Railroaders place to shoot the shit.

(The Associated Press circulated the following on June 28, 2010. Tim Smith is Chairman of the BLET's California State Legislative Board.)

LOS ANGELES Amtrak conductors were at the controls of Southern California's Metrolink commuter trains Saturday the latest change the regional rail agency has made since a 2008 collision that killed 25 people.

Amtrak took over train operations after the Southern California Regional Rail Authority's agreement with private contractor Connex Railroad LLC expired on Friday.

Metrolink picked Connex over Amtrak after bidding in 2004, but its relationship with the private firm soured after the deadly collision between a Metrolink train and freight train in September 2008. Connex did not seek a contract extension.

A federal investigation found that Metrolink engineer Robert Sanchez, who worked for Connex, was sending and receiving text messages on his cell phone before running a red signal light and slamming into a freight train. Sanchez was among the 25 who died.

Metrolink has also instituted personality tests to identify those best able to avoid distraction while conducting a train, and last year it became the first commuter train agency in the nation to install cameras to monitor engineers.

Both moves saw resistance from railroad labor unions.

Tim Smith of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen in March called the personality tests "strictly a witch hunt" and engineers threatened a boycott before Metrolink clarified details and reassured them that a poor score would not automatically disqualify them from operating trains.

Amtrak has used the tests for its conductors since 2002.

Next year Metrolink will begin replacing its train cars with what it calls "crash-resistant" models built by Rotem, a division of Hyundai, in South Korea.

The agency hopes to have 117 cars ready at a cost of $229 million sometime in 2011.

Monday, June 28, 2010

http://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=30687