CLEVELAND, April 5 — BLET members are encouraged to contact their members of Congress during the Easter recess and urge them to include provisions to eliminate limbo time in any rail safety legislation that is introduced in the coming months. The BLET and its allies in Rail Labor believe this provision should be included in any rail safety legislation.
The message that BLET members should convey to their members of Congress is that train crews are fatigued and waiting endless hours for transportation after working 12 hours on a train — a situation that is contributing to fatigue.
The Hours of Service Act limits the number of hours that train crew employees can remain on duty (12 hours). At times a train cannot reach a crew change point within the allotted time, however, so the railroad must stop the train in order that a new crew can replace the first, or “outlawed,” crew. Transportation of the new crew to the train and the outlawed crew back to the terminal is called “deadhead transportation.” Under the Hours of Service Act [§21103(b)(4)], “[t]ime spent in deadhead transportation to a duty assignment is time on duty, but time spent in deadhead transportation from a duty assignment to the place of final release is neither time on duty nor time off duty.” The latter time is commonly termed “limbo time.” And even though “outlawed” crews are technically no longer on duty, they must still remain vigilant to safeguard their train.
The BLET has data from one Class I railroad showing that nearly 335,000 crews had work tours in excess of 14 hours during the years 2001 through 2006. This is an average of over 150 crews exceeding the Hours of Service by two hours every day for six years. However, during the past three years, the average is over 205 crews per day. During that same period, an average of about 94 crews per day had work tours longer than 15 hours.
These excessive work tours contribute to the fatigue problem in the industry. The decade since the Supreme Court’s decision has seen both the number of crews stranded waiting for transportation and the length of limbo time increase. The problem has become so prevalent in recent years that the December 16, 2003 BLE National Agreement included language committing that participating carriers would “make reasonable efforts to relieve and expeditiously transport [outlawed crews] to the tie-up point.” Unfortunately, things have only deteriorated since that commitment was made.
Due to this deterioration, Congress must act on the issue of limbo time. BLET members are encouraged to make appointments to visit their members of Congress about the “limbo time” issue during their Easter recess. While there is currently no specific “limbo time” bill in the House or Senate, BLET members should make their Senator or Representative aware of the problem and should ask them to include it in any rail safety legislation introduced in the coming term.
BLET members should share the statistical information provided here and on the BLET website (see below) when contacting their members of Congress. More importantly, members should share their first-hand experiences with fatigue and limbo time with their Senators of Representatives. Citing statistics can only go so far, but putting a face with a problem will help to better convey the union’s message.
BLET members should also reference the testimony delivered by the BLET before a Congressional hearing early this year. On February 13, 2007, BLET Director of Regulatory Affairs Tom Pontolillo testified before the House Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads regarding fatigue in the railroad industry. For more information and a copy of Brother Pontolillo’s testimony, go to http://www.bletdc.org/legislation/testimony/.