Nation's 2nd Largest Railroad Poised To Reduce Train Crews
Tuesday June 19, 15:55 am CT
By Jeffrey Strain, Associated Press Writer
Ft.Worth, TX.-The nation's second largest railroad announced today that it is ready to run one-man trains. BNSF, based in Ft.Worth, TX. says that a newly ratified contract with the Brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen gives them the authority to run some of their trains with just an engineer. "Only conductor's who were hired before October 31, 1985 will be able to remain on the train after July 1st," says Gus Melonas, BNSF spokesman. "We are not obligated to staff that position for anyone hired after that date", he added.
The conductor's union spokesman, Frank Wilner from the United Transportation Union only had this comment, "At this time we are looking into every legal option at our disposal. Obviously we disgree with BNSF's stance" Wilner, when asked if a nation wide strike is possible, only replied "that is one of the options we are looking at."
BNSF’s subsidiary BNSF Railway Company operates the second-largest railroad network in North America, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. The railway is among the world's top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, transports the components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough low-sulfur coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States.
The United Transportation Union (UTU), headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, represents about 38,000 active and retired railroad, bus and mass transit workers in the United States and Canada.