The head of the union that represents track maintenance workers says the Union Pacific railroad is jeopardizing safety by delaying nearly 1,200 planned projects until next year and laying off more than 1,000 workers.
Tony Cardwell of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division has been raising concerns with regulators, but the railroad defends the move and the Surface Transportation Board hasn’t intervened.
Union Pacific spokeswoman Clarissa Beyah says the decision to delay these projects is a reflection of the fact that the railroad went over budget after dealing with several unexpected weather events this year.
Beyah emphasizes the railroad remains committed to safety and improving its track network across the western U.S.
     Cardwell says the U-P will have only a little over 4,700 track maintenance workers after this layoff of 1,350 workers – only about 60% of the nearly 8,000 it had before a series of cuts in 2015 designed to make the railroad more efficient.
That means each maintenance worker will now have about 11 miles of track to take care of on average, up from 8.6-miles last year and 6.5-miles in 2016.
U-P’s Beyah says the actual number of furloughs will be smaller than the union fears because many workers take other jobs with the railroad and some workers may have enough vacation time saved up to cover the period.