(The following article by Kenneth Aaron appeared in the Times-Union on August 12.)
ALBANY, N.Y. — Many of the Delaware & Hudson Railway’s 250 Capital Region workers are on tenterhooks as they await their parent company’s decision to sell or lease the line by year’s end.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., since announcing its plans in mid-June, has kept quiet about its negotiations and expectations. That has frustrated some.
That amounts to more than curiosity over who will sign weekly paychecks. Depending on which company gets the rail line, workers may find their contracts are useless.
Unless a major railroad — known in the industry as a Class I carrier — picks up D&H, workers’ contracts could be ignored by a new owner and wages could be slashed. “People would be hung out to dry, more or less,” said Sam Nasca, legislative director for the union.
He has heard of three likely suitors for the D&H, which runs throughout the Northeast and is Canadian Pacific’s link to New York City. Only one of them is a Class I carrier.
Canadian Pacific spokesman Michel offered limited comments Monday. “There’s still a lot of unknowns,” he said. “Discussions are ongoing.’
“They’re coming across as wanting to be sensitive,” said Nasca, whose Fuller Road office in Albany features a pair of large paintings of locomotives. “But it’s a corporate world, and they’re going to do what they feel is best for their corporate decision.”
Nasca said he is ready to lobby state and federal officials, but needs Canadian Pacific to make a move before he knows how to proceed. State officials also are monitoring the sale.
“Regardless of whether it is sold or not, or to whom, the department wants to see competitive rail access to the New York metropolitan area remain strong and solid,” said Peter Graves, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. “We are also hopeful that should the line be sold, the new owners take an interest in expanding service to continue the growth of Northeast rail markets.”
D&H, bought by Canadian Pacific in 1991, was the first U.S. railroad to operate a steam locomotive.
The Calgary-based railroad said it needs to restructure its operation to drive costs lower and increase traffic.
Not everybody is scared. Some D&H workers are close to retirement. And others have been laid off enough times by the railroad not to fear another pink slip.
All the questions will likely make it more difficult to attract young blood to an industry that pays well, but offers tough working conditions and irregular hours. Rail workers aren’t just perpetually on call, but they work in slender crews responsible for milelong freight trains through all kinds of weather.