PUBLIC LAW BOARD NO. 6567
Parties:
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
And
Union Pacific Railroad Co.
Statement of claim:
Claim of Engineer R.O. Denton Jr. (hereinafter claimant) for compensation for all
time lost including time lost attending investigation. This in connection with
claimant's assessment of Level -t Upgrade and 30 day suspension on December
24, 1999. Further, claimants annual vacation rights be restored, and he should be
compensated accordingly. Claimants personal record to be expunged of any
notation or record pertai-ung to this case.
Background:
Claimant entered carrier's employ on august;1, 1979, and was promoted to engineer on
March 14, ' 1986. On the date of the within incident (December 1, 1999) claimant was
operating in through freight service on train identified as MWCHN-29, operating
between Vaughn and Tucumcari, NNE The other employee was conductor J.R. Hamilton
who accompanied claimant in the cab of the locomotive.
Carriers Position:
Carrier
offcers were
conducting efficiency tests in an area slightly west of Tucumcari,
NM at or around Milepost 1622. The
officers state
that they extinguished signal 1622.6,
thereby causing the preceding signal to be red or in stop position. This situation would
require that claimants train stop on red then proceed through the area at restricted speed,
not exceeding twenty (20) raffles per hour.
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Mr. Jeffers, one of the officers conducting the tests states that he observed claimants train
operating at a speed he thought was excessive. When the train stopped the two ofcers
(Messrs Jeffers and Craft) boarded the locomotive to question the crew about their speed,
also, why they did not promptly report signal 1622.6 as being out. The crew was then told
to yard the train, after which questioning continued. After examination of the engine
recorder tape, the officers determined claimant operated his train slightly in excess of
allowed speed. The conclusion reached by the officers is that claimant violated rule 6.27,
6.31. 5.15 and 51-02 of Timetable 71.
Organizations position
The carriers findings in this case are based on errors in the engineers event recorder tape.
The tape indicates the distance frori Vaughn to M.P. 16'4 to be 102.3 miles when in
reality the distance is 9' miles. Therefore, if the distance is wrong the speed on the tape is
in error. The recordings on the event records indicate that the engineer initiated corrective
action whenever the train speed approached the maximum allowable speed. The
conductor testified the engineer made frequent adjustments to :seep the train speed within
the allowable parameters.
With respect to the charge of not zromptly reporting signal 1622.6 as cut, the crew
explained they waited for the hot-box scanner to report thereby precluding radio
interference while talking to the train dispatcher.
The conductor (j.R. Hamilton) woo was initially accused, accepted handling under the
CORE program thereby becoming soleiv a witness at the hearing.
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Findings:
The testimony is such that a finding of guilt would be a :miscarriage of justice. To further
prove his innocence, claimant invited the carrier to test his speedometer while another
officer used radar from the ground. The carrier officers declined this offer. From all of
the evidence introduced at the hearing it appears the claimant is quite knowledgeable and
rule compliant.
Award:
Claim sustained
Leonard Foster. Neutral Member of the Board
3
Date