CREVE COEUR, ILLINOIS, 09/10/09 - Two-thirds of the work force of one of the
area's oldest rail lines will soon be out of work since the track was leased
by an international railroad operator late last month.
The Peoria & Pekin Union Railway Co. and its 20 miles of track connecting the two cities and industrial sites in between will be operated by the recently formed Tazewell & Peoria Railroad Inc., a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. About 60 PPU employees will lose their jobs. In a filing with the federal Surface Transportation Board dated August 31, T&P outlined its plans to hire 33 people from the handful of unions that currently supply PPU with about 90 workers. Several of those employees said no severance packages are being offered. PPU president Paul Feltenstein declined to comment on the issue Thursday.
"They're planning on doing the same work we're doing with a lot less people," one union member said of T&P. "I don't know how they're going to get it done, but it should be interesting to watch."
That United Transportation
Union Local 198 member, who wished not to be named for fear of not being hired
back by T&P, said lawyers with the International UTU in
PPU's tracks are jointly owned by
three Class 1 railroads: Canadian National Railway Co., Norfolk Southern
Railway Co. and the Union Pacific Railway Co. Every railroad in
"I have an escape hatch, and most of the other guys do not," said Dick Howard, 61, a 39-year veteran of PPU who plans to retire if he is not hired by T&P. "They're the ones up against the wall." Howard, who has worked at PPU as a computer operator, dispatcher and tower operator and is a member of the Transportation and Communications Union, said the drastic cut in staff could be dangerous and seems unrealistic. "I don't think they're going to be able to do it," he said.
Craig McQueen, spokesman for Connecticut-based GWI, said T&P will supplement its workforce with remote-control locomotives, which can be used in rail yards but not at public grade crossings.
"Our (safety) record overall
for the collection of railroads that GWI owns is right at the top of the
industry," McQueen said, citing Illinois & Midland Railroad
Inc., which is owned by GWI, operates between Springfield and Pekin, and
reported zero injuries in 2003. GWI
runs short lines and regional freight railroads on more than 11,000 miles
of track in the
"We don't have an operating plan yet - we're still looking for a person to run the railroad," McQueen said, adding that streamlining the staff should make the company more efficient and profitable, while attracting new clients.
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