I-Team: Union Warned About Engineer Fatigue in Months Before Deadly Amtrak Crash

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NBC NY

By Chris Glorioso

Accident investigators have been unwilling to speculate on whether operator error or mechanical problems led to Tuesday's deadly Amtrak derailment. But for months, members of the labor union representing locomotive engineers have complained that recent reductions in rest and downtime could lead to tragedy.

"You need to be able to have some kind of chance to get off the equipment, turn your mind off for a while," said Fritz Edler, a veteran engineer who wrote a scathing letter last December to Amtrak managers on behalf the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

The letter accused Amtrak of forcing "dangerous changes" in the scheduling of engineers that have had the effect of reducing rest time in between trips to Washington, D.C. and New York City.

"Forcing shorter breaks, day after day, between runs increases fatigue related risk and the potential for loss of focus," the letter warned.

FULL story at link. Video & photo gallery at link.




Read more: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Union-Engineer-Fatigue-Amtrak-Train-Crash-New-York-City-Philadelphia-303695021.html

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Also see: Amtrak union blames management for deadly crash: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/14/amtrak-union-blames-management-for-deadly-crash/

[Brickbat]

1. Many problems on railroads could be solved with adequate staffing and scheduling to ensure better

sleep. It's a huge problem.

[RobinA]

13. Many Problems

a lot of places could be solved by adequate staffing. And I mean situations where lives and/or well-beings are at stake. I believe that staffing levels are one of the biggest unrecognized problems we face right now.

[JDPriestly]

2. I ride Amtrak pretty frequently and would like to know who runs it and how much

they are paid.

The money we pay in fares should be adequate, and if it isn't, it should be raised.

I ride between LA and San Diego, and very often at peak hours, people have to sit or stand in the entryways near the luggage racks. The trains are overcrowded and I understand that the tracks are shared by several trains. When we cross a lagoon, we have to wait until another train passes us because there is only one track over the lagoon.

Trains help to cut gas emissions. They are good for the environment in many respects. We need to invest more in passenger trains and also in fast trains that have rails and technology that are up-to-date. We could save ourselves a lot of hours on the freeway if we subsidized rail traffic so that people who travel alone certain routes on a regular basis get off the roads and onto train tracks.

When not overcrowded, the trains are a comfortable way to go. The cost for a ticket for one person for a two-hour trek is lower for me than the gas for my car. I can read (many play computer games) or meet a new person or sleep on the train. Can't do that when I drive.

Back to the issue of overcrowding, why can't they just add an extra car when they can predict that the trains will be more than full? Mother's Day weekend, holidays, Friday nights when students go home for the weekend? Those are the peak periods for trains.

This news about the stress on the railroad personnel does not surprise me. They seem to be cutting corners in an a number of ways. How much does the CEO earn? How much is going into the pockets of the management?

[catrose]

24. Supporting trains would be such a good thing n/t

[Travis_0004]

26. The money paid in fares isnt enough

One study said Amtrak looses 32 dollar per ride. That isnt a bad thing, the highway system looses money too.

Adding an extra car isnt that easy. They are expensive and might only get used a few days a year. Where do you store it. Will the train be in the right city when you need to pick it up?

[Dont call me Shirley]

3. The victims...

Some management heads need to fly, that their policy killed people is inhumane.

[lonestarnot]

4. I've never understood why people have to work until they drop, labor until their eyeballs pop out.

Do they do a job well when in this condition. The answer is emphatically NO.

[christx30]

15. About 7 years ago,

I was working at Dell, and supplementing my income deliving newspapers for Dallas morning news. I would have no days off from the newspaper, and 1 day off per week from Dell. I would do a 10 hour night building computers, then get the paper route done as fast as could so I would have more time to sleep.
One night I spaced out, and failed to yield, and nearly hit a police car. They pulled me over, and I got a ticket which wiped out any profit I would have gotten for the month. So I did the rest of the month pretty much just to pay for the ticket.

[lonestarnot]

17. San Dan donia!

Are things any better?

[christx30]

19. Yes, thank you. Things are better.

Money is still tight, but I'm working in a desk job, which is easier. I get to spend more time with my family.
But my point is that when people have to work a lot to make a living and keep their heads above water, their bodies can only do so much. Their brains can turn off and they make mistakes in their job. Thankfully, no one was hurt in my example, but it could have been so much worse. I was taking shortcuts I shouldn't have taken so I could get an extra 5 minutes of sleep.

But my mom went through worse when she was in nursing school. She was a single mother raising me, going to school and working. One day she collasped at work. She woke up in the hospital. Doctor told her that if she kept this up, she would die. So I went to live with my grandparents while she focused on bettering herself. She got married to a great guy that has been my father to this day.

We all do what we have to do to take care of our families, even if it hurts us.

[swilton]

5. Echoing the above sentiments

I'm against making the 'going 100 miles an hour/above the safety limit' engineer the scapegoat.

The mass transit system in the US is third world and a product of our mass-culture fixated on consumerism, individualism and everyone's got to drive their own car culture rather than thinking communally and putting the good of society (to include our fragile eco-system) above that of profit-seeking individuals.

A better mass transit system should include all of the above and also living wages for the employees with benefits, but more flexible and frequent scheduling, improvements in sanitation on the trains, better food-beverage services, and last but not least investments in infrastructure to include station facilities, tracks and high speed rail.

On edit: This country needs jobs - an up-to-date mass transit system is a vehicle to employ thousands in green jobs that both put people to work and in the long run help control-reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

[KittyWampus]

7. Some years ago I read an article that mentioned Turkey having high speed rail.

If Turkey can have high speed rail, we should be able to do it.

[appalachiablue]

23. Excellent post, thank you.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. **pffft** Workers -- who listens to them ?

I mean, what do they know about the jobs they do every day for years and years ?

[thatgemguy]

14. Workers??? You mean Human Resources... n/t

[appalachiablue]

21. +1 'Personnel Depts.' went after Raygun- too human.

[eppur_se_muova]

27. I've always hated that creepy, Orwellian doublespeak term. nt

[BlueJazz]

8. One of my acquaintances, who drives a big rig, told me: "They probably do the same crap that ....

...the trucking industry pulls" "Make damn sure the drivers are exhausted 90 percent of the time"...then when a driver is sleep-deprived to death and has an accident, they blame it on the poor bastard"

[swilton]

9. my argument exactly

[Plucketeer]

10. Yup!

Unions??? We don't need no stinkin' unions!

[Hoppy]

11. In case of an accident with a C.D.L., heavy truck,

the driver and the company is at fault.

Company is supposed to record the number of hours the driver is on the clock. This includes the time he is filling out paper work, unloading and fueling the truck. The driver is supposed to work no more than 11 hours per day.

If there is an accident and the hours of service are violated, approximately 100,000 in fines goes to the company. The driver also gets penalties.

It would not surprise me if the engineer fell asleep.

[eloydude]

12. This accident is very identical to the Tracy Morgan/Walmart accident.

Just sayin'.

[swilton]

16. ? Please explain further

[CanSocDem]

18. As I remember it...

...there is a level of fatigue present even if it all looks "legal" on the logbooks. In my experience, the trucking industry expects ALL drivers to ignore personal energy levels and do the job on their schedule. And their schedule is actually oblivious to the needs of its drivers, knowing that everybody(including the driver) knows that 'if they don't do it-there is someone waiting in the wings that WILL do it...

.

[Duppers]

20. K & R

[appalachiablue]

22. K&R. Thanks for this vital post. Here's hoping a tiny bit reaches more M$M, few signs so far.

It's always the fault of the lackeys, the takers and useless eaters, not mgmt.!

[Starry Messenger]

25. k&r