Railroaderblog

Recently Railroaderblog received an email from an attorney representing Transportation Certification Services (TCS), Inc. from Kansas City. The email said, “…a vistor to the blog posted a response to the article “Union Pacific Railroad: Outsourced Training.” The vistor’s post is titled “TCS? A Good Thing?” The posting contains grossly incorrect information which we believe was posted with the specific intent of defaming TCS. On behalf of TCS demand is made for the immediate removal of the blog posting referenced in this message.” Well, Railroaderblog decided to investigate the allegations that were posted by the reader and we uncovered some interesting facts.

It appears as though Transportation Certification Services neglected to obtain a Ohio Workers Compensation Policy while crossing a picket line in Middletown Ohio. Yes, not only did they violate the law, but they crossed a Union picket line!

We would like to thank TCS and their attorney for bringing this to our attention. If it weren’t for their arrogance, we would have never know to investigate this story. There is much more to come on this story. We will keep you posted.

To read the entire Ohio BWC ruling, click here.

To see the entire document click on Read More below.

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Recently one of Railroaderblog’s writers posted an article called Union Pacific Railroad: OUTSOURCED TRAINING. There was some controversy regarding this article, especially the comments from one of our reader’s. Railroaderblog removed the reader’s comments because the contract company mentioned in the article demanded it to be removed by sending a rather threatening email from their attorney. We kept the original article posted until last evening until we started researching the contract company mentioned in the article. We decided to investigate and we did receive some information from the Freedom of Information Act. This will be posted as soon as possible.

Note: When there is controversy Railroaderblog will investigate. As always, Railroaderblog’s mission is to be the source of information for the railroad worker. Remember, email us at administrator@railroaderblog.com for any question, inquires or comments. Railroaderblog is a part of Switchpoint Press – A Railroad Media Group.

We received this email from a guy who didn’t sign his name. Ironically, his opening line said, “First, have the courage to use your real name and or email address.” Well, he did use an email address, but he didn’t bother to sign his name. To be honest with you, I have no compassion for a person who works as a contractor. They take jobs away from union employees and they are a drain on our retirement. If they are retired, let them stay retired. Stay home and let the experts do the real work. I think that it’s time to put these contractors in their place…a retirement home. Again, they are a drain on the system and their work is probably violating many federal rules and regulations. But, that will be investigated…soon.

Response to a Reader In Utah

First, have the courage to use your real name and or email address.

Second, before you start casting aspersions about someone’s intelligence, run spell check on what you write.

“His team isn’t much different, most off the street as contractors soon to be Harriman receiptants without consideration of inside employees”

Actually, I think you meant recipients here.

Your comment about Mike Wall “abruptly” retiring is incorrect, but if you had done your homework you would know that already.

You sound like a disgruntled railroad worker. If that’s the case, I would suggest you go out into the real world and get a job. Then you’ll find out how good you have it! I worked for almost three years as a contractor to get my job. That’s time with NO benefits, no vacation, and it doesn’t count towards your retirement. So I would suggest you be careful about talking about contractors.

From,
rogerbee@earthlink.net

The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board issued the following on July 1.

CHICAGO — The Railroad Retirement Board is required by law to submit annual reports to Congress on the financial condition of the railroad retirement system and the railroad unemployment insurance system. These reports must also include recommendations for any financing changes which may be advisable in order to ensure the solvency of the systems. In June, the RRB submitted its 2008 reports on the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance systems.

The following questions and answers summarize the findings of these reports.

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Federal court calls for arbitration in UTU’s dispute of CSXT-BLET remote-control agreement

A federal district court in Ohio has ordered arbitration to determine if CSX Transportation violated a collective bargaining agreement with the United Transportation Union (UTU) by entering into a separate agreement with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) that permits engineers to operate remote-controlled locomotives outside existing terminal limits.

The CSXT-BLET agreement reached in January 2007 conflicts with a remote-control agreement the UTU reached in 2002 with the nation’s major railroads, including CSXT, according to a news item posted on the UTU’s Web site.

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I’m glad to see that more commuter railroads are expanding. Boston to Nashua is a start, but I would like to see the rails expand to more rural areas.

N.H.-to-Boston by rail?
NASHUA, N.H. – Imagine driving in a snowstorm to Boston for a meeting – slogging through gridlock, avoiding accidents, paying through the nose for gas.
Now, imagine making the same trip, but this time you park in a modern garage, hop on a train, have a bagel on the way, and prepare for the meeting using your laptop’s wireless Internet access.

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Railroad Contractors Hit By Rising Fuel Costs

The surge in fuel costs has hit the railroad contract companies where it hurts – the wallet. Contract companies are locked in “boilerplate” contracts by the railroads with terms that only benefit the railroad companies. The rise in fuel costs this has greatly impacted the independent contractors. Independent contractors are paid only for the days they work and they are required to pay for their own expenses. The contractors are paid between $250 to $400 per day and they are only paid for the days they actually work. If a contractor is required to fly to a remote location and work only 5 day per week, then the railroad doesn’t have to pay them for their layover days. A contractor could live on these wages before the fuel crisis, but now even $400 per day isn’t enough to pay for airfare, hotels, rental cars, and meals.

The railroad companies have something that no one else in the country has…A Fuel Surcharge. They are allowed to manipulate any contract with their customers in order to recover 100% of their fuel costs. But what about the independent contractors? Since the railroads write the contracts, the independent contractors are at the mercy of the railroads. After interviewing several independent contractors who are contracted with the Union Pacific Railroad, it appears that there are several disgruntled contractors who are looking for new careers. Even though $400 per day sounds like a lot of money, think of how much is being spent for expenses. Personally, I think that you would have to be stupid to be an independent contractor for a railroad. Only the independent contract companies are benefiting from the hard work of the contractors.

LAGUNA NIGUEL For the first time in the event’s 29-year history, police are closing down the 29th annual Mooning of Amtrak because of big crowds and heavy drinking Saturday afternoon.
Police decided what started as a fun–and risque–event could turn dangerous as crowds grew larger than in previous years.
“It started to get a little out of hand so we decided to move in and show presence to try to quell any further disruption,” Orange County Sheriff’s Department Lt.Ted Boyne said.

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A new study (by a barge owner’s foundation) shows barges as being more efficient and safer then both rail and trucks. Look out – this could be the beginning of a new effort to divert more tax dollars to build locks and dams to benefit the members of the National Waterways Foundation.

They offer some interesting arguments touting the benefits of waterway transportation. But, on safety, how difficult is it for a member of the public to be injured by a barge as opposed to a truck or train? Very. On fuel efficiency, how difficult and expensive is it to make it possible for barges to go where there is no water? Very. No mention is made of carrying passengers on waterways. Trains and buses do now.

This study actually makes the case for public and private investment in rail capacity when rail and trucking are compared. If tax money is to be spent anywhere, rail offers the best return on both safety and efficiency.

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Interesting article by Railway Age. Just wondering how long until the bust. The CEO’s and executive offices will do their part in screwing up a good thing.

Investor’s Business Daily remains bullish on rails

Investors Business Daily (IBD) says that at the end of this year’s first half, railroad stocks ranked No. 14 among the 197 industry groups it follows. “The rail boom that began five yeas ago shows no signs of derailing with most railroads racking up double-digit earnings growth,” said IBD in a July 3 report. It quoted Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman as characterizing the railroad story as “a tale of two economies.” While shipments of consumer goods, motor vehicles, and construction materials continue to decline, demand for coal, corn, grain, and soybeans “keeps soaring,” and “railroads haul much of it.”

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I received an email from a reader this past weekend. I disregarded all of the banter and threats, but I did want to respond to one question in the email. The question was: “…Why are you trying to harm the reputation of Jim Young?” Well, I’m not trying to harm anyone; moreover, I am only reporting what hasn’t been reported before…the truth. Railroad news has been watered down so much over the years because the information has always been provided by the railroads. Well, it’s a new day. There are some publications that tap dance around the truth, but they always miss the target. Is it because they could lose some advertising dollars? I don’t know, but I will tell you that Railroaderblog will always go after the story – no mater what!

The funny thing about this email was that the reader thought that I was directly targeting the Union Pacific Railroad and Jim Young. If the author of the email had bothered to read all the blogs, then he would have realized that we weren’t attacking anyone. We reported the news. Also, we reported similar news regarding other railroads and CEO’s. The author also forgot to read the good news regarding the railroad. Yes, we did report many good things that the railroad did. Unfortunately, the Union Pacific Railroad is the largest railroad and they seem to be more public than the other railroads. But, our reports came straight from the new wires and all we did was make some obvious observations. So, if Mr. Young is offended by some of our articles, then we must be doing something right.

Railroaderblogs mission statement was to “tell you like it is". We have researched many stories and all the information is verifiable. I thought that it was funny that one of our readers was so outraged by our observations of the UP and Mr. Young that he thought it necessary to write an email. The email was anonymous, but I did think that it was ironic that the writer was more concerned about the well being of a CEO who makes $15 million per year and is less concerned with the railroaders. Well, I feel differently. Railroaderblog welcomes all emails and comments and I thank the author of the email for his point of view. I was watching one of my favorite movies this weekend and I would like to leave you with a quote from the film:

“Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.”

–V

We would like to wish everyone a Happy Independence Day! Our thoughts are with the military personnel who are stationed throughout the world. We would like to say Thank You!

Per your recent article on “Corporate Pirates” I have a different opinion.

It is something that has been needed for a long time. The CSXT is a combination of 21 different railroads, 22 if you include Conrail.

Their management style and operating philosophy are out dated to put it mildly. For anyone who has ever worked on the CSXT and was not home grown know the drill.

The infusion of a New Blood on the Board will wake up and break up the “Country Club” mentality that has prevailed on the CSXT for years. They need to be held accountable to the stock holders and employees and run a business. Mike Ward holds onto the top three spots and Clarence Gooden has been a drone since his career began.

Stock Holders and Employees Rejoice!

–The Insider

Wednesday Report

A big down day today for railroads on the NYSE.

BNI down 5.22%
CSX down 6.35%
NSC down 5.38%
UNP down 4.67%

What is happening? A clue comes from two other industry groups also down big today – Coal and Steel.

Some examples of the damage to coal today: James River Coal Company down 22.8%, Walter Industries Inc down 18.63%, Massey Energy Co. down 18.92%, Arch Coal, Inc. down 17.19%. The steel industry had a hard day also: United States Steel Corp. down 12.52%, Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. down 16.8%, Nucor Corp. down 14.25%, Ak Steel Holding Corp. down 13.63%.

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We have been working on a story regarding an Independent Contract company that is doing new hire, conductor, remote control, and engineer training with Class 1 railroads. We are awaiting a public record document from a government agency before we publish the article. However, we have received many emails concerning Independent Contractors and we would like to hear your side of the story. If you have any information that can be corroborated pertaining to contractors or contract companies please email us at news@railroaderblog.com. Again, we have received numerous emails regarding alleged “questionable” business practices, but we need news that can be verified.

Railroaderblog retracted a story that endorsed a contract company due to an email threat by the company’s attorney. The threat wasn’t directed at the article, but at a comment made by one of our readers. We have a theory at Railroaderblog: Where there is smoke, there is fire. If a company is that desperate to have something removed because they were “flamed” by a comment made by one of the readers, then we will investigate it. We removed the comment at the attorney’s request, but we also removed the article endorsing the same company after further research. We should have all the public record information sometime next week, so look for some breaking news pertaining to Independent Contract Companies training union employees. We were shocked and I’m sure that you will be too.

This sounds a lot like the hostile takeovers of the 80’s and 90’s. Will CSX become the next Pan Am? Maybe Norfolk Southern can bail them out like they did Pan Am (Guilford) Railways.

Activists say they’ve won seats on CSX board
Railroad operator says proxy vote too close to call, plans full count by Friday

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) – Two activist hedge funds said on Wednesday that they won seats on the board of CSX Corp., claiming victory in a contentious proxy battle for control of the railroad operator.
Based on preliminary voting results, shareholders have elected at least four nominees proposed by The Children’s Investment Fund and 3G Capital Partners to the 12-member CSX board, the investment firms said in a statement.
Christopher Hohn, head of TCI; Alexandre Behring, who runs 3G; Gil Lamphere, former director of Canadian National and Illinois Central; and Tim O’Toole, managing director of London Underground, were elected, the funds said.

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Since we have disabled the feedback section (due to excessive spamming), we are going to post some of our readers comments on the front page. Please note: The comments made by our readers do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Railroaderblog or it’s staff. If you wish to make a comment on Railroaderblog, please email us at news@railroaderblog.com and we will consider your request. Please indicated in the email if you wish to remain anonymous on your publication.

BY: A Reader From Utah

It should be noted regarding UPRR Engineer training. The head training (aka) sim manager has never been near a locomotive or train for that matter!

He did come from the IT dept. but couldn’t hire out as a basic Tech.
This Sim Manager from the Great Salt Lake Training Center was a construction foreman. No degree, no certifications, never near a locomotive

He did fall into a empty job once his construction job was abolished. And again. And yet again.

No college, no degree, no experience, no certification.

His team isn’t much different, most off of the street as contractors soon to be Harriman receiptants without consideration of inside employees.

This is the way it is in the educational forefront of the UPRR Training dept of HR.

By the way, public information indicates that Barb Shafer of HR has cashed in about 10 million of stock just recently!?

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The battle against inflation took an intriguing step forward yesterday. The Surface Transportation Board [STB] issued a decree stating that:

The Board found that CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSX) was charging unreasonably high rail rates and ordered CSX to reduce rates and to pay reparations on six of the seven movements challenged by DuPont.” This marks the resolution of a complaint where DuPont challenged “…CSX rate increases of 30% to 176% on seven routes.

Furthermore, the STB declared:

Today’s unanimous decisions demonstrate the Board’s dedication to resolving disputes between railroads and their customers in an accessible, affordable, and expeditious manner. Freight-rail customers can rest assured that the Board would take effective action to strike down unreasonably high rail rates…

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There seems to be a pattern lately. Railroad executives are selling more and more of their common stock at record highs. Are they anticipating a decline in stock value? We have noticed the trend and we do believe that there will be more lawsuits regarding railroad price fixing and fuel surcharges. It will be a very interesting 2nd & 3rd quarter.

NEW YORK — A director of freight railroad company CSX Corp. exercised options for 20,000 shares of common stock, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

In a Form 4 filed with the SEC Friday, William C. Richardson reported he exercised the options on Wednesday for $13.21 to $20.63 apiece and then sold all 20,000 shares on the same day for $62.91 apiece.

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