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Railroad Newsline for Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

BNSF EMPLOYEES' QUICK ACTIONS SAVE A LIFE

A heart attack victim survived, thanks to quick-thinking employees who recognized symptoms and used cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

While a crew was undercutting near Amazonia, Missouri, on the Nebraska Division, a Plasser contractor suffered an apparent heart attack. As employees checked him, they noticed he did not have any vital signs. Scott Hawthorne, BNSF Railway Company supervisor, Roadway Equipment, and Tim Nunnely, Plasser contract crew supervisor, performed CPR until emergency medical services arrived and transported him to a hospital.

"Due to their actions, they saved a fellow employee’s life," says Manager Roadway Equipment Rex Hunziger.

Hawthorne credited training from CPR certification classes. "We just did it," he says. "Learning CPR is a good thing. You never know when you might need it."

Do You Know the Symptoms?

Would you know what to do if faced with a cardiac arrest? Do you know the symptoms of a heart attack? You never know when your emergency skills will be tested; learning CPR may save someone’s life.

Heart attack symptoms may include the following:

• Chest discomfort. This is the most common symptom that usually occurs in the center of the chest lasting more than a few minutes, or it may come and go. The discomfort is often described as pressure, squeezing, tightness or pain. However, many women don’t experience any chest pain during a heart attack.

• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body, including pain in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.

• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.

• Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.

• Some women may also experience vague symptoms prior to an attack such as unusual fatigue, trouble sleeping, problems breathing, indigestion or anxiety.

If you notice any of these pre-heart attack symptoms, tell your doctor immediately. - BNSF Today

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CN PLANS SALE OF CENTRAL STATION COMPLEX IN MONTREAL, LEASEBACK OF HEADQUARTERS BUILDING AND RAIL STATION'S PASSENGER FACILITIES

MONTREAL, QC -- The Canadian National Railway announced last Friday plans to sell its Central Station Complex (CSC) in Montreal, and to lease back its corporate headquarters building and the railway passenger facilities of the station, two key components of the CSC.

The CSC houses CN’s headquarters building, the passenger rail activities of VIA Rail Canada Inc., l’Agence métropolitaine de transport and AMTRAK, and extensive retail operations.

Claude Mongeau, executive vice-president and chief financial officer of CN, said: “We believe the sale and lease back transaction will put a highly experienced property manager in place to unlock the great potential of this inter-city passenger and commuter rail transportation hub and retail centre, including one million square feet of space available for future development.

“This transaction will not affect the location of CN’s corporate headquarters in Montreal or the rail passenger facilities of Central Station, both of which CN plans to lease back on a long-term basis.”

CN will take the necessary measures to ensure the heritage features of the station are maintained and protected for the future in the proposed real estate transaction.

CN, through its advisor for the transaction, Brookfield Financial Real Estate Group, will invite proposals from qualified parties to bid on the CSC complex, and anticipates reaching a definitive agreement on the sale, as well as the leaseback of its headquarters and the station’s rail facilities, by the fall of 2007.

The CSC is composed of four main elements:

· Central Station, which includes the Grand Hall, train platforms and sub-track levels. The station may be a candidate for a proposed rail link between downtown Montreal and Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport, as well as bus station activities.

· The popular Les Halles de la Gare retail/commercial/services, including food courts and major retail outlets.

· CN’s 17-storey office headquarters building housing senior corporate officers and railway functions.

· Extensive downtown parking facilities.

- Julie Senécal, CN News Release

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KCSR EARNS HARRIMAN GOLD AND TWO CERTIFICATES OF COMMENDATION

On May 17, at an annual ceremony in Washington, DC, the Kansas City Southern Railway was recognized with the Gold E.H. Harriman Award in Group B (line-haul railroads whose employees worked four to 15 million employee-hours in 2006), moving up from silver last year. KCSR also received a Certificate of Commendation in Group B for continuous gains in employee safety improvements over a three-year period and showing the most improvement between 2005 and 2006.
KCSR locomotive engineer Barry Wilkinson of Shreveport, Louisiana, who recently passed away, was recognized with a Harold F. Hammond Award Certificate of Commendation for his work in enhancing safety.

Employees representing KCSR at the ceremony were president and chief operating officer Art Shoener, senior vice president operations Mike Chapman, senior vice president international engineering Jerry Heavin, vice president and chief mechanical officer John Foster, assistant vice president personnel services Kevin McIntosh, general director safety and operating practices Dennis Marzec, director safety and training for the operations department Trenton Anderson, director of work equipment for engineering Rex Allen, manager of regulatory reporting and analysis Dean Larson, special projects coordinator for safety Debbie Allen, locomotive engineer Steve Prator, carman Michael Banks and dispatcher Jim Anderson. Representing the late Barry Wilkinson was his brother Sam and son Wesley.

In a news release about the awards, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said that the nation's railroad employees again reported impressive gains in safety, posting their safest year in history. "The industry and its employees continue to make safety as their highest priority, and that's why we continue to see record declines in employee rates of injury and fatality," said Edward R. Hamberger, AAR president and CEO at the annual luncheon honoring railroads with the best safety records for the previous year. The Harriman Awards celebrate the achievements of railroads with the best employee safety records by awarding twelve gold, silver or bronze awards in four categories.

Hamberger noted that this year's safety gains were extraordinary given the record volumes of freight carried by rail and the number of new employees who have joined the industry. "The fact that we would have the safest year ever for employees, even with the explosion in demand for freight rail and the huge number of new employees, underscores the success of employee training and the vigilance of every railroad employee," he said.

Given the growth in technology and the specialized nature of railroad jobs, the industry has thorough and comprehensive training programs. Many programs are conducted in cooperation with local community colleges and offer classroom learning and "hands-on" experience. Major railroads also maintain their own training centers that include track for training students in locomotive operations and locomotive simulators and other specialized training for signal maintenance workers as well as locomotive mechanics.

NS was awarded top, gold honors for the eighteenth year in a row in Group A, which is comprised of line-haul railroads whose employees worked 15 million employee-hours or more during 2006. Other Group A recipients included CSXT silver and BNSF bronze.

In Group B for line-haul railroads whose employees worked four to 15 million employee-hours in 2006, KCSR received gold, CPR's U.S. operations silver and Long Island Railroad bronze.

Group C includes railroads whose employees worked less than four million employee-hours during the award period. Florida East Coast Railway received gold, Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad silver and BNSF Suburban Operation in Chicago bronze.

Group S&T is for switching and terminal companies. Birmingham Southern Railroad received the gold, Conrail silver and Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis bronze.

Certificates of Commendation were awarded recognizing four railroads with continuous gains in employee safety improvements over a three year period and showing the most improvement between 2005 and 2006. Certificates went to CN's U.S. operations for Group A, KCSR for Group B, Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District for Group C and Birmingham Southern Railroad for Group S&T.

The Harriman Awards was founded by the late Mrs. Mary W. Harriman in memory of her husband, Edward H. Harriman, an American legend in railroading. Today, the awards are administered under the auspices of the E.H. Harriman Memorial Awards Institute, with support from the Mary W. Harriman Foundation.

Railroads' commitment to safety is an integral part of the culture of railroading in America. Today, employee injury rates have declined sharply -- down more than 80 percent since 1980. In fact, today railroad employees have injury rates comparable with employees working in the retail or food service industry and lower than those in other modes of transportation.

Harriman winners are selected by a committee of representatives from the transportation field and are granted on the basis of the lowest casualty rates per 200,000 employee-hours worked with a formula that accounts for volume of work performed as well as the number of fatalities and occupational illnesses. All data is documented by the Federal Railroad Administration.

Also part of the ceremony was the presentation of the Harold F. Hammond Award, established in 1986 and awarded to an individual railroad employee who has demonstrated outstanding safety achievement during the preceding year. It is named for the late Harold F. Hammond, former president of the Transportation Association of America, who had served many years as chairman of the Harriman Awards selection committee.

NS carman Kenneth Cheek of Bellevue, Ohio, was named winner of the Hammond Award. Employees honored with Certificates of Commendation for their work in enhancing safety, included James Armstrong, a locomotive engineer with Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad in Roseburg, Oregon; Pat Bevier, a locomotive engineer with CSXT in Willard, Ohio; Martin Jones, an electrician with BNSF in Alliance, Nebraska; Tim Kelly, foreman general with UP in North Little Rock, Arkansas; Timothy Morris, a conductor with CPR in Chicago; Timothy Parker, a track inspector with CN in Champaign, Illinois; Dale Virts, a carman with Montana Rail Link in Missoula, Montana; Wes Wilkins, a track foreman with Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor; as well as KCSR locomotive engineer from Shreveport, Barry Wilkinson. - KCS News

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RAILROAD FINED $13,000 FOR AIR QUALITY VIOLATIONS

TWO HARBORS, MN -- The Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railway Co. (DM&IR), recently paid a $13,000 fine to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency over air quality violations.

The state determined the rail line violated terms of a previous agreement it had with the MPCA after DM&IR detected it had two air-quality control violations at its Two Harbors plant in December.

The railroad, a subsidiary of Canadian National Railway Co., (NYSE: CNI) Toronto, hauls taconite pellets from three Minnesota taconite to its plants in Duluth and Two Harbors. Dust is often released in the air as the taconite is unloaded, stockpiled and loaded onto ships outbound on the Great Lakes. - msn.com

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FEDERAL RAILROAD OFFICIAL VISITING NORTH DAKOTA

FARGO, ND -- Federal Railroad Administration official is in North Dakota this week to talk about the importance of railroad safety.

Regional Crossing and Trespasser Manager Tammy Wagner of Chicago plans to meet with residents, transportation officials and Fargo-Moorhead media during her visit.

Most of her schedule was determined before the two train-related fatalities last week in the metro area, she said.

Wagner is in Bismarck today for Operation Lifesaver, a class that trains people “to go out and talk about railroad safety” throughout the state.

Her week also includes meetings with Minnesota and North Dakota transportation officials.

Discussions will include statewide rail safety projects.

During her stop in Fargo-Moorhead, Wagner hopes to see how the quiet zone project is coming along. She praised the cities’ safety efforts in that area.

“We’re really watching that project. We’ve had other communities throughout the nation inquire about how they achieved their funding and their method for improving each grade crossing,” Wagner said.

Wagner also plans to do a media segment Wednesday about railroad safety in Fargo-Moorhead.

“Our main focus is going to be trespass prevention, educating folks on safe practices when near railroad property,” Wagner said.

“We just want to make sure we get the right message out: anytime you’re near railroad property, look both ways and watch for that approaching train.”

Part of the reason pedestrian-train fatalities are increasing nationally is people are in too much of a hurry to get to their destination, Wagner said.

“They don’t slow down and look in both directions,” she said.

Others misjudge the speed of the train and try to race across or don’t use established cross walks, she added.

Since 2000, Fargo-Moorhead has had 14 train fatalities.

“We certainly like to get those numbers down to zero,” Wagner said. “Hopefully by educating folks of all ages, we could prevent further tragedies near the railroad crossings.” - Teri Finneman, The Fargo Forum

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RAILROAD UNDERPASS EATS ANOTHER TRUCK

Photo here:

[www.clarionledger.com]

Caption reads: Recovery workers try to get a truck upright after the driver attempted to drive under a bridge over Gallatin St. near Porter St. today. (Brian Albert Broom/The Clarion-Ledger)

JACKSON, MS -- A tractor-trailer overturned as it attempted to cross under the bridge over Gallatin Street near Porter Street on Monday.

There were no injuries in the accident, according to Jackson police officer G. Jackson.

Jackson said the problem is ongoing, with trucks hitting the bridge on a monthly basis.

The north side of the bridge has a flashing light to warn over-height vehicles, but only signs warning about the clearance height are seen on the south side of the Canadian National railroad bridge. - The Jackson Clarion-Ledger

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SIXTY YEARS OF THE SIERRA NEVADA WOOD & LUMBER COMPANY

Walter Hobart was a Nevada mining man who saw lumber production as a sideline to the Comstock Lode silver mining. The lumber company he founded ended up lasting longer than the silver boom did.

In 1873, Nevada State Controller Walter Hobart and former Nevada and California Surveyor General Seneca "Sam" Marlette were operating a small sawmill in Little Valley, a secluded valley between Incline Village and the Washoe Valley. This sawmill cut mining timbers and shipped them to Virginia City by means of a two and half mile V flume that landed the timbers, rough lumber on the Virginia & Truckee Railroad.

The partners were investors in and provided a lot of the lumber and timbers being used to build the Virginia & Gold Hill Water Company flume which took water from above Incline Village and Marlette Lake through the Carson Range by tunnel. From the top of the Washoe Valley, the water went into seven miles of 12" wrought iron pipe, down 1720 feet and back up again in an inverted siphon.

The construction boss of this work was John Bear Overton who would later, as superintendent, become the absolute final word in the operation for Hobart & Marlette, while still running the Water Company in Virginia City.

In 1876 Hobart & Marlette moved their mill, following the ever moving front of falling trees further up into Little Valley. In addition to lumber, thousands of cords of firewood were cut for use in the Comstock Lode. In 1878 they incorporated into the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company.

The Comstock Lode had hundreds of steam engines that were hungry for four foot split pine and fir, using in excess of 100,000 cords a year. Most of the wood was cut from the tops of trees cut for lumber, but young trees of every size were also cut.

Lakeshore industry

By November of 1879 they had finished construction on a new larger mill at Crystal Bay on the northeast shore of Lake Tahoe. They referred to it as Overton Bay, because it was J.B. Overton who was in charge of building the sawmill and would run all of the operations. Crystal Bay was actually named, not for its clear waters, but for George Crystal, who filed the first timber claims in the area in the early 1860s.

The SNW&L had bought and leased over ten thousand acres of timberlands along the eastern mountains of Lake Tahoe. The Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pine trees weren't as large as those found further west in the Sierra Nevada, but these tight grained Carson Range pines made strong timbers to hold up the earth in the ever deepening stopes and shafts under Virginia City.

The sawmill's circular saws first cut into logs that were cut in the hills above Crystal Bay, and the lumber was used to build the mill buildings, bunkhouses, cookhouse and other needed facilities on what is now Mill Creek. By the time full operations were underway in early 1881 over 250 loggers, swampers, millmen, woodcutters, camp tenders and mechanics were at work at the mill.

Transportation was a challenge that required some inventiveness. Wagon roads were built from Washoe Valley over the mountain to bring in supplies.

A similar road was built up and over the ridge west of Incline Village to Hot Springs, then over the hill to Truckee. Heavy machinery generally was freighted by wagon to either Glenbrook or Tahoe City, then by steamer to Overton.

To get the logs from the forest to the mill, oxen skidded the logs through the rough terrain to dry chutes, which were made of two parallel saplings, where horses would speed them to either the mill, the lake, or later, railroad landings. Donkey engines, which are steam powered winches were also in use to snake logs down the ridges and ravines to landings in the 1890s.

The Incline Railroad

Once the lumber was sawn, it was loaded on to small railcars, and these cars were lifted up the mountain by the famous Incline Railroad. The incline was built in 1880, with the 8000 feet of cable weighing 14,000 pounds, taking almost a week to haul and ship from Truckee.

The lift was 1400 feet vertically and the rail line 4000 feet long.

As four loaded cars was being hauled up on the endless cable by the steam engine located at the top, four empty ones was let down the other rail, adding to the efficiency of the operation.

The trip took about 20 minutes with one and a half cords of wood or 1500 board feet of lumber being hauled each trip.

Within two months of the incline's opening, the first major accident occurred.

Two loaded cars were being hauled uphill, when suddenly, a loud noise startled the mill workers.

The cable on the 12-foot bullwheels hummed and shook, and the lumber cars that were nearing the top, stopped their uphill climb.

Slowly at first, then picking up speed quickly, the cars flew downhill.

There was nothing to be seen but a streak of fire and smoke streaming out behind the cars. They held the track, thanks to the cable, but that meant they were going all the way to the bottom. There mill hands scrambled to get away, stumbling and tripping in their haste.

The cars hit the bottom of the incline, smashed up the head frame, then launched into the air, and burst into a stand of pine trees with an earth shattering explosion. Metal and wood were splintered into small pieces, with boards piercing the trees to a depth of 8 inches.

The cause of the wreck was attributed to the operator over winding the wrought iron clutch. Apparently Overton's clutch design was less than perfect, as seven cars ran away and were wrecked before a new rachet and cog system was installed preventing any car from dropping further than four inches.

At the top of the incline, the lumber was dumped into a large wooden V flume that carried it south to the Virginia & Gold Hill water tunnel. There the lumber floated through the mountain in its own flume in the 3994 foot long tunnel, then down into Little Valley, landing on the Virginia & Truckee Railroad at Lakeview Station, on the divide between Washoe Valley and the Carson City.

Loyal employees

Hobart's operation hired experienced loggers from all over the west, including many from Truckee. Charley Barton, a master logger who logged for many lumbermen in the 1870s, started logging on contract for SNWL in 1883, and started a family relationship with the company that would last for decades.

Working as a contractor for the SNWL was veteran Tahoe-Truckee lumberman Gilman Folsom, who had been a partner in a sawmill at Clinton below Boca from 1870 to 1880.

In 1880, Folsom partnered with Sam Marlette and they took up a 40,000-cord-a- year wood cutting contract that employed over 400 men year round, and starting contract logging for the company the following year.

The SNW&L also hired Chinese workers, mostly for menial tasks and wood cutting.

As Truckee area lumbermen were being boycotted by white laborers for hiring Chinese workers and were responding by firing the Chinese, SNW&L took the opposite approach and hired more Chinese and fired the whites.

By 1883, SNW&L owned 70,000 acres north of Truckee in the Prosser, Sagehen Creek and Little Truckee River. Rumors constantly circulated around Truckee in the 80s and early 90s that Hobart was going to buy an existing sawmill or build a new one and start logging these forests.

While the Carson Range lands were the center of Lake Tahoe operations, Walter Hobart continued to invest in timberlands on the north and west shores of Tahoe. Enough timber had been purchased to last to 1900 if all went according to plan.

The future looked very bright. - Gordon Richards, The North Lake Tahoe Bonanza

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LOCOMOTIVES ON TRACK TO THRILL RAILROAD FANS

VANCOUVER, WA -- Railroad buffs get a rare treat Tuesday when two historic steam locomotives pass through Vancouver.

The engines -- the Southern Pacific No. 4449 and the Union Pacific No. 844 -- will be returning from a special appearance in the Puget Sound area, hauling an excursion train Saturday from Tacoma to Everett. Riders paid as much as $399 for a seat in the dome car.

The two engines will return from their Seattle-area jaunt Tuesday morning, said Gus Melonas, spokesman for the BNSF Railway Company.

Rail fans interested in seeing the train as it passes through town should be at the Vancouver Amtrak Station no later than 11:30 hours Tuesday, he said. The train will not stop but will roll through at no more than 30 mph, probably less, as it prepares to cross the Columbia River heading toward Portland.

SP No. 4449, built in 1941, is owned by the city of Portland and will return to its home in a roundhouse at the Brooklyn Rail Yard in southeast Portland. UP No. 844, meanwhile, will spend Tuesday night in the Kenton rail yards in north Portland. On Wednesday morning, it will resume its journey home to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

No. 844, built in 1944 and called the Living Legend by Union Pacific, was the last steam engine built for the line. It has been on a 29-day, 3,000-mile trip through four states and is scheduled to return to Cheyenne on May 31.

The train assembled for the Tacoma-to-Everett trip was no small affair. It was 2,000 feet long and included 19 cars, including dining cars, coach cars, a water car, tool car, lounge car, baggage cars and souvenir car.

Melonas said viewers on Tuesday should keep a safe distance from the tracks.

"Joint steam trains are extremely rare," he said. "In Washington state, this is the second in the past 15 years, the last was a Columbia gorge route from Portland to Vancouver to Wishram which attracted more than 5,000 viewers. If they're in place by 11:30," he added, "they'll catch of glimpse of this extremely rare occurrence."

If you go

- What: Two historic locomotives will pass through Vancouver at no more than 30 mph on their way back from the Seattle area.

- Where: Vancouver Amtrak Station, 1301 W. 11th St., Vancouver.

- When: Viewers should be in place by 11:30 hours Tuesday to ensure a chance to see them.

- Cost: Free.

- Don Hamilton, The Columbian (Vancouver, WA)

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AMTRAK SIDETRACKED: ILLINOIS ROUTES GAIN RIDERS, LOSE TIME

CHICAGO, IL -- Hefty ridership gains on state-funded Amtrak trains since last fall have exceeded even the optimistic expectations of Illinois officials. But habitually late trains are creating a bad impression of the expanded intercity rail service, leaving some Amtrak passengers to wonder why they ever gave up driving or flying.

Piles of empty plastic water bottles lie scattered against chain-link fencing near the train station that Amtrak serves in southwest suburban Summit, a symbol of the unquenched thirst for decent passenger rail service in the U.S.

The bottles have been tossed by engineers out the windows of idling locomotives, such as Train No. 302, which departed St. Louis on time at 6:35 a.m. on a recent morning. But five hours into its scheduled 5 hour and 40 minute trip to Chicago Union Station, it has stopped -- as it has numerous times -- waiting for the track to be cleared.

Train No. 302 will arrive 20 minutes late at Union Station. From Oct. 1, 2006, through May 5, Train No. 302 arrived on time only 6.5 percent of the time, according to Amtrak records.

Trains creep through slow zones because of deteriorated tracks and heavy freight traffic, then get up to highway speed for a stretch, even reaching the maximum 79 m.p.h., only to slow down again.

Train No. 302 is one of the new runs added to Amtrak service in Illinois as part of the state's $24.2 million annual investment in Amtrak service, a doubling of the previous operating subsidy paid to the passenger railroad. The encouraging news is that record numbers of riders have tried the expanded Amtrak service to St. Louis, Milwaukee and Downstate Carbondale and Quincy from Chicago.

But serious and chronic delays have resulted in disappointment for those record numbers of riders on most of the state-supported routes, as well as on other Amtrak runs that don't receive the special state subsidy. The Pontiac, Mich., to Chicago run doesn't receive an Illinois subsidy, although it does get operating assistance from Michigan.

Chicago resident Mary Anne Barry had a recent stop-and-go experience with Amtrak on that route.

"What was supposed to be a five-hour trip from Pontiac to Chicago ended up being almost three hours late because our train was shunted over to a siding to wait for freight trains to go by," Barry said. "I will never ride Amtrak again."

Despite the best efforts of the Amtrak crew, a number of factors coalesced to make Train No. 302 arrive late to Chicago on the day your Getting Around reporter went along for part of the approximately 300-mile ride.

Twenty-nine minutes were lost early in the trip as the train stood still waiting for permission to enter the territory controlled by the Kansas City Southern Railway. Amtrak conductor Mike White repeatedly tried to call a dispatcher for the Kansas City Southern in Shreveport, La., but the dispatcher did not answer his phone for almost a half hour.

"I tell the passengers what's going on during a delay like that, but it's frustrating for them just to sit there," said White, a 15-year Amtrak veteran. "Luckily, it was pretty early in the morning and many of the passengers were asleep."

Four different freight railroads own the tracks that Amtrak uses between Chicago and St. Louis, requiring cooperation at each step along the way if trains are going to run like clockwork.

Amtrak officials conduct weekly phone calls with the freight railroads to talk about problems.

"We identify issues like their trains blocking our trains. We try to reason with them and let them know how their actions affect our passengers," said Don Saunders, Amtrak's operating chief in Chicago.

Amtrak engineers often operate their trains at speeds that are slower than required to avoid stopping.

"We've all been conductors earlier in our careers," said Amtrak engineer Dave Dudley, a 20-year Amtrak veteran and third-generation railroader. "Keeping the train moving, even at a crawl, avoids some of the grief that passengers make for our conductors when we are running late."

Fifteen slow zones were in effect on this day just in a 100-mile stretch of track south of Springfield. But Train No. 302 caught a break that other trains on the route did not receive.

Train No. 303, for instance, was forced to pull into a track siding as another train traveling in the opposite direction passed on the single track. Train 303 then had to back out of the siding, rather than proceed through it, because of mechanically unreliable gates and warning devices at nearby road crossings.

The backing-out process caused an almost 20-minute delay for Train 303. But going straight through the siding and re-entering the main track would have required the conductor to get off the train at each crossing and flag approaching cars to stop -- creating an even longer delay.

Amtrak Chairman David Laney called the burgeoning delays "unacceptable by any measure."

Illinois officials agree, although they don't blame Amtrak for all the problems.

"We have struggled with mediocre to dismal on-time performance on our three Downstate corridors," George Weber, acting bureau chief of railroads at the Illinois Department of Transportation, told Illinois House lawmakers at a hearing last month. "On the St. Louis corridor, we are lucky to have a train reach its final destination in an on-time fashion 50 percent of the time."

Weber said it may take years to achieve consistent reliable service. The main challenges include freight traffic, especially between Chicago and Joliet, the poor condition of tracks that require speed reductions in many locations and Amtrak equipment breakdowns, Weber said.

"The outcome of our efforts is not in our control," Weber said, referring to the unenthusiastic cooperation on the part of some freight railroads that contracted with Amtrak to use their rails.

Despite a 1971 federal law that requires the freight railroads to give priority to Amtrak trains, some of the freight carriers are flexing their muscles. Last year, the Canadian National Railway tried to pull out of an agreement with Amtrak to allow one of the additional round trips to St. Louis and to withhold access to the Carbondale route. The railroad subsequently backed down when U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and other lawmakers got involved.

"[Canadian National] recognized at a very late stage that the new service agreement as written offered us insufficient recourse if it became apparent that the additional Amtrak service was becoming a detriment to our ability to provide service to our existing customers," Gordon Trafton, a Canadian National senior vice president, testified before the Illinois House Railroad Safety Committee last month.

Referring to the shotgun-wedding relationship between the host freight railroads and Amtrak, Trafton said: "No freight railroad in the United States has sought passenger service to be instated or reinstated on their lines."

Weber said in an interview that it wasn't IDOT's idea to add more Amtrak service now. The longer-term solution to providing quality service rests with building more capacity, which is the basis of the Chicago Region Environmental And Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program, a $1.5 billion modernization of the freight and passenger rail infrastructure serving northeastern Illinois. But the program is underfunded and, therefore, years away from completion.

He said the push for ramping up Amtrak service now, in an effort to boost rail ridership and get people out of their cars, was sparked by Durbin and other lawmakers, the Environmental Law and Policy Center and the Midwest High Speed Rail Association.

Many of the state lawmakers who advocated increased Amtrak service rarely if ever have stepped foot aboard an Amtrak train. Yet they are unapologetic about increased taxpayer funding of the mixed bag that riding Amtrak represents.

Amtrak boosters point to the ridership gains in Illinois -- about 40 percent on the St. Louis route, 33 percent on the Quincy run and a more than 55 percent increase on the Carbondale route -- since extra round trips from Chicago were added last fall.

"Just think how many people would be riding Amtrak if the trains were on time," said Richard Harnish, executive director of the high-speed rail association. - Jon Hilkevitch, The Chicago Tribune

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HISTORIC SHIPYARD ENGINE FINDS NEW HOME AT RAILROAD MUSEUM

MOBILE, AL -- A 65-year-old railroad switch engine used by a Mobile shipyard to haul steel during World War II, when the booming port was building ships for the U.S. war effort, has been saved from the scrap heap.

Believed to be one of only two of its kind in the United States, the engine has been handed over to a north Alabama railroad museum by Atlantic Marine Alabama LLC for the price of its scrap value, said Louis Zadnichek of Fairhope, who coordinated the transaction.

The switch engine, known as "No. 2" or "the Dinky" by shipyard workers, was recently presented to The Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum of Calera, said Zadnichek, a retired scrap broker with a love for trains. The museum is located off Interstate 65 about 30 miles south of Birmingham.

Also sold for its scrap value as part of the deal was a 100-year-old flat car, Zadnichek said.

The purchase was funded through a donation by museum board member Brian Johnston of Pascagoula, said Zadnichek and museum officials, who declined to disclose the purchase amount.

"We are delighted to have it," Knight Campbell, chairman of the nonprofit museum's board of trustees, said in an interview from his home in Hoover. "It's a piece of Alabama history."
He said the engine will be restored and displayed as a memorial to World War II shipbuilding in Mobile. He said the flat car could be rebuilt to serve the museum's passenger train, which takes visitors on weekend runs over six miles of track.

Campbell said the museum carries the title "Alabama's official railroad museum," as designated by the Legislature. Its collection includes historical steam engines, diesels, passenger cars and railroad freight equipment.

During World War II, the switch engine was owned by Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., known as ADDSCO, which in 1989 was sold to Atlantic Marine Holdings.

During the war, Mobile's two big shipyards, ADDSCO and Gulf Shipbuilding, employed a combined workforce exceeding 40,000, according to the book "Mobile -- The Life and Times of a Great Southern City," co-authored by Melton McLaurin and Michael Thomason.

ADDSCO built freighters and tankers, while Gulf Shipbuilding built destroyers and minesweepers.

According to Paul Gridler, shipyard facilities manager for Atlantic Marine, the switch engine and the flat car had been in "dead storage" for more than 10 years. The company is eliminating its shipyard railroad, he said, and "we were hoping that a museum would come along to save the engine and the car."

Teresa Preston, Atlantic Marine safety director, said Zadnichek "made a number of inquires" and determined that the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum was "the best-funded and equipped to provide a permanent safe home for our historic railroad equipment." - George Werneth, The Mobile Press-Register

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TRANSIT NEWS

TRIMET RECEIVES GRANT TO INCREASE SECURITY AT FIVE MAX STATIONS

TriMet received a $560,000 grant from the Transportation Security Administration to improve safety at five high-volume MAX stations.

The grant money will allow TriMet to increase the number of closed-circuit security cameras at the busy light rail stations serving Portland and Gresham at East 162nd Avenue, East 181st Avenue, Rockwood/East 188th Avenue, Gresham Central Transit Center and Cleveland Avenue.

The grant is in conjunction with $14.2 million to Tier II urban areas in the U.S.

In terms of transportation and security, the Department of Homeland Security considers Portland Tier II based on the numbers of passengers who use the public transportation system, the design of the rail system and the city's risk to terrorism. - KPTV-TV12, Portland, OR, courtesy Coleman Randall, Jr

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DART RAIL PROBLEM LEADS TO DELAYS

DALLAS, TX -- A mechanical problem with a DART train forced officials to shut down southbound service in downtown Dallas Monday morning, causing delays for commuters.

Workers examining a mechanical problem with a southbound train at West End Station discovered a wheel had come off the rail about 08:00 hours, said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons.

Mr. Lyons said he did not know the number of passengers affected, but said that about 10 southbound Red Line and Blue Line trains pass through the station during rush hour. Northbound trains were running close to schedule.

Passengers heading into downtown were asked to board buses at Pearl Station to continue their trips south to West End Station.

The problem was fixed around 09:30 hours, Mr. Lyons said. - The Dallas Morning News

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METRORAIL TRAINS WERE ON COLLISION COURSE

HOUSTON, TX -- Two MetroRail trains carrying passengers in the Texas Medical Center area came within half a mile of a possible head-on collision earlier this month, Metro officials said today.

The two trains were going in opposite directions on the same track because of a switching error, and employees involved have been disciplined, Metro officials said today.

Both trains were stopped -- one at the Dryden Station and one at the TMC Transit Center -- on May 9 when Metro controllers at the Houston TranStar traffic center learned of the error and ordered them to hold their positions, said David Feeley, Metro senior vice president of operations.

Feeley said the first of three errors occurred when a signal maintenance crew at the Smith Lands station waved the northbound train through an open switch and onto the southbound line. The second error occurred when the train operator, who was new on the job, failed to report this to controllers, and the third when controllers failed to spot the train's position and direction on their video screens.

On arriving at the TMC Transit Center station, the operator called controllers and asked if they wanted her to continue northbound on the southbound track, Feeley said. Controllers then recognized the problem and ordered both trains to hold their positions.

The normal speed for trains in that area is 25 mph, and at that speed each train could have stopped in less than 200 feet once the drivers became aware of the track conflict, said Reginald Mason, Metro's associate vice president for system safety.

John Sedlak, executive vice president, said this was the first time since the Metropolitan Transit Authority's light rail line opened Jan. 1, 2004, that trains were running in opposite directions on the same track without supervisors' knowledge.

Less than a week later, on May 15, a second such incident occurred at the south end of the 7.5-mile line as rail cars were being linked into 2-car trains for the evening rush hour.

These trains were about 700 feet apart when they stopped, but neither was carrying passengers and each was traveling only about 5 mph, officials said.

In the May 15 incident, one train was exiting the maintenance yard and shops on the northbound track as the other crossed over from the southbound track on a switch that operates automatically.

Normally, a supervisor would have been present to hold back the southbound train, but that person was attending to an unrelated incident elsewhere on the track. The two train operators saw each other and stopped in time to avoid a collision, Feeley said.

Metro has asked three independent investigators from transit agencies in Baltimore, New Jersey and Salt Lake City to review the May 9 incident and suggest ways to prevent it happening again.

Metro declined to reveal the names of those involved but said that in the May 9 incident, the controller at TranStar is working under close supervision; the train operator was suspended for five days under terms of the union contract and has not returned to work operating trains; one worker at the switch site resigned; two others were suspended without pay and are now working under supervision.

In the May 15 incident, the drivers and yard supervisor were not at fault. The TranStar controller is working under supervision, Metro said. - Rad Sallee, The Houston Chronicle

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MAN TRYING TO KILL GIRLFRIEND DIES WHEN TRAIN HITS CAR

LOS ANGELES, CA -- A man trying to kill himself and his girlfriend by parking his car on railroad tracks died Monday when a commuter train crashed into the vehicle, police said.

The girlfriend survived.

The man drove the car in front of a group of other vehicles stopped at a railroad crossing in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Sunland, Officer Mike Lopez said.

The driver, who was seen arguing with his girlfriend, parked the car on the tracks moments before a northbound Metrolink train entered the intersection, Lopez said.

The train hit the rear passenger side of the car, spinning it around and causing the driver to be ejected. The girlfriend was taken to the hospital, where she was later upgraded to stable condition, Lopez said.

The 450-ton train was heading from downtown to Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County at the time of the 12:08 crash, said Denise Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for Metrolink.

There were no injuries on the train, which carried 132 passengers and crew members, Tyrrell said. The train had superficial damage.

The train's speed wasn't immediately known. The limit in the area is 79 mph, Tyrrell said. At that speed, it would take one-third of a mile to stop, she said.

"If someone drives in front of an oncoming train there is almost nothing the engineer can do," Tyrrell said, noting it was highly unusual for someone to survive being struck by a train.

"The train to your car is like your car to a soda pop can. It's just not going to be a fair fight," Tyrrell said.

In January 2005 a man allegedly intentionally left a Jeep on tracks in nearby Glendale, killing 11 people and injuring nearly 200 when a train hit it, derailed and struck a train going in the opposite direction.

The man pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the crash and is awaiting trial. - Christina Almeida, The Associated Press, The Sacramento Bee

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GRANTS MAY NARROW THE RAILROAD GAPS

WASHINGTON, DC -- About $50 million in federal grants could be available each year for public transportation authorities across the country to fix platform gaps such as the Long Island Rail Road's if Congress takes up a bill introduced Monday by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)

"There is a railroad safety crisis nationwide and nowhere is this problem more evident than on Long Island," Schumer said in a statement. "We must do something immediately to address these egregious safety concerns."

The senator said he was "optimistic" about the bill's prospects.

A Newsday study found that the LIRR has logged almost 900 incidents related to platform gaps since 1995. A teenager from Minnesota was killed after falling through a gap at the Woodside station last summer, and the LIRR disclosed last week that reports of passengers slipping in gaps have more than tripled in the first three months of the year, as compared with the same period last year.

The LIRR is reviewing Schumer's bill, said spokesman Sam Zambuto, adding, "The LIRR has a very aggressive program to manage risks associated with gaps, including inspection practices, engineering solutions, investigation of gap incidents and comprehensive customer communications."

Any share of the money that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could get for the LIRR would be helpful, said Gerry Bringmann, chairman of the LIRR Commuter's Council. Grants of up to $5 million a year would be available under the bill's provisions.

Bringmann said that if a grant could cover upgrades to a single station like Syosset, where a Newsday reporter measured a 15-inch gap between the train and the platform for Track 1, "it's a home run for us."

Schumer's bill would also create tougher punishments for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians who break crossing rules, and require the secretary of transportation to review safety at all of the country's highway-rail grade crossings, including 330 in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

There have been 44 accidents resulting in 16 deaths at Long Island's grade-level crossings in the past five years, according to data obtained by Schumer's office from the Federal Railroad Administration. - Louise Radnofsky, Newsday

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