BY RUTH ROBINETT AND LINDA MARCUS
NEWARK, New Jersey - In a front-page article February 5, the Newark Star Ledger exposed Amtrak management's culpability in the Nov. 23, 1996, six-car derailment in Seacacus, New Jersey that injured 34 passengers. For 10 months Amtrak management ignored a series of warnings from union workers and their foremen that a rail connector at Portal Bridge was cracked and unsafe. At the time of the wreck, company, union, and federal investigative officials agreed that a broken connecting plate on the 88-year-old swing bridge was at fault. The rails separate to allow the bridge to open for river traffic. The connecting plate realigns and locks the rails once the bridge is closed.

A crack in the rail connector was first reported in January 1996, but it wasn't until April that repairs were ordered for the widening cracks. Jack Nemeth, a welder with 33 years experience in bridge repair, reported to his foreman in a post-accident statement "that welding just one side of the crack was wrong, was dangerous and would not hold," according to the Star Ledger.

Nemeth's foreman, Jim Clark, who is in charge of Portal Bridge repairs and maintenance, and his supervisor Kenneth Hudson, supervisor of structures, agreed the defective connectors needed to be replaced. On June 20 Hudson informed his supervisor that unless repairs were properly made "we risk failure of mechanical and structural components of the bridge." The new connectors arrived by early September, but management decided to wait until spring 1997 to install them, when a bridge overhaul was scheduled.

By August 29, the cracks in the connectors had widened and welder Nemeth was again instructed to repair them. He welded the crack a second time, and again reported that the welds would not hold.

Alison Conway-Smith, an Amtrak vice president and chief engineer, confirmed the chronology of events but refuted that the problem was ever a safety or money issue. She reported that a number of union workers and management employees face disciplinary charges, up to dismissal.

Workers interviewed for this article took issue with Conway-Smith's statement. Conductor Tom McLean noted, "Since Amtrak is over-managed and is financially strapped because of it, sometimes safety is not first, money is."

Dorian Baskerville, a conductor who works the Northeast Corridor and crosses Portal Bridge twice daily agreed. "It's a travesty for passengers and employees when money is the main concern, not safety."

Denise Daniels, a coach cleaner, told the Militant, "I see a demise in Amtrak as we know it because of shoddy work ethics, lack of safety, and constant disregard for the workers and people who use Amtrak. I feel morale is very down, because, like the welder who conscientiously tried to do a good job and said it wouldn't hold, they ignore what workers say. Amtrak is not interested in doing it the right way, but the quickest way to save money. This creates an atmosphere of shoddy work ethics."

"Why couldn't it be fixed before?" asked Art Dowd, a 26- year-old conductor. "If you or me made the decision to let it go we would be fired. Especially since it was an old bridge, they should have used better technology to solve the problem. But they didn't because of money. Top management should listen to the foreman on the job whose workers knew what to do. If management is not going to act on a supervisor's decision, what are they there for?"

Since the November accident, Amtrak has installed secondary sensors that would have prevented the derailment. These sensors have been in existence and recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board for nearly 20 years. Amtrak spokesman Richard Remington said that they were trying to determine why Amtrak had not installed the sensors earlier.

Meanwhile, the Star Ledger reported a bolt on another part of the rail on the Portal Bridge came loose January 27, preventing the bridge from opening for 45 minutes. Conway-Smith insisted that no one was endangered by this latest problem.

Linda Marcus and Ruth Robinett are members of UTU Local 1370 at Amtrak.  
 
 
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