Friday, October 31, 1997

Union Pacific to guarantee time off to employees

By KATIE FAIRBANK / AP Business Writer

DALLAS (AP) -- Union Pacific Railroad, which has faced federal and state probes into safety and service problems, said Thursday it will guarantee time off for its train and engine employees in Texas.

Union Pacific said it would guarantee two days of rest to any of the 3,500 train or engine employees in Texas who had worked 14 straight days.

Train crews had been working an unlimited number of days in a row, said Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley.

Fatigue has been cited as a factor in several safety incidents for the railroad, which had three fatal collisions over the summer that killed seven people. Since June 22, the railroad has had 18 accidents in Texas alone.

"Fatigue and stress of our train crews are critical safety concerns," said Union Pacific president Jerry Davis. "This new program will increase safety -- our number one priority -- as well as the overall efficiency of our rail operations."

Carole Keeton Rylander, who serves on the Texas Railroad Commission, doubts the new policy will make a difference to fatigued crews.

Ms. Rylander said she has been asking Union Pacific for months how many employees work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week.

She says she hasn't gotten an answer.

Railroad commissioner Barry Williamson said train employees had been working as many as 100 days in a row.

"They also said if they asked off, they were told no," he said.

On Wednesday an accident in Navasota, Texas, resulted in minor injuries for one engineer and traffic disruptions after a freight train loaded with chemicals and agricultural products rear-ended rock-filled rail cars parked on the tracks.

Earlier accidents included the three fatal train derailments that prompted a safety crackdown by the Federal Railroad Administration. The FRA is still monitoring Union Pacific's operations and plans to send additional investigators to Texas.

The railroad has also been hobbled by a traffic jam on Union Pacific's tracks began this summer spreading from Texas to the Midwest and West. The railroad's gridlock, equipment and manpower shortages have closed some plants along the Gulf Coast's petrochemical corridor, idled workers and left bumper harvests to fill grain elevators. Lumber and steel producers in the Northwest also were being hurt by long service delays.