Well, the world of railroading has seemed to be on the quiet side. Well, things are changing. Here are a few items of interest.
First off, the Metrolink / Glendale disaster has had one more event in it's life. Actually, as I think about it, there will be more! Anyway, the last event was the jury convicting the man of 11 counts of murder and one count of arson. Sentencing was earlier this week and the Judge wanted to do more but ended up sentencing him to 11 consecutive life sentendces without parole. In other words, those of us in California are now sentenced to supporting this guy for his life. Whooppee!
Oh, the 'more' thing I mentioned, seems that victims and victims family are going to civil court to sue Metrolink for operating in Push mode. I am not sure of the suit just yet but the report I saw claimed they are suing because Metrolink should have been operting in the Pull mode because there is a good chance there would have been fewer deaths and injuries as a result. If that is the approach, it might just carry some weight!
Remember just a couple of weeks ago we read a release on how the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) was issuing a rule on Observation Testing for transportation employees who are subjected to a urine test to be quite lieterally watched. There are about 6 unions and at least one railroad who objected to this and filed suit to block it from coming active on August 25, 2008. Well, it has been blocked for the immediate time. The next date to watch for is November 1, 2008.
Remember one of the issues with the new rule was vagness of language. Remjember also the line I like best was, the person taking the test must remove 'his or her skirt'? That is vague? Look guys, you better raise those skirts!! For those of us in the U.S., bemember this is our government at work!
Now, there is something new on the website. It is a link on the upper navigation bar, namely Railroad Event Calendr. If you check it out you wil see a calendar that is designed to list railroad events all over the world. There are also Viewing Tips and an area that tells you how to submit an event. We want to get a few more events posted there and then have a big announcement. This calendar is quite versitle and we want to make use of it all.
OK, time to go out there and enjoy the upcoming holiday in the U.S. LTT wil be a replay on August 30 and returning live on September 6, 2008.
EngineerRichard
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