"Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:

(1) The Agreement was violated when the Carrier assigned outside forces (New Century Construction Company) to perform Maintenance of Way work (bridge repair and related work) on the railroad bridge over Pangburn Road in Princeton, New York on November 29, 2007 instead of B&B employes D. Welch, L. Martin, T. Delameter, R. Holleran, E. Carr, B. Allmendinger, J. Perry and J. Moelder (Carrier's File 8-00599 DHR).

(2) As a consequence of the violation referred to in Part (1) above, Claimants D. Welch, L. Martin, T. Delameter, R. Holleran, E. Carr, B. Allmendinger, J. Perry and J. Moelder shall now each be compensated for ten and one-half (10.5) hours at their respective time and one-half rates of pay."

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.

Parties to said dispute were given due notice of hearing thereon.

On November 29, 2007, a semi-trailer transporting a crane struck and severely damaged the Pangburn Road overpass at Mile Post 490.83 on the Freight Main Subdivision. Upon notification of this situation, the Carrier placed crews in Oneonta and Binghampton on standby while it assessed the damage. An inspection revealed that there was extensive damage to the bridge span and girders, which rendered the track impassable. The mainline was closed during the time that outside contractor forces repaired the bridge and overpass.

On December 10, 2007, the Organization filed a claim asserting that BMWErepresented employees were ready, willing and able to perform the claimed work, but the Carrier violated Rules 1, 3, 4, 11, 28 and Appendix H when it "sent home their B&B Employees and opted to have a contractor perform their work."

On January 11, 2008, the Carrier denied the claim as follows:

"An emergency situation occurred at approximately 1240/29 ET when a semi-trailer transporting a crane struck the overhead railway bridge at MP 490.83 of the Freight Main subdivision. Inspection discovered extensive damage to the bridge span and girders. As a result, the mainline was closed for approximately 20 hours.

Repairs were planned using bridge material from an abandoned bridge near this location which was previously double track. These repairs needed to be completed on a timely basis in order to open the mainline.

On March 11, 2008, the Organization appealed the claim denial. Therein it observed "that this incidence was an emergency . . . which we have conceded," but BMWE "does not accept nor condone the Carrier's actions surrounding the matter . . . . Regardless of the circumstances and need for a specialized crane notwithstanding, the Carrier's force" has historically performed this work. The only reason the Carrier placed force employees on standby, the Organization asserts, was not to assess the damage, but rather to determine if contractor forces could be obtained to perform the claimed work.

The Carrier denied the appeal on May 7, 2008 and this matter was discussed during a conference held on August 22, 2008. Having been handled in the usual and customary manner on the property, including up to and including the Carrier's highest designated officer, the claim is now before the Board for final adjudication.

Notwithstanding the finding that the claimed work is scope-covered, there is no dispute that the incident constituted an "emergency" as that word is used in Rule 1. When an "emergency" exists, a Carrier is accorded flexibility in its response because

12-3-NRAB-00003-090500