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Railroad Newsline for Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

UNION RIFT DERAILS TALKS: CN

Canadian National Railway Co. took one last swing at the union representing thousands of striking railway workers Monday ahead of back-to-work legislation that is expected to be reintroduced in Parliament Tuesday.

Jean-Pierre Blackburn, the federal Minister of Labour, said the government was forced to act after weekend talks between the railway and the union failed to generate any progress.

"The health of our economy is very important," Mr. Blackburn said, noting that another 15-day strike in February by United Transportation Union members forced plant closings across the country. "Now it is time to act."

Photos here:

[www.canada.com]

The so-called Railroad Continuation Act 2007 is expected to pass with the support of the Liberal party after it is debated today.

But before Mr. Blackburn said he would reintroduce the bill, which was drafted during the February walkout, the railway had some harsh words for the union.

CN said it had become clear that it would be "impossible" to reach a nationwide agreement with the UTU. It suggested that negotiating regional settlements would be the only way to end the dispute with the fragmented union.

"This bargaining process is broken," CN chief executive Hunter Harrison said yesterday in a statement. "After eight months of negotiations, we are no closer to a national agreement."

The UTU had not prepared a response to CN's accusations or the back-to-work bill by press deadline yesterday.

The railway's criticism, however, coupled with an internal memo last week from Mr. Harrison -- in which, the union said, the CN chief executive disparaged older workers -- will likely sour future negotiations after the back-to-work order, observers said.

The final-offer settlement in the legislation calls for an arbitrator to choose between either the union's and the railway's final offer, without a compromise.

Historically, these types of settlements tend to create a win lose situation that affects future negotiations, according to Rob Hickey, an assistant professor of industrial relations at Queen's University.

Mr. Hickey said CN's criticism yesterday was a "very aggressive" attempt to undermine the union's leadership and try to make structural changes in the bargaining relationship ahead of arbitration. "Part of the union's ability to bargain is the threat of substantial economic disruption. If you break that contract into different pieces, the union is less able to wield as much economic leverage," he said.

A final vote on the bill is expected later today or early tomorrow morning, before it receives Royal assent from the Senate on Thursday.

Last Tuesday, 2,800 of CN's conductors and yard workers began rotating strikes after voting against a one-year labour pact. Negotiations broke down over wages and working conditions.
The railway began locking out workers at eight strike locations in Ontario and B.C., including Vancouver.

Complicating the labour dispute is that some of the UTU members are awaiting a decision by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) on whether it will allow a vote to decertify the UTU led by a rival union, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which is attempting a raid on its membership.

More than 1,700 of CN's conductors and yard workers have signed application cards with Teamsters, according to Dan Shewchuk, Teamsters president.

However, the UTU has launched an appeal challenging the legality of the raid. A CIRB decision is expected within weeks.

The Teamsters union already represents the engineers and rail traffic controllers at CN and is aiming to consolidate its base with the conductors and yard workers. It already has a similar arrangement at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. - Scott Deveau and Paul Vieira, Financial Post, The Edmonton Journal

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MAN FACING YEAR IN JAIL FOR TRESPASSING ON RAILWAY TRAIN

ENID, OK -- Camalle Danyell Stone, 27, was charged Monday with a misdemeanor count of trespassing on a railway train, which is punishable by up to a year in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000.

Police responded in the 2100 block of North 30th about 03:18 hours after receiving a report of a man who had climbed on the train and was "acting crazy," according to an affidavit.

When police arrived, the man was on the side of the engine with his head to the engineering compartment, the affidavit states. Police called to the man three times before he responded, and when he stood up, he began jumping up and down and shaking his arms, according to the affidavit.

The man began walking toward an officer with his fists clenched as if in a fighter's stance, the affidavit states. The man was told to stop three times before one of the officers deployed his Taser to no effect. The man continued to walk toward the officers.

The second officer deployed his Taser to no effect, and the man continued to walk toward the officers, the affidavit states. The officers eventually wrestled the man to the ground and were able to take him into custody.

Men working for the railroad told the officers the man was told to keep away and off the train, but had climbed onto the engine.

One witness said he saw the man looking into the engineering window and "talking wild," according to the affidavit.

While at the hospital, Stone "woke up and became more responsive," according to the affidavit. Stone told police he remembered praying at home and can only remember bits and pieces of what happened that evening.

He told the judge he did not know how he had gotten to the rail yard.

Stone is free on a $1,000 recognizance bond and was ordered to appear again May 23 for a bond appearance. - Cass Rains, The Enid News and Eagle

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TRUCKS BYPASS ROCHESTER

Claire Vomhof's recent letter makes no sense by arguing that a huge number of trucks carrying hazardous material through our city would be much worse than just one coal train.

Almost every major highway in America has a "truck bypass" around every city of any size, including Rochester, Minnesota.

We wouldn't put hazardous materials in trucks and then drive them through downtown Rochester at 50 mph. So why should the DM&E railroad, with the chronically worst safety record in its class, be allowed to send hazardous materials on 34 high-speed trains each day through the heart of our city of 95,000 people?

The problem is the danger of high-speed train derailments with hazardous spills in downtown Rochester that would kill and injure thousands of people and do millions of dollars worth of damage. - Letter to the Editor, Donald Sudor, Rochester, MN, The Rochester Post-Bulletin

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DM&E MAKES CONTRIBUTIONS TO HERSETH SANDLIN

PIERRE, SD -- A local railroad's employees have contributed $12,000 to a South Dakota congresswoman's re-election campaign.

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin received six $2,000 contributions from various Dakota Eastern & Minnesota Railroad executives and directors. The figures were disclosed reported Sunday in a quarterly report of campaign contributions through the Federal Election Commission.

The Democrat from South Dakota has publicly said she supports the railroad's possible expansion project, which could mean 34 trains going through Pierre each day.

At a luncheon Friday afternoon in Pierre, Herseth Sandlin said she understands there are mixed feeling about the project in different parts of the state.

"I lived in Pierre. I live in Brookings, but I think that you probably already know and have an understanding of why the senators and I," she said, "and Gov. (Mike) Rounds all have supported the project - because of the economic benefits that we think that the state will experience."

A representative from Herseth Sandlin's office said the representative did not want to comment on the contributions.

DM&E recently was denied a $2.3 billion load by the Federal Rail Administration, which would have partially funded the $6 billion project.

DM&E president and CEO Kevin Schieffer, who donated $2,000 to Herseth Sandlin's campaign, has said he will look to private funding for the project.

According to Political Money Line, a Web site that tracks campaign contributions, Schieffer also has donated to Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D. and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. within the last year. The Senate files campaign reports on a different timetable, so the most current information was not immediately available. - Crystal Lindell, The Pierre Capital Journal

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KEEP PARKS: IT'S PREMATURE FOR STATE TO RELINQUISH RAILROAD, HISTORICAL PROPERTIES

There's no denying that our state parks are in trouble, and have been for a long time. A plan to allocate all the revenue generated from the sporting goods tax to Texas Parks and Wildlife, would probably do nothing more at this point than to stop further degeneration.

One year of funding barely adequate to the need won't do it. Just as Rome wasn't built in a day, our state parks won't be rebuilt in a year, which is why we believe plans to dismantle the state parks system, even partially, are a bad idea.

A couple of bills to be considered by the Legislature would do just that. One proposes to transfer trains and a state park from the TPW to a newly created Texas State Railroad authority, the other proposes to transfer as many as 18 historic properties to the Texas Historical Commission.

The reasoning behind both these requests is that these properties haven't been operated and maintained to their maximum potential.

A group from Jacksonville believes a private company will do a better job of maintaining and operating the railroad. Texas Historical Commission chairman, John Nau III, believes the same of his commission.

Although we disagreed with Nau's idea of having certain state parks transferred to the historical commission's authority, we did agree with the reason behind the request, to wit: State parks could be better marketed and operated to attract more visitors.

Nau's idea was to have the commission take over several historical properties, to be aggressively managed and marketed to a growing market -- "heritage tourists."

We don't think anyone, not even the folks at Texas Parks & Wildlife, could argue that our state parks have been operated at anywhere near an optimal level.

Many parks don't operate at maximum efficiency. Hours are short. Services have been reduced or eliminated. Attractions, if anything have decreased.

There has been no money to maintain the railroad tracks, to market historic properties to heritage tourists or to pay the salaries or the utilities necessary to keep railroads and historical properties open for visitors.

Whether it's public or private, it all costs money.

If it's possible for a private company or the historical commission to maintain and operate these properties, we see no reason why the TPW couldn't, either -- with a reasonable amount of time and money.

The state of Texas is just as capable of hiring the same personnel or services that a private enterprise or the historical commission would employ to make these state properties viable.

We'd like to point out, too, that private enterprise isn't always successful. The Texas State Railroad has been losing $1 million a year. There's no guarantee that a private company wouldn't suffer the same loss -- if a private company does agree to take over a property that needs $12 to $40 million in repairs and loses $1 million a year.

Nobody is more familiar with these parks, and what they need, than the TPW. It makes sense to give them the first opportunity to fix what's wrong. - Editorial Opinion, The Lufkin Daily News

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UNION PACIFIC MUST MITIGATE PLANNED BOOST IN RAIL TRAFFIC

Union Pacific's plans to add a second rail line through southern Arizona - and through Tucson - will mean greater noise, greater potential for danger and great disruption for motorists.

It also will mean greater revenue for Union Pacific. And the railroad should be compelled to use some of that increased revenue to mitigate the impact on those of us who live in southern Arizona.

Officials of Union Pacific say they want to add a second track to the main line that crosses southern Arizona as part of the Sunset Route between Los Angeles and El Paso, Texas.

In conjunction with the work, the railroad said it will ask the Arizona Corporation Commission for permission to modify 50 existing road crossings across the state.
The commission doesn't have jurisdiction over the track project, but it does have oversight of railroad safety, including places where tracks cross roads.

Union Pacific said the double- tracking is needed for trains hauling containers and trailers full of goods taken off ships in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The current tracks can accommodate up to 50 trains a day. With two tracks, Union Pacific said it can add up to 70 trains a day.

For Tucsonans whose daily commute includes crossing tracks, the thought of more than twice as many trains is horrifying. Waiting for trains snarls traffic at many points on Tucson's West and Northwest sides.

Union Pacific says it plans to spend $18.4 million rebuilding at-grade road crossings. That certainly is needed, but it does not take into account the far greater congestion and danger caused by many more trains - some of which will undoubtedly carry hazardous materials.

The Pima County Regional Transportation Plan, approved by voters last May, includes millions of dollars to build underpasses or overpasses at several spots where trains now cross the road. If those facilities now must handle two tracks instead of one, the cost will clearly be greater.

A Union Pacific official said the company should not have to pay for overpasses or underpasses because "the public receives the vast majority of the benefit. The railroad receives a marginal benefit."

But the railroad will receive the vast majority of the additional revenue from running twice as many trains through Tucson. And the public will receive the vast majority of the inconvenience and potential danger.

Union Pacific has an obligation to mitigate the negative impacts of its plan to greatly increase rail traffic through southern Arizona. That is an obligation the Corporation Commission, to the extent permitted, should impose on the company. - Editorial Opinion, The Tucson Citizen

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STATE TO LOOK AT RAILROAD, STREET GRADE SEPARATIONS TUESDAY

PALM SPRINGS, CA -- California's Joint Legislative Audit Committee on Tuesday will look at the lengthy approval process that slows down railroad and street grade separation projects.

The audit was requested by Assemblyman John Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes.

"With as many as 110 trains passing through Riverside every day, I've received considerable concern from constituents who agree that these train delays are unacceptable," Benoit said in a statement today.

"Inland Empire motorists deserve to know why it takes so long to fund projects that would provide tremendous benefits to the community, including reduced congestion and pollution from idling street traffic, reduced delays for emergency vehicles, and better access to community businesses.

"With Proposition 1B funds flowing to fund long-term transportation projects throughout the state, now is the time to ensure that money for ongoing projects and goods movement infrastructure is spent wisely."

According to Benoit's office, more than 100 priority grade separation projects - costing on average almost $30 million - are needed throughout California.

Riverside County has 47 potential grade separation projects, Benoit's statement said, costing at least $725 million. The county has received $15 million in state funding so far, the statement said.

One grade separation project has been completed since 2001 and construction on two projects starts this year. - Erica Solvig, The Palm Springs Desert Sun

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ELEVATOR SOCIETY TEAMS UP WITH RAILROAD GROUP

NANTON, AB -- At the Wednesday, March 28 Canadian Grain Elevator Discovery Centre (CGEDC) regular meeting, the society voted in favour to create a standing committee for the Nanton Heritage Railway (NHR) group within their organization.

Rick Everett, director of the CGEDC board, said the new NHR standing committee will streamline communication with the elevator society.

"Basically that's what we've done, instead of having two voices let's have one voice and one set of strategies," Everett said.

The NHR has been working in conjunction with the CGEDC for some time. The two groups have already formalized plans to bring in two train cars that will sit stationary in front of Nanton's famous grain elevators on 800 feet of track for tourist and educational purposes. Originally there were three train cars planned, but Everett said one of the cars might have to be scrapped for safety reasons due to lead paint that was covered on it. Everett said the CGEDC still hopes to add a third car for their display.

Placing train cars and track in Nanton is Phase I in a long-range plan of having a historical train travel all the way from Calgary to Nanton. NHR is a group spearheaded by Stan Baric, Randy Hellier, Chris Neu Rauter, B.A. and Barry Blick. Baric said the group discovered around the spring of 2006 that the CGEDC (at the time known as the Nanton and District Grain Elevator Historical and Cultural Society) was an integral aspect in preserving the Nanton elevators and might be able to help their cause, so the groups began working together. Baric said Georgina Sharpe, Florence Brown and Mary Robley from the Town of Nanton were instrumental in putting the railroad on the Town's agenda.

"What we found, from an elevator board perspective, is that there is a direct connection between the railroad, the elevators, and the farmer," Everett said. "It's like a symbiotic relationship. One couldn't exist without the other."

Baric said a historic train from Calgary to Nanton would be a major attraction not only for Nanton, but also for much of southern Alberta.

"Finally we said 'if we do something in Nanton, why not connect it to Calgary," Baric said.

The plan of connecting Calgary to Nanton via historical train has not been without its challenges. Phase III involves retaining existing trackage from the Cargill Beef Processing Plant just north of High River, with the intent of traveling a train from Nanton to High River.

Baric said he has spoken to the mayor of High River regarding NHR's plan, asking that the tracks be left untouched. Baric said there is concern that some of the track in High River may be torn apart, which would negatively affect NHR's vision. Everett said there is also concern that much of the track in Cayley might be lost due to recent financial events. Phases IV and V intend to connect Cayley and Nanton with rail track, but there would have to be eight miles of new track laid down. But if any of the already existing track is destroyed, much of the group's overall plans -- including the final goal of connecting to Calgary -- might turn to dust.

"The group would like to see a moratorium on the whole track bed until we can get to the bottom of this," Everett said.

In the meantime, plans are underway to commence laying the 800 feet of track already stored in Nanton and placing the train cars by mid-June and in time for the August centennial celebrations. - Blair Braitenbach, The Nanton News

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GROUP LISTS NECHES AS TOP ENDANGERED RIVER IN THE U.S.

Photo here:

[images.chron.com]

Caption reads: The Neches River, which runs through Jacksonville, is at the center of a battle over its future as either a wildlife refuge or reservoir. It has been named one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the nation. Michael Banks, a Jacksonville dentist, is co-chairman of Friends of the Neches River, an organization that has worked to protect the river. (Photo by Amy Peterson/The Houston Chronicle)

One of Texas' wildest rivers is also its most threatened, according to a national conservation group that today named the Neches River one of the most endangered in America.

The East Texas waterway, which runs from the Tyler area to Sabine Lake near Beaumont, is prized by naturalists for the unique ecological habitat of its bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands.

At the same time, the city of Dallas, backed by state water planners, is looking to the river as a water source to serve a population expected to double in the next 50 years. The city wants to build the 25,000-acre Fastrill Reservoir on the Neches in Anderson and Cherokee counties.

The conflict between the city and state on one side, and environmentalists and the federal government on the other, prompted the Washington-based American Rivers conservation organization to put the Neches on its endangered list.

"This is the kind of conflict we are seeing more and more, particularly in the West," said Rebecca Wodder, the group's president. "In this case, you have a river endangered by wasteful water use. Dallas is one of the most wasteful water-using cities in Texas and my guess is, it ranks right up there nationally."

It appeared that the reservoir, proposed to be built in 2045, was permanently blocked last June when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established the same land as a new wildlife refuge.

Beneficial to wildlife

In forming the refuge, and buying an easement on one acre to begin land acquisition, the service said the river was essential for migrating waterfowl such as mallards and wood ducks as well as bobcat, river otters and many fish species.

Reptiles and amphibians, including the threatened American alligator, also would be protected along the 38-mile stretch of the Neches included in the refuge.

The proposed Fastrill Reservoir would flood much of the wildlife refuge and reduce downstream flows, hurting the health of the river habitat, opponents say, all the way south to the Big Thicket National Preserve and Sabine Lake.

"If you start pulling water out, everything downstream is affected," said Janice Bezanson, executive director of the Texas Conservation Alliance. "Floodwaters replenish bottomland forests."

Two national forest wilderness areas and a state wildlife management area also would be affected by the reservoir, which also would submerge the tracks of the Texas State Railroad, a popular tourist attraction featuring vintage rail cars pulled by steam locomotives.

In November, the Texas Water Development Board included Fastrill in its 50-year water plan, and two months later, the state and city filed a federal lawsuit to undo the refuge.

"We are tired of environmental extremists entrenched in the federal bureaucracy undermining our water planning process," Gov. Rick Perry said in his State of the State address in February, referring to the Neches decision. "We support wildlife refuges but please stop declaring them on land local officials have identified as viable for water reservoirs. ... Our message to Washington is this: let Texans run Texas."

Dallas City Council member Linda Koop, who chairs the city's transportation and environment committee, said Dallas included Fastrill in its 2005 regional plan and is intent on developing the reservoir because it already has rights to water in nearby Lake Palestine. "Palestine is pretty much our next source and Fastrill's location will allow us to operate those as a system," she said.

Koop said Dallas is serious about water conservation and has set out a target to cut overall water use by 5 percent. "We're laying out plans to meet that 5 percent," she said.

National focus needed

Cities such as Albuquerque, which has cut water use by 30 percent, have done much better, Wodder said. "If this is a 50-year plan, then we have so much room over the next 50 years. There will be good technologies on how to approach urban and agricultural water use and make supplies go a lot farther. We don't have to sacrifice one of the last, best rivers to get the job done."

State and local environmentalists who have been promoting the refuge for years said a national focus on the river can only help their efforts.

"A lot of times East Texans don't realize the natural assets we have. We take them for granted," said Gina Donovan, with the Texas Conservation Alliance in Tyler. "The Neches River often has been overlooked."

Dr. Michael Banks, a Jacksonville dentist whose group Friends of the Neches River has organized local support, said Dallas and the state are the ones with the uphill fight in court.

New wildlife refuges have sparked occasional lawsuits, but David Eisenhower, a fish and wildlife service spokesman in Washington, said none in the national system of 547 refuges has been overturned.

If the city and state lose the lawsuit, which is pending in a federal court in Dallas, only Congress could reverse the refuge. Meanwhile, federal officials have agreed not to acquire additional land until the lawsuit is decided.

Other waterways in the region named to American Rivers' endangered list are: Lee Creek in Arkansas, which could be dammed; and the Santa Fe River in New Mexico, which is a dry ditch except during the spring. Its flow is all but eliminated by wells and water projects in the fast-growing high desert city, the rivers group says. - Thomas Korosec, The Houston Chronicle

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JOHN FERY'S TWO MEDICINE LAKE, c. 1910-1917 (TIMES TWO)

Paintings here:

[www.bnsf.com]

In 1910 James J. Hill, founder of the Great Northern Railway, joined others to influence the U. S. Congress to set aside one million acres of wilderness in northwestern Montana as Glacier National Park.

To focus tourist interest on the park, Louis W. Hill, son of James J. Hill, requested John Fery, an artist, to paint panoramic landscapes of Glacier National Park. From 1910 through 1913, John Fery painted more than 300 dramatic over-sized western images for the Great Northern to display in ticket offices and depots across the Great Northern system.

John Fery

Born in Austria in 1859, Fery began painting in Europe following some classical education at the European art schools.

In the1890s, Fery arrived in the western United States to lead numerous hunting exhibitions for European sportsmen. After painting in other Midwestern and East Coast cities, Fery arrived in St. Paul, Minn., in 1910 and began his commissions for the Great Northern. He spent summers in Glacier doing sketches. The long Minnesota winters gave Fery inspiration and he began to turn his sketches into over-sized oil paintings at the astonishing rate of nine per month.

Fery was noted for painting rapidly with wide brush strokes in a technique known as "wet-on-wet." He finished each monumental painting in about four days – before the paint even dried. This aggressive and energetic style lent itself to the raw energy and pristine nature of the Glacier landscape.

Paintings

On BNSF’s headquarters campus in Fort Worth, Campus in the NOC-2 drum area facing each other are two Fery renditions of the southeast corner of Glacier, both named Two Medicine Lake, face each other from the southeast corner of Glacier. With one installed over an antique depot bench, you can look across the stairwell at the other painting and imagine how Fery’s paintings looked in the early depots. Or you can compare the two paintings to the actual site as it looks today on a Glacier National Park live Web cam at the following link:

[www.nps.gov]

- BNSF Today (Written by Sally King, curator for BNSF for the past two and half years. King has a master's of Art History from the University of Dallas.)

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RAILROAD STOCKS FALL ON BNI DOWNGRADE

NEW YORK, NY -- Railroad stocks closed lower Tuesday, as an analyst with UBS Investment Research downgraded a key member of the sector and investors braced themselves for the sector's first quarterly earnings report.

Rick Paterson at UBS downgraded Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. to "Neutral" from "Buy," saying a recent rally by the stock exhausted much of its upside potential. The analyst added that the group no longer stands as a "buy 'em all" sector and investors should become stock specific.

Investors also sold off some rail stocks ahead of CSX Corp.'s first-quarter earnings statement, expected after the market close. Most analysts expect softer quarterly reports from Class I operators, due to weakened freight demand and bad weather. How pricing held up will likely determine their results, analysts have said.

Here's how key railroad stocks ended Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange:

Burlington Northern Santa Fe, down $1.77 to $91.68.

CSX, flat at $43.33.

Norfolk Southern Corp., down 81 cents to $54.04.

Canadian National Railway Co., down 30 cents at $48.78.

Union Pacific Corp., down 97 cents at $110.46.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., down 76 cents at $60.11.

- The Associated Press, The Houston Chronicle

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ENGINEER TO STAND TRIAL IN TRAIN DERAILMENT

SMETHPORT, PA -- An engineer at the controls of a train that derailed, polluting a pristine trout stream, told his employer he didn't think he had fallen asleep but remembered the conductor yelling his name as the train sped down a steep grade at more than 70 mph, a state trooper testified.

Reading from portions of testimony Michael Seifert gave at a hearing when he was fired from Norfolk Southern Railroad, Trooper Gary Stuckey said Seifert admitted to operating the train June 30 when it crested a summit at about 10 mph.

The next thing Seifert said he realized was the conductor shouting his name and the train barreling down, Stuckey said.

"I'm still trying to figure out what happened," Seifert said at the railroad hearing.

After a preliminary hearing Monday, Seifert, 45, of Buffalo, NY, was ordered to stand trial on charges of causing or risking a catastrophe and reckless endangerment.

During the railroad hearing, Seifert admitted the train was not being operated according to the company's rules and the derailment was a result of a failure to follow procedure, Stuckey said.

Rather than engaging the emergency brakes, Seifert said he decided to "ride it out," a procedure he did with a supervisor and other railroad officials on board during a training run on that track in 2000, according to the testimony.

"Just because you've done something before, doesn't mean it is right to do it again," McKean County District Attorney John Pavlock said.

Seifert's attorney, Paul Maliza, said the conductor had the authority to engage the emergency brakes and asked why the conductor wasn't charged.

"Two people were operating that train; the conductor had equal responsibility," Maliza said.

About 42,000 gallons of the caustic chemical sodium hydroxide, also known as lye or caustic soda, spilled into the Sinnemahoning-Portage Creek near Gardeau after 32 cars derailed. The train reached a speed of 77 mph in a 15 mph zone before jumping the tracks, according to a criminal complaint.

Prosecutors also said Seifert was under the influence of drugs -- opiates and benzodiazepines -- at the time of the crash. Benzodiazepines are commonly used to ease anxiety and opiates are found in numerous drugs, from prescription pain relievers to heroin. Seifert has not been charged with any drug offenses.

Maliza said the prosecution only had a doctor's statement that the drugs "may likely have been a contributing factor."

Fish were killed in the creek, which is designated a creek of exceptional value by state wildlife officials, and Big Fill Run.

Effects of the spill were felt as far as 30 miles downstream, with much of the impact in Cameron County, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection, which is seeking $8.89 million in fines for environmental violations. The railroad has appealed.

Seifert was fired by Norfolk Southern last year. - The Associated Press, The Centre Daily (State College, PA)

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TRANSIT NEWS

CITY REVEALS VISION OF eBART PROJECT

PITTSBURG, CA -- Alicia Leon stared at two images of the same block taped to a wall of the Pittsburg Senior Center and tried to make sense of them. On the left: a recent picture of Pittsburg Funeral Chapel, which has been at Leland Road and Railroad Avenue for 42 years. On the right: a photosimulation showing a tall, white, rounded building.

"What's happening to the funeral home?" she asked. "Is it going inside that building?"

A consultant told Leon that no, the owner of that business was open to redeveloping that block. She considered his answer, then repeated her question.

The community workshop last week about development possibilities around the proposed eBART station at Railroad Avenue and Highway 4 was the public's first opportunity to see what the area might look like incorporating their suggestions. At two previous workshops in June and September, people told city officials they want a vibrant, walkable, environmentally sensitive place that is accessible by different modes of transportation and contains a well-balanced mix of housing, retail, commercial and light manufacturing uses.

The city plans to release by mid-May a draft of the specific plan for development in the area, with City Council approval of that document possible by the end of the year. City officials have said -- and reiterated at the workshop -- that they think moving ahead with plans makes sense even if the proposed eBART line doesn't materialize for years.

"Whether it takes BART five years or 10 years, we still think it's important to have a transit village here," Pittsburg Planning Director Melissa Ayres told the approximately two dozen people in attendance.

The concept drawings the public saw last week of the area southeast of the Highway 4-Railroad intersection, the quadrant that could undergo the most change, were not representations of proposed development or final drawings, city officials and consultants cautioned.

They were created merely to show what the area bounded by Highway 4, Railroad Avenue, East Leland Road and Harbor Street could look like as soon as two years from now, depending upon how soon property owners decide to act. Most of the more than 52 acres in that area is private land.

"This is inviting," Pittsburg resident Terry Robinson said as he examined a simulation showing pedestrians crossing a built-up Bliss Avenue, now less developed. "I lived in San Francisco for 22 years; I'm used to walking. Build and they will come? Build and they will walk." - Laurie Phillips, The Contra Costa Times

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SAFETY ISSUES COULD DELAY EXPOSITION LINE

Photo here:

[www.latimes.com]

LOS ANGELES, CA -- While debate simmers over whether the last segment of the Exposition light-rail line should run through upscale Westside neighborhoods, safety concerns raised by state officials and others threaten to delay the first phase of the $640-million project from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City.

Ground has been broken, contracts have been awarded and construction is getting underway on the nine-mile first phase, which is scheduled for completion in 2010. But the state agency that oversees rail safety in California is concerned that the trains may pose a risk to pedestrians and motorists at several locations.

Until additional safety precautions are incorporated into the project's design, the California Public Utilities Commission and the agency building the line remain at odds over 13 intersections near Los Angeles Trade Tech College, USC and Dorsey High School in the Crenshaw district.

"The commission's jurisdiction . does not include whether to build a transit line. All we are concerned with is the safety of the proposed rail line," said Patrick S. Berdge, the commission attorney.

Several residents along the former railroad right of way are formally protesting the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority's applications to put rails across 44 intersections along the route. In addition, a USC engineering professor and Los Angeles Unified School district officials have voiced safety concerns.

Map here:

[www.latimes.com]

Builders of the rail line fear the issues raised by the utilities commission staff and others could delay construction for years and add millions of dollars to the project's cost. So they are fighting back, pushing legislation in Sacramento to cut in half the amount of time the commission has to act on the grade-crossing applications.

"We've still got a lot of folks talking about what we should do with this project," said Rick Thorpe, chief executive of the construction authority. "That discussion should have been done a long time ago.. When do you draw the line and say, 'We're done. Let's go build it.' "

Over the last three decades, Thorpe has built light-rail lines in San Diego, Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. "I won't allow any design . that I don't think is absolutely safe to the public," he said.

Others aren't so sure. Najmedin Meshkati, a USC engineering professor, warns that fast-moving trains on the Exposition Line will pose a danger to "sensitive and vulnerable populations such as schoolchildren and elderly pedestrians."

Meshkati and graduate students in engineering at USC and Cal State Long Beach examined safety problems on the Metro Blue Line, which runs 22 miles from downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach.

A total of 87 people have been killed by Blue Line trains since the Metropolitan Transportation Authority opened the heavily traveled light-rail route in 1990. Twenty of those fatalities were ruled to be suicides.

The latest fatality occurred Saturday, when a 24-year-old woman ran across the tracks on Washington Boulevard, south of downtown Los Angeles, and was struck by a train, according to Abdul Zohbi, the MTA's manager of system safety.

Based on accident data, Meshkati and his team found that at-grade rail crossings posed a high risk to pedestrians and motorists. To reduce those risks significantly, Meshkati said, human factors need to play a vital role in the design of rail crossings on the Exposition Line.

Meshkati said the MTA's grade-crossing policy, which guides the agency's decisions about whether to place a rail line over or under a street, needs "a great deal of improvement."

But Zohbi said lessons learned from accidents on the Blue Line were incorporated into the design of the Metro Gold Line, which runs from downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena. The 13-mile rail line has had just one fatality, a suicide, and no serious injuries since operations began in 2003.

Zohbi said engineering improvements, enforcement of traffic laws and education of residents and schoolchildren have made both the Blue and Gold lines safer.

To prevent motorists from driving around gates, the Gold Line was built with gates that cover all traffic lanes on both sides of the tracks. Other gates block pedestrians from crossing the tracks when a train is approaching.

The same methods will be used on the Exposition Line. "We are basically sealing off the intersections entirely," Thorpe said.

But the Public Utilities Commission's rail safety staff remains concerned about the potential risk to drivers and pedestrians where the Exposition Line will pass Los Angeles Trade Tech College, just south of the Santa Monica Freeway.

Eight driveways lead into or out of the campus in four blocks of Flower Street between Washington Boulevard and 23rd Street. The Public Utilities Commission and the Exposition construction authority have been unable to reach agreement about how to design those crossings.
Four pedestrian crossings near USC, where the tracks will run in the median of Exposition Boulevard, are also a concern.

In the Crenshaw district, there is disagreement over what to do about the rail crossing nearest Dorsey High School.

At a recent meeting, County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, chairwoman of the Exposition construction authority, said she was concerned about the potential risk that the trains may pose to students walking or driving across the tracks near the school. "They just seem to go in all directions [and are] not as easily controlled" as younger students, Burke said.

The supervisor urged project officials to consider building elevated tracks near Dorsey High, half a mile east of where they are slated to start. The above-ground section would carry passengers to an elevated station at La Brea Avenue.

Burke suggested that project officials contact local, state and federal representatives in an effort to find additional funds to build the elevated line at Dorsey.

Thorpe said examining the issue is one thing, but building the elevated section is another. In addition to the cost, which could exceed $10 million, such a change may require reopening the environmental impact report on the project. The original environmental study did not evaluate the effects of an elevated line at that location.

Officials at the Los Angeles Unified School District also have raised concerns about the Exposition project, including potential risks to the safety of students, teachers and staff. In a letter to the Public Utilities Commission last fall, environmental assessment coordinator Glenn Striegler said the district opposed the rail project as designed. He demanded that steps be taken to eliminate all rail-pedestrian conflicts on routes to schools in the area.

In addition to Dorsey High School, four other schools sit within 100 feet of the Exposition Line: Foshay Learning Center, Theodore Alexander Jr. Science Center, Adams Middle School and Central L.A. Area Middle School No. 4.

Mark Jolles, a member of a group called Expo Communities United, is protesting the Exposition construction authority's applications to construct at-grade crossings at numerous intersections. "I don't think safety is their primary concern," he said.

Jolles, a schoolteacher, said he was particularly concerned about locations where the trains would pass near schools.

Clint Simmons, who lives near the Exposition right of way, has joined Jolles in protesting the applications for at-grade crossings. "Nobody is against light rail, but do it right," he said.

Determined to get construction underway, the Exposition construction authority and the MTA have sought legislative help.

State Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) introduced legislation recently to limit to nine months the amount of time the Public Utilities Commission has to act on the grade-crossing applications.

Kuehl said she hopes the bill will encourage the commission "to be more collaborative" in working with the construction authority.

"We need to get the Expo line because half the time," Kuehl said, the Santa Monica Freeway "is a parking lot."

The second phase of the project is expected to link Culver City with Santa Monica, but the route remains undecided. Homeowner associations in upscale Westside neighborhoods object to using the old Exposition railroad right of way that runs through their area. - Jeff Rabin, The Los Angeles Times

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TUCSON'S REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY LAYS OUT FACTS ON MODERN STREETCAR PLAN

Streetcar video here:

[www.rtamobility.com]

What is the modern streetcar?

The modern streetcar uses a fixed, electric-rail system at street level, shares a lane with other vehicles, and operates safely in high-pedestrian areas to link riders with major activity centers where parking is scarce.

Unlike a historic trolley, the modern streetcar employs new technology that allows it to operate quietly, smoothly and efficiently in harmony with other vehicles. It can carry between 100-130 people along the nearly 4-mile route in one of the densest corridors in Tucson.

Who will use the streetcar?

The modern streetcar is expected to carry 4,200 passengers per weekday, including residents, employees in the downtown, tourists, seasonal visitors and students. The streetcar will serve major activity centers between downtown and the University of Arizona campus area.

In addition to the daily schedule and ridership, the streetcar will provide service to those people coming downtown for special events, sporting events, entertainment and other activities.

Why is the modern streetcar beneficial?

The streetcar will help meet the transportation needs of those who live and work in the downtown area, as well as those who want to get around comfortably in the downtown area.

The streetcar is cost-effective, fuel-efficient, and uses the latest design and technology. This will help improve air quality as well as our quality of life in the downtown area. As the area continues to grow, the Streetcar will enable more people to travel more efficiently, without the need to widen our streets.

The streetcar also will save riders money in fuel costs, wear and tear on their vehicles, insurance and parking expenses.

Modern streetcars have historically encouraged development along their routes and support long-term economic growth for their cities. Based on other cities’ experiences, the streetcar will generate more in increased sales tax revenues along the route than it costs to operate and maintain.

Streetcar passenger fees are expected to be the same as the bus fees as part of a totally integrated system. - Tucson Regional Transit Authority, courtesy Marc Pearsall

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THE END