More Thursday morning rail news:
— The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association has announced the 295 recipients of its 2019 “Jake” Safety Awards, which go to railroads which perform better than the Federal Railroad Administration average injury frequency rate for Class II and Class III railroads. Some 278 railroads received the Jake With Distinction, meaning they were free of FRA reportable injuries during 2019. A list of those railroads is available here. The 17 Jake Award winners are available here. ASLRRA members reported a year-over-year decrease of 12% in the incident rate, while the overall Class II and Class II average fell by 8%. The awards are named for Lowell S. “Jake” Jacobson, president and general manager of the Copper Basin railroad, who realized there was no award for smaller railroads’ safety after the Copper Basin achieved a perfect safety record in 1993. The program began in 1995 and was adopted by the ASLRRA Safety Committee in 1999.
— Construction on Montreal’s new Reseau express metropolitain (REM) light rail system will resume May 11, halting commuter-train service through the Mont Royal Tunnel. Work on the light rail project was been halted in late March as part of Quebec’s shutdown because of the coronavirus. CTV News reports Exo commuter train service on the Deux-Montagnes line between De Ruisseau and Central Station will end on May 11 as work begins to modify the historic tunnel for use by the light rail system. Work on the tunnel had been scheduled to begin in January, but has been delayed twice. The 26-station, 42-mile REM system is scheduled to be completed in 2023.
— The California High Speed Rail Authority will open a workforce development center in the San Joaquin Valley community of Selma to train workers for construction jobs with the rail project. The Fresno Bee reports the center is expected to open this summer, and will offer pre-apprenticeship programs and construction training for veterans, at-risk young adults, and minority and low-income residents of the Central Valley.
Pre-apprentice training is an attempt to at least get potential trades people started on being useful. A bit of a cynical comment but most high school graduates have no mechanical skills such as carpentry, construction, electrical or plumbing so they have to have training for just about anything construction related.
Is the CHRA not going to use contractors for construction but will do its own work, or is this just a political ploy? The labor unions normally run apprentice programs, and with Federal funding and the Bacon-Davis Act’s prevailing wage requirements I would believe they would have to use union contractors anyway. What is pre-apprentice training anyway?