CANADIAN NATIONAL Canadian National reported a 9 percent increase in profit for calendar-year 2011 versus calendar-year 2010. The CN calendar-year operating ratio of 63.5 percent was a slight improvement over the 63.6 percent operating ratio for calendar-year 2010. Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered [...]
OSHA raps UP again for whistleblower violation
December 21, 2011
Once again, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered a railroad to reinstate an employee and pay him back wages for violating an employee’s rights as a whistleblower. In the latest OSHA order, Union Pacific was ordered immediately to reinstate an employee in Idaho and pay him back wages, compensatory [...]
Court cancels UP fines in drug smuggling
December 21, 2011
The Department of Homeland Security has been ordered by a federal district court in Nebraska to cease assessing fines against Union Pacific and seizing its rolling stock following discovery of illegal narcotics on trains originating in Mexico and delivered by Mexican railroads to UP at the Mexican border. The court said U.S. Customs and Border [...]
UP lone “revenue adequate” railroad for 2010
November 4, 2011
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has determined that only one major railroad – Union Pacific – was “revenue adequate” in calendar year 2010. A railroad is considered “revenue adequate” if it achieves a rate of return on net investment equal to at least the current cost of capital for the railroad industry. Revenue [...]
Wrap up: Major rails’ 3d quarter 2011 profits
October 26, 2011
BNSF reported a 9 percent improvement in profit for the third quarter 2011 versus the third quarter 2010. The third-quarter operating ratio of 71.7 percent was slightly higher than the 70.8 percent for third-quarter 2010. Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the [...]
UP track inspector dies in hi-rail accident
August 28, 2011
ABILENE, Kans. – A unidentified Union Pacific employee, operating a hi-rail vehicle, was killed in an accident here with a SUV at a highway-rail grade crossing, reports KAKE television news. KAKE reported the UP employee was driving the hi-rail vehicle westbound while inspecting track when it was struck at the crossing by the SUV. The SUV driver [...]
Conductor wins $125,000 in whistle-blower complaint
July 22, 2011
A Wisconsin Central conductor has won a whistle-blower complaint against the carrier – collecting more than $125,000 in compensatory and punitive damages – for unlawful harassment and intimidation as the result of reporting an injury. This was the third successful whistle-blower complaint filed against a railroad in recent months for violation of a worker’s rights under the [...]
BNSF, UP target of price-fixing lawsuit
June 8, 2011
A mining and natural resources company, Oxbow Carbon and Minerals, has filed an antitrust suit against BNSF and Union Pacific, alleging the railroads have illegally fixed freight rates, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, “to gouge customers.” Oxbow mines and ships coal and petroleum coke. The lawsuit, before the federal District Court for the [...]
UTU member personally aides striking Teamsters
May 20, 2011
SAN ANTONIO — For the scores of Teamster Union members in their fourth week on the picket line here in a strike against Pioneer Flour Mill, times are tougher than usual. UTU Local 756 (UP, San Antonio) Chairperson John Dunn understands the hardship, and as so often occurs among UTU members, Dunn became a point-of-light, [...]
