The BLET continues to sound the warning bell at SEPTA. The commuter railroad serving Philadelphia and suburban areas in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey is near its breaking point due to lack of qualified locomotive engineers to run trains. Train cancellations, delays, and ridership anger are on the rise as the engineer ranks continue to fall.
In a recent news story published widely by the Gannett/ USA Today network of newspapers, BLET National Vice President Jim Louis said: “I’m in my 47th year as a railroader. And SEPTA is the worst of the worst.”
General Chairman Don Hill said dozens of engineers have left SEPTA to seek greener pastures and higher pay at Amtrak and nearby commuter railroads. The engineer’s roster, which should be at 230, is at a dangerously low 160. Hill said SEPTA needs 141 engineers to cover basic daily service.
“They don’t have a lot of options,” Hill said of the agency. “The way things are now, they have no extras. There are no reserves.”
The BLET is negotiating for a better wage package that would improve engineer retention, but SEPTA has been unwilling to step up and provide the pay increases necessary to make it a competitive employer.