Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
Award No. 36324
Docket No. MW-33229
02-3-96-3-696
The Third Division consisted
of
the regular members and in addition Referee
Edwin H. Benn when award was rendered.
(Brotherhood
of
Maintenance
of
Way Employes
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(CSX Transportation, Inc. (former Louisville and
( Nashville Railroad Company)
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
"Claim
of
the System Committee
of
the Brotherhood that:
1. The fifteen (15) day suspension assessed Track Repairman L. R.
Timbs, Jr., for his alleged responsibility for a collision between a
ballast regulator and tamper on August 26, 1995 was without just
and sufficient cause, in violation
of
the Agreement and based on an
unproven charge [System File 15(17)(95)/12(95-1069) LNR].
2. As a consequence
of
the violation referred to in Part (1) above,
Track Repairman L. R. Timbs, Jr. shall now be compensated for all
wage loss suffered, including overtime, and shall have his record
cleared
of
the charges."
FINDINGS:
The Third Division
of
the Adjustment Board, upon the whole record and all the
evidence, finds that:
The carrier or carriers and the employee or employees involved in this dispute
are respectively carrier and employee within the meaning
of
the Railway Labor Act, as
approved June 21, 1934.
This Division
of
the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute involved
herein.
Form 1 Award No. 36324
Page 2 Docket No. MW-33229
02-3-96-3-696
Parties to said dispute were given due notice of hearing thereon.
On August 25, 1995, a ballast regulator operated by the Claimant ran into a
tamper causing approximately $8,000.00 in damage.
According to the Claimant, he was operating between 10 and 15 mph and:
"[A] . . . I throttled up after I got through the crossings and it looked like
he was 4 or 500 foot in front of me and I kept on watching the
temperature gauge and then when I looked back down I was, you
know, too close to him to stop. I kept my eye on the temperature
gauge because it pegged out so quick back at Murfeesboro, next it
happened at Fosterville.
[Q] Mr. Timbs when you looked away at the temperature gauge of the
machine, and when you looked up you couldn't stop in the clear
distance ahead?
[A] That's right."
Operating Rule 720 requires that "[o]n-track equipment must move prepared to
stop within one-half the range of vision." Operating Rule 727 requires that "[t]he space
between on-track equipment, when running, must be sufficient to avoid an accident."
Substantial evidence shows that the Claimant violated those Rules. The Claimant was
not keeping a watchful eye on the track ahead of him. He allowed his attention to be
distracted when he focused on the temperature gauge rather than on the equipment in
front of him.
Under the circumstances, we cannot find that a 15-day suspension was arbitrary.
AWARD
Claim denied.
Form I Award No. 36324
Page 3 Docket No. MW-33229
02-3-96-3-696
ORDER
This Board, after consideration of the dispute identified above, hereby orders that
an Award favorable to the Claimant(s) not be made.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order
of
Third Division
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 26th day
of
December 2002.