Cleanup of CP derailment will continue into summer, city officials say
Cleanup of a Canadian Pacific derailment in Plymouth, Minn., will last into the summer and “cause ongoing disruption and noise for surrounding neighbors,” city officials have said. In a news release, the city said the length of the process is “due to the size and scope” of the 22-car derailment which occurred Sunday [see “Derailment blocks Canadian Pacific main line …,” Trains News Wire, March 8, 2021]. CP is scheduled to start building a temporary road today that will extend from Pineview Road to the accident site, allowing the railroad to remove the derailed cars while continuing operations on the reopened main line. Pineview Road will remain closed near the accident site because of the CP heavy machinery working in the area.
Man killed trying to take bicycle under moving train, police report
New Orleans police report a man was killed Tuesday night when he attempted to take his bicycle under a slow-moving CSX train, became caught underneath, and was dragged several blocks. KLFY-TV reports the victim, an adult male, was pronounced dead at the scene. The name of the victim was withheld pending notification of next of kin. CSX Transportation told the station the incident occurred about 3:55 p.m. and offered “our deepest sympathies to those impacted by this tragic incident.”
Metro-North fires employee charged with involvement in storming of Capitol
The Metro-North Railroad has fired an employee who allegedly called in sick to participate in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. WINS Radio reports the firing of Will Pepe, who was arrested Jan. 12 for reportedly entering the Capitol, was announced in a statement from Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi, who said “the apparent participation by one of our employees was unacceptable and inconsistent with Metro-North’s values. After affording Mr. Pepe the due process to which he was entitled under his collective bargaining agreement, we have terminated him today for conduct unbecoming to a Metro-North employee.” Pepe had been suspended without pay while the agency investigated the case.
@Charles Landey…Actually you’re wrong about the Metro-North employee, they can decide include code of conduct rules in their employee handbook, and those code of conduct rules can include penalties up to and including termination.
Sorry Mike I thought Congress was in session and I wasn’t aware they they closed the Capitol for that.
Also you might want to get your facts straight. A police officer died but he wasn’t murdered. He died after the incident and his autopsy revealed that he hadn’t been struck with anything. I didn’t see where the Metro-North employee was accused of beating anyone or planting pipe bombs. I think Charles L. had it right on discipline for the employee. If railroads dismissed employees who laid off sick when they weren’t there wouldn’t be many employees left on the property, especially train service employees.
Paul that makes sense. Probably hoping for a dry summer. I worked in an area near Rock Island territory and derailments there at the end laid in ditches for extended periods of time and directed service railroads cleaned a lot up.
Also there are a number of tank cars with asphalt and sulfur which has solidified. That product will have to be heated by steam to liquefy and be pumped out.
I remember seeing a set of derailed CNW potash cars outside Belle Fourche for years. CNW simply pushed them away, fixed the rail and started services as quickly as possible. Those potash hoppers sat on their sides for years before they were finally picked up and scrapped. Periodically, along the former Santa Fe in New Mexico, I would see rusted hoppers on their sides, and then come back a year or two later and they were still there, perhaps missing a few that had been picked up. Eventually they too disappeared as the ATSF picked them up over time. It is usually in populated areas or ecologically sensitive areas you will see then carriers haul them off ASAP.
I can’t recall in my years of working for Class One railroads that the cleanup of a derailment site like the one pictured would take months to clean up. Straight track, level ground, only 22 cars. I would assume they just moved the cars off to the side, rebuilt the track and are running trains already? Taking months is only removing about one car every three days.
It’s a marshy wetland type of area with no road that can support heavy equipment. The only thing high and dry there is the single track main, and it’s probably too busy to shut down 22 times to remove each car.
I am curious how you can be charged with illegal entry to a building that used to be open to the public.
Just wondering.
Because the building was closed that day. And people entered anyway. That’s illegal entry. And along the way they murdered a police officer, beat a bunch of others, and planted two bombs nearby.
That’s why the guy got arrested. But you didn’t need someone to explain that to you, did you?
And jail time.
Mr. Landy: I agree that participating in a demonstration in and of itself should not be grounds for dismissal. However, if there is evidence on tape or credible witness that he entered the Capitol, he would probably have been found guilty of illegal entry.
Regarding Metro-North employee, it cannot be held against him that he participated in a demonstration in which some people were violent. It is not up to the employer to decide which demonstration is/ is not consistent with its values. The only cause for his termination would be either/ or: (1) If he was charged with a crime in conjunction with the demonstration; or (b) that he called in sick when he wasn’t sick. The (b) option not normally would be cause for dismissal, only a reprimand or a short suspension.