BLET, B&E Ratify New Contract

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Berkshire & Eastern Railroad have ratified a new agreement governing rates of pay, benefits and work rules for 32 members.

Ballots were mailed in February to BLET members at B&E; the agreement was ratified on March 7 by a vote of 26 in favor, one against, BLET reported in the March 8 edition of its weekly newsletter.

Members governed by this agreement belong to either BLET Division 112 or Division 191. They are represented by General Chairman Kevin J. Moore of the STR-DH-SLR-NECR-CSO-NYW-B&E General Committee of Adjustment. During negotiations, BLET was represented by Moore, National Vice President L. Randy Fannon Jr., and Division 112 Local Chairman Nicholas K. Paige.

According to the union, some of the contractual improvements are:

• 13% hourly rate of pay increase.
• Accelerated progression of Entry Level rates of pay, “so engineers receive the 100% rate of pay much sooner.”
• Availability of a 401(k) savings plan, with 100% company match up to 4% of an engineer’s yearly compensation.
• Pay rates at one and a half times the hourly rate on holidays, in addition to a holiday allowance.

B&E on Sept. 1, 2023, took over as operator of Pan Am Southern LLC (PAS), nearly 18 months after CSX acquired Pan Am Systems, Inc. and its short line subsidiaries.

With the acquisition, CSX expanded its reach in Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts, while adding Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to its existing 23-state network. Headquartered in North Billerica, Mass., Pan Am had owned and operated a nearly 1,200-mile rail network across New England, with a partial interest in PAS that it had jointly owned with Norfolk Southern (NS; see map below). PAS comprises 400-plus miles of rail lines and trackage rights routes, including main lines between Ayer, Mass., and Albany, N.Y., that provide both CSX and NS access to the Boston area.

A point of contention had been who would operate PAS, which gave NS access to New England via trackage rights on the former Boston & Maine Mechanicville, N.Y.-Ayer, Mass., main line, the “Patriot Corridor,” strengthening competition with CSX.

In signing off on the acquisition, the Surface Transportation Board allowed Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad, LLC, doing business as B&E, to replace Pan Am affiliate Springfield Terminal as the neutral operator of PAS. Also, in its April 14, 2022 decision, STB allowed NS to acquire trackage rights over certain lines of CSX, Providence & Worcester Railroad Company (a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming), Boston & Maine, and PAS.

PAS interchanges with Canadian Pacific Kansas City (Mechanicville, N.Y.); Batten Kill Railroad (Eagle Bridge, N.Y); The Central New England Railroad (Hartford, Conn.); Connecticut Southern Railroad (Hartford, Conn.); CSX (Ayer, Mass. and Rotterdam, N.Y.); Housatonic Railway (Derby, Conn.); Naugatuck Railway (Waterbury, Conn.); New England Central Railroad (Brattleboro, Vt., Millers Falls, Mass., and White River Junction, Vt.); NS (Mechanicville, N.Y.); Pioneer Valley Railroad (Holyoke, Mass.); Providence & Worcester (Gardner, Mass.); Vermont Railway (Bellows Falls, Vt., Hoosick Junction, Vt. and White River Junction, Vt.). It offers 286K main line from Rotterdam, N.Y. to Ayer, Mass.; 286K from East Deerfield to Springfield, Mass.; and 263K elsewhere. The railroad is headed by General Manager John Connelly.

BLET in March 2023 reported that 60 members employed by the Springfield Terminal ratified a New York Dock Implementing Agreement with the Springfield Terminal and Pittsburgh & Shawmut Railroad LLC (B&E). “The implementing agreement addresses changes in operations resulting from the [merger] transaction and applies protective conditions,” BLET said at that time. “In addition, the implementing agreement sets forth the process to divide the workforce between ST [Springfield Terminal] and B&E and defines the limits of the railroads after the change-over date.”