MTA agrees to payment for families of workers killed by virus NEWSWIRE

Wednesday morning rail news:

— The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will provide a $500,000 benefit payment to families of workers killed by the COVID-19 virus following negotiations between the MTA and unions representing subway, bus, and commuter rail workers. The MTA will also cover health insurance for spouses and dependents for three years, and will not require families to prove that the virus was contracted on the job. While the agreement came through negotiations with Transport Workers Union Local 1000, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rall and Transportation Workers (SMART), and International Brotherhood of Teamsters local 808, the MTA said the agreement will also be extended to employees not represented by unions. “This is a first-in-the nation agreement that will protect and provide the families of those we have lost with substantial benefits, befitting the tragic loss they experienced,” MTA Chairman Pat Foye told NY1 News. The agreement must be approved by the MTA board at its April 22 meeting. A total of 59 MTA workers have now died because of the virus.

— Vancouver, British Columbia, transit agency TransLink it is losing $2.5 million a day because of a drop in ridership caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and a local official says the region’s transit system “will not be recognizable in a month or two” because of service cuts unless it gets federal assistance. “We didn’t have a plan for this kind of dramatic impact in the economy and on ridership,” Jonathan Cote, mayor of New Westminster, B.C., and chair of the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation, told CTV News. “We are working as fast as we can to really address this unprecedented situation.” TransLink ridership is down 80%, and with Vancouver-area driving down 60%, fuel-tax revenue has also fallen.

— Virgin Trains USA can market $2.4 billion in tax-free equity bonds for its planned high speed rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas, Nev., following a decision Tuesday by the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee.  The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the committee approved the allocation of $600 million in bonds; Internal Revenue Service guidelines allow Virgin to market four times that amount for the Xpress West project that would run from Victorville, Calif., to Las Vegas. Virgin’s bonds must be issued by Sept. 30; if they are not, the funding goes into a state pool for affordable housing.