podcast Series—The Coronavirus and the Rail Industry: Everyone is hurting

 

Podcast

 

[CNJRoss]

The North Platte (NE) Telegraph, 5/19/20

Union Pacific's Bailey Yard lays off workers due to pandemic

 

 

The Union Pacific Railroad Tuesday laid off an unspecified number of workers in Bailey Yard’s mechanical department.

 

Raquel Espinoza, U.P.’s senior director for corporate communications and media relations, confirmed the first job reductions related to the COVID-19 outbreak at the North Platte classification yard, the world’s largest.

 

“Union Pacific is experiencing volume declines as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the country,” Espinoza said in a email. “We are operating fewer locomotives and rail cars, requiring us to reduce our workforce in the mechanical department today.”

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

BLET NEWS FLASH 

 

FRA extension of safety waivers to railroads puts U.S. through another two months of risk

 

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio, May 27, 2020 — The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) extended safety waivers granted to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic recently, again favoring the material concerns of the carriers over the safety of America’s rail workers and of the general public.

The extension runs until the earlier of when the emergency declaration is lifted, or 60 days from letters dated May 21 to the AAR and ASLRRA by the agency governing safety on America’s railroads. The broad waivers concerning numerous safety regulations and training requirements were initially set to expire beginning May 24, 29 and June 9.

The leaders of two of America’s largest rail unions, the SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD) and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), objected to the lengthening of these waivers that they had described as “alarming” when first initiated.

“The agency continues a pattern of FRA appeasement to the carriers,” said SMART-TD President Jeremy R. Ferguson and BLET President Dennis R. Pierce. “Essential safety tasks once again are being deferred with regulators’ blessings while the agency could not be bothered to enact an emergency order to hold carriers accountable to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention minimum health and safety standards for employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The waiver extension, granted nine days after the AAR’s petition to renew, cover regulations governing:

• Periodic track inspections
• Training
• Quick tie-ups
• Locomotive and conductor certification
• Territorial qualifications

Conversely, SMART-TD and the BLET jointly petitioned FRA to respond to the pandemic multiple times in March seeking emergency orders to improve working conditions and to better protect workers from potential infection by requiring carriers to adhere to basic CDC protocols. The agency, however, declined to put its full regulatory power on the side of protecting essential transportation workers.

“The continued pattern of rubber-stamping requests by carriers while unabashedly coming up short for the essential workers who have continued to show up and work through the pandemic shows where FRA’s priorities are,” the union presidents said.

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FRA Response to AAR ERD extension request (052220).pdf

 

FRA Response to ASLRRA ERD extension request (052220).pdf

[CNJRoss]

Progressive Railroading May 2020
 

CN aims to maintain stay-resilient, stay-lean strategy to overcome business lost to the pandemic

 

 

A labor strike in November. Protest blockades along several key lines in February. The COVID-19 pandemic emerging and accelerating in March. And on top of that, the usual severe winter weather during the first quarter.

 

To say the five-month period from November 2019 to April 2020 was difficult for CN is a huge understatement. It was perhaps the most trying and disruptive such period in the Class I’s nearly 101-year history — and it’s not even over. The series of events caused routing disruptions and shutdowns, temporary and permanent layoffs, traffic downturns, and cost and resource cuts.

 

But the experiences in that period haven’t been crushing, at least not as of late April. They were more a testament of the resiliency of the company and its employees, and a prime example of the important role the railroad plays in getting everyday essential goods to markets, said CN Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Reilly in an email.

 

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Cross-posted in Freight Railroads forum.

[CNJRoss]

Progressive Railroading 6/5/20

 

Volume decline prompts NS to pursue rail yard efficiencies

 

 

In a service update to customers, Norfolk Southern Railway announced earlier this week that the railroad is examining its individual yards for ways to streamline operations.

 

The review is part of the Class I's strategic plan launched last year to create a more efficient and responsive railroad, but also is in response to lower volumes resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

 

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Cross-posted:  Norfolk Southern pursuing rail yard efficiencies

[CNJRoss]

The Hill 6/5/20
 

Coronavirus Report: The Hill's Steve Clemons interviews Ian Jefferies

 

 

The Hill’s Steve Clemons interviews Ian Jefferies, Association of American Railroads president

 

Read excerpts from the interview below. 

 

Clemons: Why is our freight system, our railway system an important story in the time of COVID-19?

 

Jefferies: Railroads are an integral part of the economy writ large, we often say we’re the backbone of America's economy. Somewhat unseen to a lot of the country, folks don't think about the trains traveling across the country that are moving goods for every part of our economy, whether it's consumer goods that end up on store shelves or maybe eventually end up in e-commerce getting delivered to your house. Whether we're talking about industrial goods like energy products that literally power our homes and businesses. Whether we're talking about products that are used in water treatment, to purify all of our water systems to make sure we have clean drinking water, whether we're talking about grains for export or U.S. consumption. Food, cattle feed, pretty much anything, building construction materials, automobiles. Anything that you see or use in everyday walk of life most likely has the connection to a freight train in some way, shape or form.

 

Continue here w/video interview.