Tuesday morning rail news:
— Fifty workers from New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority have now died of coronavirus-related causes, part of a nationwide death toll that has transit employees considering work stoppages. Citylab reports that at least 16 other transit workers who are members of the Amalgamated Transit Union have died in other cities, along with at least seven members of the Transport Workers Union. Any decision on work stoppages is in the hands of local chapters, but Larry Willis, president of the Transport Trades Department, a organization representing 32 transportation-related unions, said “federal law recognizes that workers on the transit side should be retaliated against for refusing to work when there is a hazardous safety condition … And currently, there is.”
— Gwinnett County, Ga., commissioners have approved a $6.7 billion list of transit projects for possible consideration by voters, a step toward a ballot initiative in November. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the board needed to approve the 94-item list, which includes everything from expansion of MARTA rail service to bicycle and pedestrian improvements, before asking voters to approve funding. Inclusion on the list means the projects are part of a menu of options, not that the projects will definitely be built if funding is available. Commissioners remain undecided about the expansion of MARTA, which was a key element in an initiative rejected by voters in March 2019.
— The Chehalis-Centralia Railroad & Museum has been awarded $154,000 by the state of Washington for repairs on a steam locomotive that has been out of service since February 2019. The money, from the state’s supplemental capital budget, should help bridge the gap between funds raised in 2019 and the total amount needed to repair the Baldwin 2-8-2 built in 1916. “Now we can act more quickly instead of dragging this out for another year,” museum marketing director Mary Kay Nelson told the Centralia Chronicle. Repair work is currently suspended because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Covid 19 is the reason the R-32 cars have been pulled from use. R-32’s have, compared to newer cars, a corner telephone booth cab. And the conductor has to traverse from one car to the next to change sides of the train to operate the doors.
Losing 50 employees in an essential public service(in New York City), I can well understand their concerns.
JEFFREY – Decreased ridership means lesser schedules so in some world cities so trains still are crowded.
Charles – many transit systems are encouraging Soviet as l distancing. Some are only allowing selling half the capacity of vehicles to allow spacing. NY subways are encouraging people to not crowd cars, not always successfully. Remember ridership is way down.
On problem in NYC is a subway car can seem empty. Then you step on an there are many homeless people prone, occupying most or all of the seats. Can’t blame them. The crowded shelters are even more dangerous than usual.
Your text left out an important word. In your post about transit workers strike possibilities, you wrote:
but Larry Willis, president of the Transport Trades Department, a organization representing 32 transportation-related unions, said “federal law recognizes that workers on the transit side should
be retaliated against for refusing to work when there is a hazardous safety condition … And currently, there is.”
In the linked story, it reads workers on the transit side should NOT be retaliated against
PAUL – I have to disagree. Social distancing is mutually exclusive to public transportation. The two terms can’t be mentioned in the same paragraph.
Public transportation is the inverse of social isolation.
I have survived seven decades of crowded airplanes, hundreds of fully loaded or even crush-loaded busses and subway cars, airport queues by the dozen, etc. No harm has come to me. The only alternative is one person per private automobile, something no one who reads these pages can advocate.
I realize, PAUL, that you’re referring to the here and now, not the same restrictions indefinitely. The problem is, in our spoiled society, things take on a life of their own. Someone who won’t ride the bus today likely won’t ride it next year. Ditto the driver.
If I were an onboard transport worker, i.e. transit, commuter rail, Amtrak, buses, air, etc., I would insist on having a workable face mask, gloves, etc. to help protect me against the COVID-19 virus. I would also insist that my employer implement effective social distance where practicable, i.e. on vehicles, station platforms, etc.
The wearing of protective gear and social distancing will reduce the probability of getting sick. Equally important, it can make people feel more secure.
Gerald McFarlane, I do not have the powers to determine if you are being sarcastic or facetious but perhaps you are saying in a way that “THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL THE MORAL IMPROVES.
Can transit workers (or anyone else still working) really claim that not working indefinitely would save them from eventual infection?
J Robert Wayman, I much prefer the Trains version to the actual statement…those workers have been deem essential, and as such they must continue to report to work if able to do so. So yes, if they strike because of the virus then they should be retaliated against…or just replace them with all the newly unemployed people?
I’ll leave everyone else to decide whether or not I’m being sarcastic…