Two Man Crews.

The United States Transportation Department has determined to maintain two-man crews on railroads.

Blog Mirror: Casper City Council OKs mayor’s letter supporting Cheyenne’s effort to secure passenger rail service in Wyoming

 

Casper City Council OKs mayor’s letter supporting Cheyenne’s effort to secure passenger rail service in Wyoming

The not so great train robbery.

CN police, RCMP investigating Monday train robbery in Brocklehurst

Mar 28, 2023 | 1:36 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops RCMP are assisting CN Rail police as they investigate a train robbery.

Spokesperson Cpl. Crystal Evelyn says RCMP were called just after 7:00 a.m. Monday (March 27). The incident took place at the junction of Tranquille Road and Ord Road in Brocklehurst.

It’s not known what was taken.

CFJC Today.

It’s not known what was taken.

Eh? 

Lex Anteinternet: Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part XI. The Waiting for a Train Edition

Lex Anteinternet: Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less loc...:  

December 2, 2022

The bill without the sick leave was signed into law.

Lex Anteinternet: Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part XI. The Waiting for a Train Edition

Lex Anteinternet: Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less loc...: 

Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part XI. The Waiting for a Train Edition

December 1, 2022

The House of Representatives voted to impose the results of negotiations between railroad companies and unions that were reached last September, but rejected subsequently by the four of the twelve unions that were involved.

An agreement had been reached which featured a 24% pay increase, but it omitted an increase in paid sick leave.  Existing sick leave is apparently very limited, one or two days, and the railroads did not budge on this.

For this reason, the House passed a separate bill that also increased the paid sick leave to seven days.  So two bills go on to the Senate.  It's clear at least one will pass, it'll be interesting to see if they both do.

Last Prior Edition:

Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part X. The Camp Stove Edition.

Thieves are robbing Union Pacific trains in Los Angeles to such an extent that . . .

 the railroad is considering ceasing to serve the city.

News footage shows the rail line littered with the packages of thousands of stolen items.

Lex Anteinternet: Pandemic Part 7. The Litigation Edition

Lex Anteinternet: Pandemic Part 7. The Litigation Edition:   November 10, 2021

The Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern have gone to court to determine if they can impose mandates on their employees, which they wish to do. Their unions are resisting the efforts on the basis that the railroads didn't negotiate first. That is, the unions support vaccinations, but they wanted the railroads to negotiate on the incentives first.

Amtrak Expansion. Cheyenne to Denver, and beyond!?

I have real problems, I'll admit, with the scope of the proposed infrastructure spending proposals that President Biden is looking at, but if they go forward, I really hope we do see rail service restored (and that's what it would be) between Cheyenne and Denver.

The plan proposes to invest $80B in Amtrak.  Yes, $80B.  Most of that will go to repairs, believe it or not, as the Amtrak has never been a favorite of the Republican Party, which in its heard of hearts feels that the quasi public rail line is simply a way of preserving an obsolete mode of transportation at the Government's expense.  But rail has been receiving a lot of attention recently for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that in a now carbon conscious era, it's the greenest mode of transportation taht we have, something the commercial rail lines have been emphasizing.

Indeed, if the American public wasn't afraid of a nuclear power the same way that four year olds are afraid of monsters that live under their beds, it could be greener yet, and there's some talk of now supporting nuclear power among serious informed environmentalists.  A campaign to push that, called the Solutionary Rail, is now active.  We'll deal with that some other time.

Here we're noting that we're hopeful that if this does go through, and as noted we have real reservations about this level of expenditure, that Amtrak does put in a passenger line from Cheyenne to Pueblo.  

A line connecting Ft. Collins to Denver has been a proposal in Colorado for quite a while and has some backing there.  The same line of thought has already included Cheyenne.  This has a lot to do with trying to ease the burgeoning traffic problem this area experiences due to the massive population growth in Colorado.  Wyomingites, I suppose, should therefore approach this with some caution as it would tie us into the Front Range communities in a way that we might not want to be.  Still, it's an interesting idea.

It's one that for some reason I think will fall through, and I also suspect it'll receive no support in Wyoming. Still, it's interesting.

Lex Anteinternet: Burlington Northern to layoff 130 and to close two...

Lex Anteinternet: Burlington Northern to layoff 130 and to close two...:

Burlington Northern to layoff 130 and to close two maintenance facilities in Wyoming.

The facilities are in Rozet and Guernsey.  

The slow down in the economy is being cited for the reason, brought about by the COVID 19 pandemic. Combined with that, the BNSF heavily relies upon coal hauling, which has been in decline with the decline in coal.

Suffice it to say, bad news for the employees and for the state as well.