LOS ANGELES -- A former Federal Railroad Administration chief safety officer, Jim Schultz, who later became a highly respected safety officer at CSX, is advising Los Angeles Metrolink as it moves to lead the rail industry in installing and implementing a positive train control system on Metrolink's seven-route, 512-mile system serving the Southern California counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino and Ventura.
Schultz, who was the FRA's chief safety officer during the mid-1990s, won substantial praise at CSX during the late 1990s for his efforts -- not entirely successful -- to end the industry's 19th century military legacy of top-down management engaging in employee harassment and intimidation to enforce safety rules and regulations.
In its place, Schultz, a former Air Force fighter pilot and Chicago & North Western operating officer, advocated peer intervention and coaching within a progressive corporate culture that recognizes employees do not intentionally violate safety rules and regulations.
Now semi-retired, Schultz is advising the Los Angeles Metrolink board of directors, which last week agreed to award a $120 million contract to Parsons Transportation Group to manage and integrate what the board calls "an aggressive implementation schedule" for PTC.
Recognizing the United Transportation Union's perennial strong advocacy for positive train control, Schultz accompanied Metrolink CEO John Fenton to Washington, D.C., last week to brief UTU International President Mike Futhey and Alternate National Legislative Director John Risch on Metrolink's PTC progress.
"Metrolink was the nation's first rail operator to receive FRA approval for its PTC implementation plan," Fenton said, and intends to be the "first railroad" to put it in operation. A federal mandate requires that freight and passenger railroads install PTC on designated lines by Dec. 31, 2015.
Positive train control, which has been on the National Transportation Safety Board's "most wanted" list for more than a decade, is collision avoidance technology that monitors and controls train movements remotely, can prevent train-to-train collisions, prevent unauthorized train movement into a work zone, halt movement of a train through a switch left in the wrong position, and stop trains exceeding authorized speeds.
The Los Angeles Metrolink system, said Fenton, will consist of:
PTC on-board computers, display screens, GPS tracking, and radios on 57 cab-cars and 52 locomotives.
Stop-enforcement at 476 wayside signals.
Specialized communications to link wayside signals, trains and central dispatch.
A new central dispatch system.
Full interoperability with PTC eventually installed on freight railroads over whose track Metrolink operates -- BNSF and Union Pacific.
While at CSX, Schultz said, "More than 150 years of ingrained tradition and culture must be changed" -- replaced by "safety advocacy ... We must create an open workplace where employees, their labor unions and management work as a team to take advantage of every opportunity to catch and push the company to a zero tolerance for safety breaches."
Schultz was an early advocate of joint labor-management collaboration to draft improved safety standards, which is now embodied in the mission of the Rail Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), through which all segments of the rail community work together to fashion mutually satisfactory solutions on safety regulatory issues.
Recognizing the United Transportation Union's perennial strong advocacy for positive train control, Schultz accompanied Metrolink CEO John Fenton to Washington, D.C., last week to brief UTU International President Mike Futhey and Alternate National Legislative Director John Risch on Metrolink's PTC progress.
Because all members of Alaska Railroad train crews are represented by the UTU, new technology is not a concern on Alaska Railroad, said UTU Local 1626 President Gerald Valinske. "We're not afraid of new technology. And we certainly know it can't be stopped. What we do know is there will be no impact on our jobs." This is because the UTU represents all members of the train crew, permitting the UTU -- as in the past -- to negotiate agreements protecting employment, seniority and wages of every member of the train crew, Valinske said.
"If this system proves to be effective, it is going to be implemented throughout the United States," said UTU Vice President Arty Martin, who is in Alaska this week to monitor the test runs. "Eventually new technology is going to replace the locomotive engineer," Martin said. "That writing has been on the wall for a long time. But railroads still will require on-board trainmen to monitor the technology and to make setouts and pick-ups.Where the UTU represents train crews, we will make the agreements to protect everyone just as we did with remote control technology," Martin said.
"New technology is here and it is something we have to live with whether we like it or not," Martin said. "It is the certainty that more new technology is coming that makes it so essential to having a single organization representing every member of the train crew. That allows us to concentrate on protecting the jobs, seniority and wages of every train-crew member," Martin said. "Nothing is to be gained by running from new technology, marching in the streets or hiding our heads in the sand. The other organization proved the folly of such an approach. It is time to quit the squabbling and get together so one organization can protect everyone," Martin said.
-- Edited by Calvin on Wednesday 6th of October 2010 09:16:48 AM
Arty Martin, a fourth generation railroader, is assistant president of the United Transportation Union, having taken office Jan. 1, 2008.
He began his railroad career in March 1966 on Union Pacific Railroad in Pocatello, Ida., while attending Idaho State University. Earlier, Martin played minor league baseball, including one season in Alaska.
Following four years of service in the Air Force, Martin returned to his Union Pacific job in October 1970, and in 1974 earned a bachelor's degree from Idaho State University in business administration, with a minor in labor law.
In 1975, Martin was promoted to engineer. Frustration over railroad treatment of employees encouraged him to run successfully for the position of vice local chairman of UTU Local 78 in 1977, representing engineers. He subsequently was elected as vice general chairperson in 1983, and as general chairperson in 1990.
In 1992, Martin merged his UTU enginemen general committee with one representing conductors, brakemen and yardmen. Today, that general committee represents more than 5,000 train and engine service employees on the Union Pacific Railroad.
Martin's mother and father and grandfather were employed by Union Pacific Railroad, and his great-grandfather ran steam locomotives on the former New York Central Railroad.
Martin is married to the former Cindy Johnson of Topeka, Kans. They have four children: two daughters and two sons, the latter two being railroaders. Brian is a conductor/engineer on Union Pacific in Pocatello; and Dallas is a conductor on Union Pacific in Portland.
