![Two electric multiple-unit trains meet at station](https://www.trains.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/LIRR_Jamaica_Lassen.jpg)
Union representing train operators requests arbitration with Long Island Rail Road
The union representing Long Island Rail Road train operators have requested mediation in a contract impasse that could eventually lead to a work stoppage. Newsday reports the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, which represents 500 LIRR crew members, applied to the National Mediation Board for assistance in its contract negotiation saying in a statement that it has made “good faith efforts” to reach a deal but the LIRR approach in talks has been “unacceptable.” The union’s general chairman, Keith Sexton, told the newspaper that the decision to seek mediation was triggered by a comment from the chief financial officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that some union members might have to forgo future raises or give back some already agreed to.
Honolulu rail project facing $3 billion budget shortfall, interim CEO says
The interim CEO of the agency developing Honolulu’s light rail system says the project is facing a $3 billion shortfall. The Associated Press reports Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation CEO Lori Kahikina made the assessment as the agency prepares a plan for funding to complete the 20-mile, mostly elevated rail line. The agency faces an end-of-the-year deadline to submit that plan to the U.S. government to retain federal funding.
In latest appeal, opponents of light rail Purple Line says government failed to consider their call for bus service
In an appeal of their third lawsuit attempting to stop construction, opponents of Maryland’s Purple Line light rail project have told a federal court the government allowed the project to damage streams and wetlands without fully considering more environmentally friendly alternatives, violating the Clean Water Act. The Washington Post reports that the advocacy group Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail and two local residents, who have lost two earlier suits, said the government failed to consider their claim that improved bus service would do no or less environmental harm compared to the rail project. A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va., would have to overrule an earlier ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not make an “arbitrary, capricious decision” — the legal standard involved — in issuing permits for the project.
There is a big difference between arbitration and mediation. The headline is misleading.
I’d expect the cost to be high in Hawaii since everything must be imported thousands of miles, but ANOTHER $3BN? What on earth is that for? It’s not remotely close to being finished.
Overhead or in cab video of a meet like the one pictured would be interesting to watch.
It’s no surprise to me the issues that are coming out of Honolulu with this. When I lived there in the mid-1980’s they were discussing rail rapid transit. At that time the only rail on the island was the Pearl City Mall monorail and the old Oahu Railway run by the Hawaiian Railway Society (3 miles of the 12 surviving miles). We at the HRS debated it frequently.
Even then, Oahu was a financial fiasco, with bloated taxes, bloated prices, and a complete lack of foresight. The irony is that the old Honolulu Rapid Transit and Oahu Railway ran right where they are currently building, with a few alterations!
The line in Honolulu is often referred to as a “light rail” project, but it really is an elevated transit line, with automated trains.