BLE Focus

Profiling the BLE's Passenger Railroads

The death of passenger rail was widely proclaimed in the middle part of the last century because the increasing use of automobiles and airlines had caused ridership to plummet.

In spite of the proclamations of its death, passenger rail may be making a comeback due to a number of factors, including highway traffic congestion and high gas prices.

Traffic congestion is a worsening problem in the United States. A report by the Texas Transportation Institute says Americans spend three times as much time in traffic as they did 20 years ago. Governments are not building enough roads to keep pace with the new businesses and new residents moving in, and people are continuing to move and work farther and farther away from downtown.

The Texas Transportation Institute, in its annual report on congestion in 68 urban areas, found that the average person spent 36 hours a year sitting in traffic in 1999, up from 11 hours in 1982. Rush hour has grown to six hours each day, three hours each morning and three hours each evening, twice as long as in 1982.

All this congestion comes with a price: $78 billion a year in wasted time and burned gasoline, according to the institute, part of Texas A&M University, which analyzed data compiled by the Federal Highway Administration and 11 state highway departments.

The institute ranked the areas according to the additional time it took motorists to drive during congested periods as compared with the rest of the day.

Higher gas prices are also driving some commuters to use passenger railroads in order to spend less money on gasoline.

Gas prices throughout the U.S. are averaging about $1.80 per gallon and many consumers are turning to passenger rail and other forms of mass transit to avoid paying a premium price at the pump.

So while the naysayers believe passenger rail is dead, all signs are pointing to a comeback.

In this issue of the Locomotive Engineers Journal, we turn our spotlight to passenger railroads in the U.S. and Canada. There are eight passenger railroads in North America where the BLE is the collective bargaining representative. These railroads make up about 10 percent of the total BLE membership. Many of the railroads these BLE members work for are experiencing record ridership, and our Brothers and Sisters make this success possible by safely delivering the traveling public to its destination.

In the heyday of passenger rail, many more BLE members served our nations' passengers, but the job is equally important today.

Photo caption: One of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Orange Line trains in Boston's North Station

Continued on Page 5

Back to Fall 2001 Journal

© 2001 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers