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(The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board issued the following on September 9.)

CHICAGO — The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has announced a major reorganization of its field service to be effective October 1, 2008.

The agency’s 53 field offices will no longer be organized under 3 regional offices, but will instead be under a nationwide management structure located in its Chicago headquarters.

With the elimination of the 3 regional offices, the RRB’s field service will be reorganized into 12 networks. A network is a team of 4 or 5 district offices that partner to distribute telephone calls and other work equitably among the claims representatives in that network.

This restructuring of the field service is preparatory to the RRB’s implementation of a nationwide toll-free telephone service early next year, which will provide the RRB’s customers with easy access to the agency’s field offices. Through the implementation of toll-free service and the employment of a wider work distribution system through the field service reorganization, the RRB will be able to provide a high level of personal service to all of its customers across the country.

The networks, their respective managers, and the offices comprising each network are:

Network 1
Network Manager: Tom Hammersley (Milwaukee)
Offices: Chicago, Decatur, Indianapolis, Joliet, Milwaukee

Network 2
Network Manager: Phil Dissek (Buffalo)
Offices: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh

Network 3
Network Manager: Bob Ralston (Scranton)
Offices: Altoona, Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Scranton

Network 4
Network Manager: John East (Newark)
Offices: Albany, Boston, Newark, New York, Westbury

Network 5
Network Manager: Linda Koester (Roanoke)
Offices: Charlotte, Huntington, Richmond, Roanoke

Network 6
Network Manager: Mike Core (Birmingham)
Offices: Atlanta, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Tampa

Network 7
Network Manager: Ada Foster (Kansas City)
Offices: Kansas City, Louisville, Nashville, St. Louis

Network 8
Network Manager: Barbara Gettman (Fort Worth)
Offices: Fort Worth, Houston, Little Rock, New Orleans

Network 9
Network Manager: Joe Gray (Denver)
Offices: Albuquerque, Denver, Omaha, Wichita

Network 10
Network Manager: Tom Hamm (Oakland)
Offices: Covina, Mesa, Oakland, Sacramento

Network 11
Network Manager: Ron Kaminski (Billings)
Offices: Bellevue, Billings, Portland, Salt Lake City, Spokane

Network 12
Network Manager: Brian Running (St. Paul)
Offices: Des Moines, Duluth, Fargo, St. Paul