POCATELLO, Idaho — The hump yard in Pocatello will close this spring, Union Pacific Railroad officials told the Idaho State Journal.
“The decision has been made to close that yard this spring,” UPRR spokesman John Bromley told the Journal in a phone message late last week.
Local United Transportation Union officials said last week the closure of the hump yard was imminent.
The closure of the hump — where rail traffic and destinations are sorted out — will mean the elimination of about 30 rail jobs that pay about $40,000 a year, plus benefits, UTU officials said.
The news comes as no surprise to George Millward, the UTU’s legislative director in Pocatello, who said last week the hump was targeted for closure by UPRR.
However, Bromley’s statement isn’t official and Millward doubts the workers who will be affected by the move will be notified before it actually happens.
“UP will tell us (after) the jobs are gone,” he said. “That’s how they do it. They’ll call us up and say, ‘Your job has been abolished.’”
Millward said the mood of hump yard workers is a somber one. “They know their days are numbered. You’re talking about two months (until spring starts),” he said.
Millward said UPRR also plans to dismantle as many as 55 tracks in Pocatello. If that happens, he added, “we would end up with about 14 usable tracks in Pocatello.”
“We’re talking more than just the hump,” he said.
But Millward and other railroaders in the area still hope to reverse UPRR’s plans. Union leaders plan to meet with Gov. Dirk Kempthorne within the next few weeks to see if he can somehow convince top UPRR officials to change their minds.
“We’ve talked to the governor’s office and they’re setting up a time for us,” Millward said. He added that several retired railroaders want to get involved as well.
He also plans to enlist the help of Pocatello Mayor Roger Chase and said, “If Roger wants to come with us, he’s welcome, too.”
Chase could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Millward said he is convinced UPRR’s “upper management hasn’t been given the real story. They’ve been given the lower management’s numbers. Hopefully, we can get some pressure on the railroad and change those decisions. This is a move that somehow the railroad has not thought through well.”
If UPRR’s plans do go through, he said, the next several months could end up being crucial to the railroad’s future in Pocatello.
UPRR still employs about 800 people here, but more than 400 rail jobs have been eliminated in Pocatello in the last four years. Since 1975, the city has lost 1,500 railroad jobs.
“This is serious,” Millward said. “Once you dismantle, you’re talking millions of dollars to put (the tracks) back together.”