CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Safety Inspector Fired For Finding 'Too Many Defects' Could Cost Railroad Millions

Newly released recordings bring to light a culture of ignoring safety in favor of profit

By Collin Woodard

JALOPNIK

Photo: Tom Pennington / Stringer (Getty Images)


You would think that if you worked as a track inspector for a railroad company, reporting defects would make you good at your job. After all, wouldn’t the company want to know where its trains should slow down and where repairs need to be made? Ignoring those problems would be a recipe for train derailments that could cost the company a lot of money and could injure or even kill employees. According to former track inspector Don Sanders, you would be wrong, at least if you work for Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

KSTP-TV reports Sanders had previously sued BNSF back in 2017, claiming he was retaliated against after he reported “too many defects.” The jury found in his favor, and BNSF is currently appealing the multi-million-dollar judgment. This isn’t the first time BNSF found itself in court, either. After a train derailed back in March, the news channel “...found BNSF had repeatedly been sanctioned or admonished in court for destroying evidence or retaliating against employees.”

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But now, KSTP-TV has obtained a series of previously unreleased secretly recorded phone calls from the lawsuit. And let’s just say they do not make BNSF look good. In one, you can hear an employee ask, “Why can’t we just fix the (expletive) defects?” In another from 2015, Sanders’ supervisor is clearly upset that he called the Federal Railroad Administration.

“Why in the world would we ever call the FRA about anything? Unless I’m absolutely blatantly telling you to break the rules,” the supervisor says. “They know the rule book better than anybody,” Sanders responds. “Have I ever called the FRA on you because you told me not to follow the rules like you do all the time? No.”

Another former BNSF track inspector, Kevin Gaylor, told KSTP-TV he was working with Sanders on a track inspection trip when they both received a call from their boss criticizing their performance. “We were both called and criticized for putting out too many slow order defects,” Gaylor said. “Every track inspector on this system can tell you their experiences about the pressure that’s put on.”

A slow order is given when a defect is found that is serious enough that trains need to reduce their speed until they pass.

In another one of the calls, Sanders’ boss sounds upset about a reported defect potentially putting his job in jeopardy, saying, “All I can say is I need your help right now to keep my ass from getting fired.” “I need to just look the other way?” Sanders responds. “No. We just need to have a conversation,” his boss replies.

According to court records obtained by KSTP-TV, that supervisor still has his job and was actually given a raise and a near $20,000 bonus. The performance review that led to that raise and bonus specifically referenced the fact that “Don Sanders is no longer working for BNSF” and the reduction in slow orders

Rail whistleblowers fired for voicing safety concerns despite efforts to end practice of retaliation

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Hours before a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio and erupted in fire in February, a judge ruled a former railroad employee could proceed with a lawsuit claiming he had been harassed for years by managers who said he reported too many flaws in rail cars he inspected and had his job changed after reporting an injury.

Richard Singleton’s case against Norfolk Southern was settled for an undisclosed amount after the judge said he had enough evidence to go to trial over whether he was disciplined for reporting safety violations that slowed trains passing through a Macon, Georgia, railyard.

The settlement provided relief for Singleton, but does little for residents near East Palestine, Ohio, who worry about possible health effects from the accident's toxic blaze. That derailment and others since inspired nationwide fears about railroad safety.

Lawyers and unions representing rail workers say there is an industry-wide pattern of retaliation against workers like Singleton who report safety violations or injuries. They contend workers often run afoul of managers who don’t want to jeopardize their bonuses, and retaliation discourages other workers from speaking up.

Rail safety has been in the spotlight since the Feb. 3 Ohio derailment, with Congress and regulators proposing reforms. But little has changed, apart from railroads promising to install 1,000 more trackside detectors to spot mechanical problems and reevaluate their responses to alerts from those devices.

“Since Wall Street took them over, railroads have put productivity ahead of safety,” lawyer Nick Thompson argued earlier this year on behalf of a fired engineer. He pointed to recent derailments in Ohio and Raymond, Minnesota. “People are being killed, towns are being evacuated, rivers are being poisoned, all in the name of profit.”

The railroads are working to eliminate such practices with policies prohibiting retaliation and myriad ways for workers fearful of retribution to report safety concerns, either directly to a manager or anonymously through an internal hotline.

Statistics from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration show the number of single-year whistleblower complaints filed against big railroads declined from the 218 reported in 2018 to 96 last year.

“I have zero tolerance for retaliation. And I’ve made that very clear. And in fact, the culture that we’re creating at Norfolk Southern is one of transparency and one in which people are encouraged to raise their hand and say they’ve got an issue,” CEO Alan Shaw said.

Other major railroads, including BNSF, Union Pacific, CPKC, Canadian National and CSX, echoed that sentiment in statements and said they encourage employees to report safety concerns.

Whistleblower cases represent a small fraction of the workforce numbering more than 100,000 nationwide. But even a handful of cases can instill fear among employees and have a chilling effect on safety reporting.

Long before Mike Ratigan was fired from CSX in New York last year after refusing to help circumvent federal safety standards or ignore railcar flaws, he said he saw other workers sanctioned. Those disciplinary cases became a “deer head” for managers: a trophy that sent a clear message.

“It says, if we can do it to him, we can do it to you,” Ratigan said.

OSHA says 793 whistleblower complaints were filed between 2018 and the end of July, with Norfolk Southern leading all railroads with 257. Union Pacific and CSX weren't far behind with nearly 200 complaints apiece, while another 113 were reported at BNSF. The numbers are much smaller at the Canadian railroads partly because much of their operations are north of the border.

More than half of the complaints were dismissed after OSHA reviews. But that doesn’t tell the full story because some dismissed cases become federal lawsuits that can lead to multimillion-dollar judgments against railroads. OSHA's decisions also can be appealed, with 87 cases settled before OSHA decided if they had merit.

The Associated Press reviewed dozens of whistleblower cases and found a similar pattern. When they weren’t bound by confidential settlement agreements, former railroad workers discussed how managers didn't want them to report too many safety violations because they would slow trains. Some ex-employees prevailed in court, but they all faced tough battles against massive companies with billions of dollars in annual profits and armies of lawyers.

Mike Elliott was fired in 2011 after he went to the Federal Railroad Administration with safety concerns other workers reported to him in his capacity as Washington state's top safety official with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union. The FRA responded with a special inspection that found 357 defects, angering his BNSF bosses.

One of his managers confronted Elliott in the parking lot and jumped on the hood of his car, claiming Elliott punched him and tried to run him down. Elliott said he was acquitted of those allegations in a criminal case, but ultimately was fired.

That started a yearslong court fight that included countless motions and a six-day trial before a jury awarded him $1.25 million and approved $500,000 in legal fees. After an appeal to the 9th Circuit, the railroad finally paid him in 2018.

“It’s a never-ending battle. They have the best lawyers. They have the best lobbyists and they have a lot of lobbyists. They have a lot of money, and you’re up against it.” Elliott said.

Dale Gourneau had a reputation as a “tenacious safety advocate” who may have written more “bad order” tags listing defects on railcars than anyone else in the Mandan, North Dakota, railyard where he worked for 18 years.

Gourneau pressed his managers to stop blocking employees from applying for corporate BNSF bonuses for finding broken railcar wheels. Not long after, he was written up for failing to properly stop his ATV before crossing the tracks in 2019. He was fired a few months later after the company alleged he violated the same rule a second time, even though he claimed to have followed the common practice of stopping several feet short of the tracks to avoid another set of tracks.

An administrative law judge ruled this spring that the discipline Gourneau received was merely pretext his managers conjured to fire him. The judge ordered BNSF to reinstate Gourneau and pay him $578,659 in back pay and penalties.

BNSF is appealing and declined to comment on specific cases.

For rail car inspector John Fulk, the situation got so bad that in 2011 he shot himself in the head in the parking lot of his workplace at a North Carolina Norfolk Southern railyard. His widow successfully argued in court that after being berated by managers for flagging too many cars for repairs, Fulk killed himself rather than face a disciplinary hearing and possible firing on trumped-up charges of trying to sabotage a train’s braking system.

Fulk’s case was allowed to move forward because he started the complaint process with regulators before his death. FRA investigators found numerous rule violations and his former coworkers told them Fulk had repeatedly been targeted by managers. But court documents say none of them would sign witness statements because they feared retribution. Norfolk Southern settled in 2015.

“Because of his adherence to FRA regulations, Mr. Fulk was subjected to abusive intimidation, disciplinary threats, and job threats by Norfolk Southern management,” U.S. District Judge William Osteen wrote. “Although he reported these acts and omissions, Norfolk Southern never took action to stop such treatment.”

Josh Funk, The Ass

Norfolk Southern content with minimum safety too often, regulators say after fiery Ohio derailment

The union representing track maintenance workers, said  glad to see OSHA doing something to hold the railroad accountable because its “actions were completely derelict.” 


The Canadian Press
Wed, August 9, 2023 



OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Norfolk Southern made improvements after one of its trains derailed, caught fire and spilled toxic chemicals near an Ohio town, but the company is nowhere near the “gold standard for safety” it is striving to be, according to federal regulators. Instead, the railroad is too often only willing to meet minimum safety requirements.

The Federal Railroad Administration released its 143-page report on the Atlanta-based railroad’s safety culture Wednesday. The agency has been working on the report for months since thousands of people had to evacuate their homes after the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment.

Poor communication and mistrust between employees and managers are hindering Norfolk Southern’s efforts to improve safety, the report also said. The agency questioned whether the company's training for employees and managers is adequate.

“At a time when so many people working on and living near train tracks are asking legitimate questions about how major freight railroads operate, railroads must have a culture and operations that are focused on safety,” agency administrator Amit Bose said. “This first-of-its-kind assessment — conducted immediately after the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine — shows in too many instances the railroad should be doing more to ensure the safety people deserve.”

The agency has promised to conduct similar safety culture reviews at all the major freight railroads, including CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, but it hasn’t set a timeline for those reviews.

Norfolk Southern is collaborating with workers on safety and addressing the report’s findings, said CEO Alan Shaw, who since the Feb. 3 derailment near Pennsylvania has repeatedly called for his railroad to set the “gold standard” for safety in the industry.

Bose met with Shaw and several of the railroad’s other executives Tuesday to go over the findings, and the company gave a copy of the report to Atkins Nuclear Secured, an independent consultant with expertise in nuclear submarines that is reviewing the company’s safety program.

“We aren't waiting” to act, Shaw said. He said the railroad will keep working on improvements it announced in March while trying to address the regulators' recommendations.

Congress and regulators have called for all the major freight railroads to make a number of changes to improve safety but proposed legislation has stalled in the Senate and failed to get started in the Republican-controlled House.

The rail agency said its assessment “shows numerous examples where NS seems more concerned with compliance with minimum safety requirements of federal regulations and industry standards rather than understanding and seeking to address safety concerns that fall outside the boundaries of existing rules and regulations.”

And as investigators looked into the railroad's practices, they “encountered multiple instances of lapses in trust between employees and their frontline supervisors,” including times when employees refused to meet with investigators because they feared they would be disciplined for speaking out about their safety concerns.

Shaw has defended the railroad's overall safety record and said its number of derailments is down since it began overhauling its operations in 2019 and making widespread job cuts in the name of efficiency. But the federal agency pointed out that between 2018 and 2022 the rate of accidents per million train miles on Norfolk Southern rose faster than any other major freight railroad.

The agency said it has noticed some initial improvement since the derailment, but that it has been inconsistent as the railroad hasn't always communicated the changes well to all its supervisors and employees.

Just last year the agency audited Norfolk Southern’s safety practices and training programs after three railroad employees — including two conductors who had been on the job less than a year — suffered amputations while on duty. The agency made 25 recommendations in that audit that the railroad didn’t promptly or comprehensively respond to.

Just two days before the East Palestine derailment, "NS responded, indicating that where recommendations exceeded the minimum regulatory requirements, they would take no further action, but did promise to engage in corrective action for the majority of the recommendations,” the report said.

The National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating what caused the Ohio derailment after holding hearings on it in June. But that agency has said the derailment was likely caused by an overheating bearing on one of the rail cars. A sensor triggered an alarm about that bearing but the crew didn't have time to stop the train before cars loaded with hazardous chemicals began to careen off the tracks.

The federal rail agency took a close look at how Norfolk Southern monitors those sensors and found that there was often only one employee — sometimes working from home — monitoring all the roughly 1,200 detectors throughout the railroad's network of 19,500 miles (31,382 kilometers) of track in the eastern United States. And that person relied on email to alert dispatchers about any problems — creating the possibility of a delay in notice. That person also dealt with reports of mechanical problems from train crews and safety concerns reported by the public.

In addition to Wednesday's report, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it had fined the railroad $49,111 for failing to provide proper protective gear and adequate hazardous materials training to the workers who were sent to East Palestine immediately after the derailment to rebuild the tracks.

Norfolk Southern also agreed establish a medical monitoring program to track the health of workers who were at the site and improve its training for future derailments as part of a settlement with OSHA.

Tony Cardwell, who leads the union representing track maintenance workers, said he's glad to see OSHA doing something to hold the railroad accountable because its “actions were completely derelict.” Cardwell said he was “blown away” when he learned that his members were working at the derailment site just in their normal leather gloves and boots and not in the hazmat suits he kept seeing on news reports.

“Unless agencies step in and force the carriers to do these things, they won’t do them because there’s a cost associated with it,” said Cardwell, who is president of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division union.

Josh Funk, The Associated Press

Black Belt Eagle Scout’s latest record inspired by return home to Swinomish tribe’s ancestral lands


 Black Belt Eagle Scout performs during the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Casey, File)

Black Belt Eagle Scout, second right, performs during the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago on Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)

Black Belt Eagle Scout performs during the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago on Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)

BY MICHAEL CASEY
July 29, 2023Share

CHICAGO (AP) — The beginning of the pandemic was devasting for the leader of the indie rock band Black Belt Eagle Scout, Katherine Paul. All her tours, including one headlining across North America, were canceled and she feared her ascending music career might be over.

She got a day job at a nonprofit and returned to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s homelands in Western Washington. But as Paul, or KP to her friends, spent time in the cedar forests and walked along the Skagit River, she turned to her guitar to deal with the isolation and stress. Those snippets, recorded on her phone, provided the foundation for what would become songs on her powerful, grunge-soaked new record “The Land, The Water, The Sky.”

“I feel like if the pandemic hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have made this record,” said KP, who writes the songs, sings and plays guitar in the band that was the only Native American artist at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this month.

“I spent a lot of time outside. I spent a lot more time than normal going on hikes, being part of the land,” she continued. “It’s not like I never do that stuff but it brought me back to a place where this is who I am.”

The new record, which came out in February, helped launch what has probably been the most successful year so far for Black Belt Eagle Scout. The band toured Europe and will go to Australia later this year. Two of her songs, “Soft Stud” from an earlier record and “Salmon Stinta” from her latest, appear this season on the television series “Reservation Dogs.”

Reservation Dogs Music Supervisor Tiffany Anders said she was introduced to the band’s music by the show’s creator, Sterlin Harjo, when they started working on the second season.

“It’s always been important for us on this show to include Native American artists, but beyond representation, Black Belt Eagle Scout’s music is beautiful and emotional, and fits these characters, their world and landscape — and the vibe of the show,’” she said in a statement.

Then there was Pitchfork, a three-day festival that is a significant milestone for indie musicians. The festival is held every year in Chicago’s Union Park and this year’s headliners included Bon Iver, Big Thief and The Smile, which has members of Radiohead.

She admitted stepping on that stage last weekend was nerve-wracking given her high hopes for the show, a feeling compounded by concerns that storms could scuttle their performance. But as she launched into the blistering set of mostly new songs in front of thousands of eager fans, KP found solace in her guitar. She launched several long jams that were punctuated by her twirling her jet-black hair around to the point it obscured her face.

“It was totally a moment,” she said with a laugh.

“I kind of cried after we played because it felt so meaningful,” she added. “Like, I’ve always wanted to play this music festival. I remember trying to play one of the years before the pandemic when I was touring and it didn’t happen. This year, I was just so stoked to play.”

Reaching Pitchfork has been a long journey for the 34-year-old artist, who is a member of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and left her home on the reservation in LaConner, Washington, when she was 17 to attend Lewis & Clark College in Oregon and play rock music.

Growing up on the reservation off the Washington coast on islands in the Salish Sea, she drummed and sang cultural songs. As a teenager, she discovered local Pacific Northwest bands like Mount Eerie and the sounds of the Riot Grrrl movement and played one of her first gigs at a small bar called Department of Safety. She moved to Portland, Oregon, due to its outsized role in the indie scene that featured bands like Sleater-Kinney and quickly immersed herself in the music scene playing drums and guitar.

She joined an all-female outfit whom she met at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland. She went on to play a lot of small, basement shows with bands like Genders — whose wolf tattoo she still has on her left arm.

But she wanted to write her own songs and formed Black Belt Eagle Scout in 2013. Her early music was defined by her ethereal singing about love, friendship and healing — often only accompanied by minimal guitar strumming. But she did rock out on songs like “Soft Stud,” which featured searing solos.

“She is a really an authentic musician and she carries a lot of power on stage with her presence and sound,” Claire Glass, who plays guitar in the band and first saw KP seven years ago.

KP has said her Native American identify has always been present on her records. But her latest music paints a more vivid picture of life on the Swinomish reservation. There are references to chinook salmon, which are traditionally fished, and a powwow dance.

“I started thinking of feeling grateful for the life that I have been given; this place that I’m from; how much the land, the water, the sky means to me — being surrounded by it,” KP said of writing the song ”Don’t Give Up.” “It has so much more meaning because the land, that’s where my people are from.”

Her songs aren’t meant to directly confront issues like the crisis of missing and murdered Native American women or tribes’ forced relocation. It’s not the way she writes songs. Instead, she envisions them connecting with people, drawing more Native Americans to indie rock shows in places like Minneapolis, which has a vibrant Native American community, and inspiring young Native Americans to connect with her after shows.

“Isn’t me like being here existing with my music good enough? Can’t I just be who I am?” she asked, adding she doesn’t need to speak out from stage about these issues because being Native often means she is already wrestling with them. A judge, for example, ruled in March that BNSF Railway intentionally violated the terms of an easement agreement with the tribe by running 100-car trains carrying crude oil over the reservation.

“As a Native person, you know someone who is missing. Your tribe is trying to get your land back. Those are topics that are part of your every day life,” she said. ”I care about those things deeply but there are certain ways in which my music is, maybe not as direct, but it can be healing.”

KP also doesn’t want to be seen just as a rock musician or as a Native artist. “I am a musician who happens to be Native, but I am also a Native musician ... I think I am always both,” she said.

Her latest record aims to show that.

“I kind of had in the back of mind, just kept thinking what would Built to Spill do,” KP said of the guitar-heavy, indie-rock band from the Pacific Northwest. “I’ve gone on tour with them and seen their three guitars at one point playing together and how they overlap and all these other things.”

It’s also a more collaborative effort with more musicians playing on the record— a departure for KP, who is accustomed to doing everything herself. A cellist who played with Nirvana, Lori Goldston, is featured on several songs, as are two violinists, as well as a saxophone and mellotron player.

Takiaya Reed, a first-time producer who is also in a doom metal band, described the experience of working on the record as “beautiful and amazing” and said the two bonded over their love of punk. Reid also brought her classical training and love of “heavier sounds” to the studio.

“We approached it fearlessly. It was wonderful to be expansive in terms of sonic possibilities,” she said.

KP also wanted to find a place for her parents, whom she had grown especially close to during the pandemic, to play on the record. She chose the song “Spaces,” which she described as having a “healing vibe.” Her dad, who is one of the main singers at the tribe’s cultural events, embraced the idea of lending his powerful powwow chant to the song. Her mom sang harmonies.

KP said: “It meant the world to me to have my parents sing because it felt like it was full circle in who I am.”

Thousands of port workers in Canada's British Columbia go on strike

Story by Reuters • 

Longshoremen with the ILWU on strike at Canada's busiest port in Vancouver© Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) - Several thousand unionized port workers in Canada's western province of British Columbia went on strike after failing to reach a deal to renew an industry-wide contract that expired in March, a waterfront employers group said on Saturday.


Longshoremen with the ILWU on strike at Canada's busiest port in Vancouver© Thomson Reuters

The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) said it and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) had met Thursday and Friday in talks supported by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

"Unfortunately, a tentative agreement could not be reached," the BCMEA said in a statement.

ILWU Canada members were on strike at sites across British Columbia, the BCMEA said. Asked for comment, the union said it would issue a statement once there is a resolution to the dispute over the collective bargaining agreement, which covers about 7,500 employees at 30 terminals in the province.


Longshoremen with the ILWU on strike at Canada's busiest port in Vancouver© Thomson Reuters

The walkout could have serious consequences for Canada's economy and small businesses, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said in a statement. The group urged the government to ensure port operations are maintained.

On Wednesday, the longshore workers union said it had issued a 72-hour strike notice.


Longshoremen with the ILWU on strike at Canada's busiest port in Vancouver© Thomson Reuters

In a Twitter post on Saturday, Canada's Minister of Labour Seamus O'Regan Jr., said the BCMEA and ILWU Canada remain at the bargaining table working toward a deal, adding that the federal mediators continue to support the parties in their negotiations.

($1 = 1.3236 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

7,400 B.C. port workers begin strike that could impact global shipping

CBC News

5 hours ago

Port workers across B.C. went on strike Saturday morning, in a wide-ranging job action that could impact global shipping. The strike affects about 7,400 terminal cargo loaders and 49 of the province's waterfront employers at more than 30 B.C. ports including Canada's busiest, Vancouver.

 

West Coast port workers in Canada officially begin strike

Story by Alex Harring • CNBC


A union representing port workers in Western Canada officially began striking, an action that could have ripple effects reaching beyond the U.S.'s northern neighbor.

More than 99% of members of the union, who support West Coast ports such as Vancouver and Prince Rupert, voted to approve the strike last month.

Notice of the strike came Wednesday.


A gantry crane stands in the DP World Ltd. terminal at Port Metro Vancouver in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 

© Provided by CNBC

A union representing port workers in Western Canada officially began striking, an action that could have ripple effects reaching beyond the U.S.'s northern neighbor.

The International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada's Longshore Division announced its labor strike began in a Saturday Facebook post signed by union president Rob Ashton. More than 99% of members of the union, who support West Coast ports such as Vancouver and Prince Rupert, voted to approve the strike last month. Notice of the strike came Wednesday.

"The ILWU Canada Longshore Division has not taken this decision lightly, but for the future of our workforce we had to take this step," Ashton said in the post. "We are still hopeful a settlement will be reached through FREE Collective Bargaining!"

The union has been open to bargaining since February with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association, which represents port owners, and remains ready to continue working on a contract, Ashton added.

The employers association, known as the BCMEA, said in a statement it has worked to "advance proposals and positions in good faith, with the objective of achieving a fair deal at the table." It noted the role of federal mediators and said it was open to "any" solution that can get the parties to a balanced agreement, including a mediated arbitration process.

Cruises remain able to sail and bulk grain is moving, but containerized grain is not. Canadian labor minister Seamus O'Regan Jr. tweeted seemingly in support of continued negotiations between the two groups, noting that "the best deals for both parties are reached at the table."

The two parties are at odds over issues including automation, the use of contract work and the cost of living for workers. Two mediators appointed by the Canadian government oversaw discussions that ran through the end of May. Those discussions were followed by a so-called cooling-off period between the two groups.

A strike in the western ports occurring around holidays in both the U.S. and Canada could result in impacts on the American economy, industry followers say. The Port of Vancouver and Port of Prince Rupert are popular destinations for U.S. trade because these ports are among the major ports of call for goods arriving from Asia. Some logistics managers have told CNBC that rail service out of those ports is a lot faster than going through the port of Seattle or Tacoma.

The International Longshoremen's Association said it won't take diverted cargo from ports with striking workers, while the head of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents West Coast port workers in the U.S., made a statement of solidarity with the Canadian union but did not mention any specific action.

The strike could lead to congestion in these ports with longshoremen unable to unload vessels. Congestion can turn into backlogs and lead to delayed pickups from terminals, which can then lead to late fees that are often passed on to consumers — a situation similar to what occurred during the pandemic.

"With the Canadian holiday and July Fourth holidays, the volume of containers moving are lighter than normal but now vessels are not being worked because of the strike," said Paul Brashire, vice president of drayage and intermodal at ITS Logistics. "If this strike continues into the middle of next week, it will impact congestion in the coming weeks at Chicago and Detroit rail terminals because of the amount of containers that would have built up and eventually moved to those rail terminals."

The Canadian ports handle nearly $225 billion in cargo each year, according to estimates, with items spanning industries such as home goods, electronics and apparel transported by rail. Approximately 15% of consumer trade going through the Port of Vancouver is headed to or coming from the U.S., according to port authority data. Around two-thirds of containerized import volume going to the Port of Prince Rupert are headed to the U.S., port data shows.

Three Class 1 railways operate at these ports: CN, Canadian Pacific and BNSF, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. In an email to CNBC, BNSF said it had no comment on a strike impact. CN could not be immediately reached for comment.

In a CPKC customer advisory issued Wednesday, the railway said: "The work stoppage related to this notice could impact port operations in British Columbia. At this time, we do not anticipate any significant service interruptions to result from this work stoppage and, as such, CPKC has not initiated embargoes related to a potential service interruption but we are closely monitoring developments to evaluate any impact to shipments on CPKC's network. We will provide updates as necessary."

Steve Lamar, CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, told CNBC that the "fragile and recovering supply chains cannot tolerate a strike," while urging the Canadian government to help keep parties at the table.

Federal board sides with Navajo coal company, says BNSF Railway must ship to Canadian port


Tue, June 27, 2023 
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A federal board has sided with one of the largest coal producers in the United States in a contract dispute with a major freight railroad, ordering BNSF Railway to transport at least 4.2 million tons of coal this year for overseas use.

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board’s 3-2 order last week said BNSF has the ability to fulfill the contract and still meet the needs of other shippers.

The Navajo Transitional Energy Co. sought the order in April. The company had filed a lawsuit late last year saying that major shortcomings in BNSF service cost it $150 million in lost revenue this year and another $15 million in charges when coal wasn’t loaded in a timely manner onto ships destined for Japan and Korea.

The transportation board said NTEC was highly likely to succeed on the merits of its claim.

“The common carrier obligation is a core tenet of the Board’s regulation of the freight railroad industry and is a pillar of the railroads’ responsibility to our country’s economy,” Chairman Martin Oberman said in a statement Friday.

The Navajo Nation-owned energy company runs three coal mines in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming and another near Farmington, New Mexico — making it the third-largest coal company in the country.

The board also said NTEC was likely to suffer damage to its reputation as a dependable coal supplier, and that the order meets the public good because NTEC plays a critical role in the Navajo Nation’s economy.

BNSF Railway and NTEC did not immediately respond to emails Tuesday seeking comment about the board's decision or the status of the coal company's lawsuit.

The board says BNSF must move 23 trains of coal per month for NTEC beginning immediately, and another six trains per month when additional trains and crew become available. The additional capacity would total 1 million tons, the board said.

Like other freight railroads, BNSF struggled to deliver products on time and handle all the shipments that companies want to move because of worker shortages coming out of the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the dissenting board members, Patrick Fuchs, said NTEC didn’t meet its contracted tonnage requirements with BNSF in 2020 and that the company then sought a contract with BNSF without tonnage requirements.

The coal company's lawsuit, filed in December in federal court in Montana, alleged the railroad breached its 2022 contract to transport 5.5 million tons of coal. According to the lawsuit, BNSF said in the spring of last year that it could commit to delivering only 3.1 million tons of coal.

BNSF has said the 2022 contract called for transporting up to 5.5 million tons but did not set a minimum guarantee, Fuchs said in his dissent.

The lawsuit also alleged BNSF favored other coal companies that ship on the railroad.

The Associated Press

Work begins to clean up train derailment in Montana’s Yellowstone River

By Associated Press
June 27, 2023

Work is underway to clean up rail cars carrying hazardous materials that fell into the Yellowstone River in southern Montana after a bridge collapsed over the weekend, officials said Monday.

Montana Rail Link is developing a cleanup plan and is working with its unions and BNSF Railway to reroute freight trains in the area to limit disruption of the supply chain, Beth Archer, a spokesperson for the US Environmental Protection Agency, said in a joint statement issued with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and Montana Rail Link.

Contractors and a large crane were on site to stabilize and remove cars from the river once a plan is set, officials said.

Some rail cars that did not go off the tracks were removed from the area, and two cars carrying sodium hydrosulfide had their contents transferred to other cars and moved to safety, Archer said.

Montana Rail Link will be responsible for all cleanup costs, CEO Joe Racicot told a news conference.

The train derailment spilled over into Yellowstone River near Reed Point.

AP

Sixteen cars derailed, and 10 of them ended up in the river downstream from Yellowstone National Park Saturday morning.

Six mangled cars that carried hot asphalt, three holding molten sulfur and one with scrap metal remained in the rushing water on Monday in an area surrounded by farmland near the town of Columbus, about 40 miles (about 64 kilometers) west of Billings.

Two of the cars were submerged, and a dive team was deployed to gather more information, Archer said in a statement.

Portions of a freight train are seen in the Yellowstone River after an overnight railroad bridge collapse, near Columbus, Mont., on June 24, 2023.

AP

Joni Sandoval, the EPA on-scene coordinator, told a news conference her agency had invited experts from federal and state fish and wildlife agencies to come to the site to assess how the derailment has affected wildlife.

The asphalt and sulfur solidified and sank in the cold water, officials said. Some asphalt globules were found downriver, but they are not water-soluble and are not expected to impact water quality, the statement said.

Water samples taken Saturday showed the materials from the derailment had not affected water quality, Shasta Steinweden of the state Department of Environmental Quality said. The tests showed no presence of petroleum and sulfur levels were consistent with upstream water samples, she said.

Crews work the site of a railroad bridge that collapsed the day before on the Yellowstone River.

AP

Results from samples taken Sunday and Monday were still pending.

The cause of the collapse was under investigation. Part of the train had crossed the bridge before it failed, and some cars at the back remained on stable ground at the other end. No injuries were reported.

The collapse also cut two major fiber-optic lines. Global Net said late Sunday that it had developed a temporary workaround. Company officials did not return a call Monday seeking further information.

Several train cars are immersed in the Yellowstone River after a bridge collapse near Columbus, Mont., on June 24, 2023.

AP

The White House was monitoring the situation and was prepared to offer any federal help that might be needed, spokesperson Karin Jean-Pierre said Monday.

The derailment comes just over four months after a freight train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, sparking a fire that led to evacuations and the eventual burning of hazardous materials to prevent an uncontrolled explosion.

Freight railcar inspections are happening less often, union officials testified last week during a congressional hearing about the Ohio derailment.

Jean-Pierre said the US Department of Transportation is looking into ways to prevent derailments.

The government has been “all hands on deck,” she said.

California passes 1st-in-nation emission rules for trains

By SOPHIE AUSTIN

yesterday

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Los Angeles skyline is seen above the Union Pacific LATC Intermodal Terminal is seen on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 in Los Angeles. California's Air Resources Board is set to vote on a rule to cut greenhouse gas and smog-forming emissions from diesel-powered locomotives used to pull rail cars through ports and railyards.

 (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California approved Thursday a first-in-the-nation, ambitious rule limiting rail pollution to aggressively cut greenhouse gas emissions in the state’s latest move to establish itself as a global leader in the fight against climate change.

The rule will ban locomotive engines more than 23 years old by 2030 and increase the use of zero-emissions technology to transport freight from ports and throughout railyards. It would also ban locomotives in the state from idling longer than 30 minutes if they are equipped with an automatic shutoff.

“It is time to kickstart the next step of transformation, with trains,” said Davina Hurt, a California Air Resources Board member.

The standards would also reduce chemicals that contribute to smog. They could improve air quality near railyards and ports.

But some say it’s too soon for the locomotive standards. Wayne Winegarden, a Pacific Research Institute senior fellow, said the rule would be expensive for rail companies, and increased costs will mean higher prices for many goods that move by rail.

The Association of American Railroads said in a statement “there is no clear path to zero emissions locomotives.”

“Mandating that result ignores the complexity and interconnected nature of railroad operations and the reality of where zero emission locomotive technology and the supporting infrastructure stand,” the group wrote.

Freight railways are an efficient means to transport the roughly 1.6 billion tons of goods nationwide across nearly 140,000 miles (225,308 kilometers), much cleaner than if those goods were trucked, it said.

The transportation sector contributed the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide in 2020, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. But rail only accounts for about 2% of those emissions.

Kristen South, a Union Pacific spokesperson, said in a statement the rail company is “deeply disappointed” by the vote, adding that the rule is too ambitious for the current technology and infrastructure.

Union Pacific is working to cut greenhouse gas emissions in part by spending $1 billion to modernize locomotives and testing out engines powered by electric batteries, South wrote.

California passes rules to reduce train emissions

The California Air Resources Board has approved new rules to cut emissions and air pollution from diesel-powered trains. The railroad industry opposes the rules and questions whether California's authorities to regulate trains. (April 27) (AP Video/Terry Chea)

Cecilia Garibay, a project coordinator with the 50-member Moving Forward Network based at Occidental College, said California needs “the strongest, most protective in-use locomotive regulation” that sets an example for the nation.

The standards would need approval from the Biden administration to move forward. They follow rules approved by the EPA to cut emissions from heavy trucks.

Locomotives pull rail cars filled with food, lumber, oil and other products through railyards near neighborhoods in Oakland, Commerce, San Bernardino and other California cities.

They run on diesel, a more powerful fuel than gasoline, producing greenhouse gases and pollution that is harmful for nearby residents.

Other states can sign on to try to adopt the California rule if it gets the OK from the Biden administration.

The rule is the most ambitious of its kind in the country.

“The locomotive rule has the power to change the course of history for Californians who have suffered from train pollution for far too long, and it is my hope that our federal regulators follow California’s lead,” said Yasmine Agelidis, a lawyer with environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, in a statement.

Diesel exhaust is a health hazard. According to California regulators, diesel emissions are responsible for some 70% of Californians’ cancer risk from toxic air pollution. The rule would curb emissions on a class of engines that annually release more than 640 tons of tiny pollutants that can enter deep into a person’s lungs and worsen asthma, and release nearly 30,000 tons of smog-forming emissions known as nitrogen oxides. The rule would also drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions from locomotives, by an amount akin to removing all heavy-duty trucks from the state by 2030.

It’s important to tackle emissions from a sector that often burdens low-income residents and communities of color, and that has plans to expand passenger rail, said Air Resources Board Chair Liane M. Randolph.

Rail companies can participate in incentive programs run by the state to ease the cost of transitioning to zero-emissions locomotives, the agency said.

California has already set out to make big emissions cuts in other areas. The state approved a transition to zero-emissions cars and a roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality, meaning it would remove as many carbon emissions as it releases, by 2045. The board is also considering a rule to electrify a group of heavy trucks that transports goods through ports.

For activists and residents who’ve lived in areas affected by heavy rail pollution, the fight for cleaner trains is decades in the making.

Jan Victor Andasan, an activist with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, grew up in West Long Beach and now organizes residents there. It’s a neighborhood near the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that is “surrounded by pollution” from trains, trucks and industry.

“We support rail, but we support rail if they’re doing all their best to mitigate their emissions,” Andasan said.

Residents shared stories Thursday of children who live near railways having to share inhalers to ease asthma symptoms and families taking extreme measures to rid their homes of diesel fumes.

Some activists would like California to go further, for example, to limit locomotive idling to 15 minutes. They are also concerned that increased demand from online shopping is causing more rail traffic that burdens communities.

The EPA recently approved California rules requiring zero-emission trucks, depending on the type, to make up between 40% and 75% of sales by 2035.

Heidi Swillinger lives in a mobile home park in San Pablo, a small city in the San Francisco Bay Area, along the BNSF Railway. She estimates that her home is just 20 feet (6 meters) from the tracks. She said it’s not uncommon for diesel fumes to fill her house, resulting in a “thick, acrid, dirty smell.”

“Nobody wants to live next to a railroad track,” Swillinger said. “You move next to a railroad track because you don’t have other options.”

___

Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @sophieadanna

Train derails in Wisconsin, sending cars into Mississippi River

April 27 (UPI) -- A freight train derailed in southwest Wisconsin on Thursday, sending several cars into the Mississippi River.

One person was treated for injuries, and officials said there was no need for local evacuations.

State officials said the derailment occurred around 12:15 p.m., 30 miles south of La Crosse. The railroad company, BNSF Railway, said that it was carrying all different kinds of freight, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

CNN reported that Caitlin Nolan saw the derailment happen.

"I didn't see a fire or smell anything but witnessed multiple cars in the water on both sides of the tracks," she told CNN. "There hadn't been any emergency help until after I had passed by."

A bridge in the area had been down recently because of severe flooding.

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, whose district covers the area of the derailment, said he was working to get answers on what happened.

"My staff is traveling to the site, and Congressman Troy Nehls (TX-22), who Chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Rail, has also made staff available to assist our team," Van Orden said according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "We will continue to monitor the situation and determine next steps."

Railroads warned about the problems long trains can cause

By JOSH FUNK

yesterday



 Multiple cars of a Norfolk Southern train lie toppled on one another after derailing at a train crossing near Springfield, Ohio, on March 4, 2023. Federal regulators are warning railroads Thursday, April 27, that the long trains they favor can cause all kinds of problems and contribute to derailments, so they want the railroads to ensure their training and operating procedures account for that. 

(Bill Lackey/Springfield-News Sun via AP, File)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal regulators are warning railroads that the long trains they favor can cause all kinds of problems and contribute to derailments, so they want the railroads to ensure their training and operating procedures account for that.

The Federal Railroad Administration stopped short of recommending in its latest safety advisory issued Thursday that railroads limit the size of their trains, which can routinely stretch more than 2 miles long. However, they did suggest a number of precautions including making sure engineers know how to handle them and that locomotives don’t lose communication with devices at the end of trains that can help trigger the brakes in an emergency.

Currently, there aren’t any restrictions on train length but members of Congress and state lawmakers in at least six states have proposed establishing limits particularly in the wake of the fiery Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio. The major freight railroads have pushed back against that idea because they have increasingly come to rely on longer trains to help them move cargo with fewer crews and mechanics as they overhauled their operations over the past six years. Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz said recently that he doesn’t think accident data shows that long trains are riskier.

But the Federal Railroad Administration cited three derailments involving trains longer than 12,250 feet (3,734 meters) where train length was a factor in its advisory. That agency and the National Academies of Sciences are both in the middle of studying the impact of long trains, and they expect to issue reports next year on whether they are a problem.

“FRA believes these incidents demonstrate the need for railroads and railroad employees to be particularly mindful of the complexities of operating longer trains,” the agency said.

The derailments mentioned as examples of the problems that can accompany long trains were in Springfield, Ohio, in March; in Ravenna, Ohio, last November; and in Rockwell, Iowa, in March 2022. In each of those cases, the way cars in different parts of the train pulled and pushed against each other contributed to the derailments.

The fiery February derailment that prompted evacuations in East Palestine, Ohio, and sparked a nationwide focus on rail safety wasn’t mentioned as an example. The National Transportation Safety Board has said that an overheated bearing that caused an axle to fail on one of the railcars likely caused that derailment.

This latest advisory follows one earlier this month that directed railroads to re-examine the way they assemble their trains to minimize those kind of forces that often come into play as a train goes over hills and around corners. Parts of a train can be pulling forward going up a hill while the middle or back of the train pushes against the rest of the cars while going down a hill.

Those forces make it challenging for engineers to control a train, so regulators said railroads need to adjust their training to make sure their engineers are prepared to handle the monster trains they are operating. The common practice of putting locomotives in the middle of long trains as well as in the front can help manage a long train, but having to control those additional locomotives also complicates the engineer’s job.

“A locomotive engineer cannot be expected to safely operate in a more demanding service without proper additional training that covers the unique challenges and complexities those trains present,” regulators said in the advisory.

A spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads trade group said railroads are already working to manage the challenges associated with long trains and looking for ways to improve safety.

“All stakeholders – the FRA, railroads, and elected officials – share the same goal of continuously enhancing rail safety, minimizing adverse impacts to surrounding communities and keeping the goods that power our economy flowing,” AAR spokeswoman Jessica Kahanek said. “The recommendations within this advisory align closely with the prudent steps railroads already take to do just that.”

The Federal Railroad Administration said that in addition to the concerns about derailments, long trains can block crossings for extended periods of time. When crossings are blocked, firefighters, police and ambulance drivers may be delayed in getting someone the help that they need, and pedestrians may risk their lives by crawling under or across stopped trains that could start moving without warning.

The states proposing limits on train size this year include Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada and Washington.