(The following story by Dan Gearino appeared on the Columbus Dispatch website on May 3, 2009. Tim Hanely is Chairman of the BLET Ohio State Legislative Board.)
COLUMBUS, Ohio A continuing drop in rail traffic is leading to further cuts at Buckeye Yard on the West Side.
Norfolk Southern Railroad is temporarily ceasing its operations there Monday, leading to the idling of about 70 workers, said spokesman Rudy Husband. The company will transfer some of the work to Watkins Yard on the South Side.
"Basically, we don't have the volume to keep two yards active," Husband said.
The idled workers will continue to be paid for 60 days, he said.
The new move is in addition to Norfolk Southern's February layoff of 150 Ohio workers, 20 of whom were in Columbus.
Norfolk Southern, based in Norfolk, Va., also has a presence at Rickenbacker Airport, where the company will remain active.
Husband could not immediately say how many workers will stay on the job in Columbus.
Another railroad company, CSX, will continue to do work at Buckeye Yard.
Tim Hanely, an Ohio spokesman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said he expects rail traffic will bounce back once key industries, such as the auto industry, increase orders.
"The railroads aren't going to go away," said Hanely, whose union represents some of the affected workers.
Rumors been floating around for a long time. I worked at one terminal that shut down, it was just a long, slow decline, lose one train here, see another one go there, one day we were down to only one each way and an occasional extra and then they were gone.
