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UPDATED: 8/9/10
Government, Union, and Court Decisions that may affect you as a railroad worker.
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The latest NEWSFLASH from the BLE&T

New 5/10/10

NMB levels the playing field

CLEVELAND, May 10 ˜ BLET National President Paul Sorrow today praised the National Mediation Board (NMB) for changing how it conducts representation elections, saying the new procedure will provide greater fairness to
unorganized workers.

According to rules released by the NMB today and slated to be published in the Federal Register later this week, a simple majority of voters will determine the outcome of elections; whereas in the past, workers who did
not participate in the election were counted as "no" votes.

Railroad and airline management have opposed the rule change. And even though it could still face legal challenges, President Sorrow hailed the proposed change as a major step in the right direction and believes it
will make it easier for non-union workers to join the House of Labor.

The proposed rule change received widespread support. According to published reports, the NMB received letters supporting the change from 39 Senators, 179 Democratic House Members and 13 Republican House Members.

The new rule would read as follows:

"In conducting such investigation, the Board is authorized to take a secret ballot of the employees involved, or to utilize any other appropriate method of ascertaining the names of their duly designated and authorized representatives in such manner as shall insure the choice of representatives by the employees without interference, influence, or coercion exercised by the carrier. Except in unusual or extraordinary
circumstances, in a secret ballot the Board shall determine the choice of representative based on the majority of valid ballots cast."

New 4/7/10

Matt Kronyak elected Chairman of NJ State Legislative Board as Jim Chappelle retires

CLEVELAND, April 6 ˜ Matt Kronyak was elected Chairman of the New Jersey State Legislative Board at meetings in Newark, N.J., from March 26-27. He replaces outgoing Chairman Jim Chappelle, who is retiring after nearly 36
years of dedication and service to the Brotherhood.

"Brother Chappelle has done a great job serving the members in the state of New Jersey, and has volunteered to help us in any way he can for the next 13 months," Brother Kronyak said. " look forward to continuing the
work he has done and serving the BLET. I would like to thank all of those who attended the meeting."

Brother Kronyak is a CSX (former Conrail) locomotive engineer and member of BLET Division 235 (Union City, N.J.). He has been a BLET member since December 1, 1995.

Also elected at the meeting were: Fred Mattison, First Vice Chairman (Division 373, Trenton, N.J.); Sean Simon, Second Vice Chairman (Division 226, Newark, N.J.); Mike Luteran, Secretary-Treasurer (Division 601, Newark); and Brian Baginski, Alternate Secretary-Treasurer (Division 601).

BLET National President Paul Sorrow congratulated all officers on their elections and thanked them for their continued dedication to the affairs of the Brotherhood.

"I have every confidence in the world that Brother Kronyak will do an outstanding job representing the rights and interests of our Brothers and Sisters in New Jersey,' President Sorrow said. " also thank retiring Chairman Jim Chappelle for his years of sacrifice and dedication to our Brotherhood."

Attending the meeting on behalf of National President Sorrow was First Vice President Dennis Pierce. He presented Brother Chappelle with a plaque from the National Division honoring him for his years of service to the
Brotherhood and thanking him and his family for their dedication and many sacrifices over the years.

Brother Chappelle is retiring after nearly 40 years of experience with New Jersey Transit. He joined the Brotherhood on December 1, 1974, and is a member of BLET Division 53 (Jersey City, N.J.).

BLET Vice President & National Legislative Representative John Tolman was also at the meeting. He presented insights into legislation that the BLET is working on in 2010. He also discussed the upcoming political races as
well as key regulatory issues.

Other BLET officers attending the meeting include: Ken Kertesz, Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Legislative Board; Tim Hanely, Chairman of the Ohio State Legislative Board and NASLBC Region 1 Chairman; and Jim Louis,
Chairman of the New York State Legislative Board and Chairman of the Conrail (SAA-CSXT-Northern District) General Committee of Adjustment.

Also in attendance was Cliff Nolan of Teamsters Joint Council 73, which represents 65,000 members.

"Congratulations to Brother Kronyak and all of the members elected at the meeting," Vice President Tolman said. „I look forward to working with Matt."

New 12/20/09

Protect Our Right to Vote: Four years ago, the members of our union voted two-to-one for the Right to Vote for our union’s top officers.  Now, with three of those top officers gone in disgrace, some BLET officials are trying to overturn the Right to Vote before it has ever been used. The Right to Vote holds our union’s top officers accountable directly to the members. We need that accountability now more than ever. BLET Members for Democracy is a group of members from across our union united to save our Right to Vote. You can help protect the Right to Vote by getting informed and spreading the word.

Here is a pdf file with questions and answers about what is going on and who is trying to overrule the will of the BLE&T membership.

Check out the discussion and think for yourselves.

What do you think? Send your questions and comments to BLET Members for Democracy at info@bletmembersfordemocracy.org

New 11/17/09

The attached notice regarding Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (“RUIA”) determinations for next year (2010).

Of particular note are the following:
1. The RUIA surcharge rate for calendar year 2010 will remain at 1.5%.

2. The RUIA monthly compensation base for calendar year will remain at $1,330.00.
3. The maximum daily benefit rate for the benefit year beginning July 1, 2010, will increase from the current $64.00 to $66.00.

View the notice here

New 11/16/09

VRE's ouster of Amtrak is approved
Regional transit panels back 5-year contract with French company
By Jennifer Buske <http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/jennifer+buske/>
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 6, 2009
Two Virginia transportation commissions voted Thursday night to approve Virginia Railway Express's plan to end its 17-year relationship with Amtrak and give an international company a start in the U.S. transportation industry.
The Northern Virginia and Potomac and Rappahannock transportation commissions each voted unanimously, with one abstention, to award a five-year, $85.7 million contract to Keolis Rail Services America, the U.S. subsidiary of a company based in France.

"One firm went above and beyond," PRTC member Matt Kelly said. "I think Keolis really wanted this contract, and Amtrak expected the contract." The contract, which the VRE Operations Board approved Oct. 16, has two five-year renewal options and will begin July 1, when Amtrak's contract ends.

VRE selected Keolis because its proposal was the most cost-effective and the strongest, particularly in customer service and its management and operations plan, VRE spokesman Mark Roeber said. Four companies applied for the operations and maintenance contract. Roeber said that the roughly 80 Amtrak employees who work with VRE can remain on the job and retain their pay and benefits.

Last week, Amtrak challenged the VRE board's decision, saying there might have been some "improper scoring" during the review process.

Amtrak said VRE's request for bids stated that 80 percent of the score would be based on an applicant's "performance and experience." Keolis has no experience operating under U.S. rail safety and security regulations, Amtrak officials said. Amtrak also filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking for Keolis's application and score card.
VRE chief executive Dale Zehner reviewed the scoring process and concluded that Amtrak's challenge was without merit, Roeber said. Amtrak also failed to challenge the VRE board's decision within the period allotted, according to a letter Zehner sent to Amtrak on Monday. Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm said that the denial was expected but that VRE's response did not address Amtrak's safety and security concerns. "The national capital region is a unique area, and the safety and security plans of potential rail operators deserve special review and scrutiny to ensure they are in compliance with all federal regulations," Kulm said.

Addressing the concern about operating on U.S. rail lines, Steve Townsend, executive vice president of Keolis America, said the four managers of his company have almost 100 years of experience working under Federal Railroad Administration regulations. Any new employees, he said, will probably come from Northern Virginia.

Railroad agency spokesman Warren Flatau said the agency will work with whatever company the commissions select and make sure it complies with safety standards. Officials with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, however, remain apprehensive about changing to a new operator.
"Northern Virginia is a densely populated and congested intermodal transportation region and home to two of the busiest rail corridors in the United States," said Herbert Harris Jr., chairman of the union's D.C. legislative board. "This is not a territory for upstarts."
Harris said several factors, including a lack of federal funding, have strained Amtrak's relationship with VRE and other commuter carriers in recent years. But circumstances have changed, he said. The Obama administration has directed more funding to rail activities, and Amtrak is under new management. It is being led by former Federal Railroad Administration chief Joseph Boardman.
"There may have very well been moments when management was not as responsive as VRE would have liked, but it was nothing that impacted the safety of the passengers or the efficiency of the service," Harris said.
VRE's Zehner said he thought customers will be satisfied with Keolis's service. "My goal is, they will see the level of customer service rise," he said. "Their experience on the train, cleanliness of the train . . . should rise up. That's my expectation."


 
John P. Tolman
Vice President and National Legislative Representative
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
Teamsters Rail Conference
25 Louisiana Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
Office: (202) 624-8776
Cell: (216) 272-1246
Fax: (202) 624-3086
tolman@ble.org <mailto:policy@ble-t.org>
www.bletdc.org <http://www.bletdc.org>
 

Now here is something that labor has always known but management hasn't figured out yet:
The setting for a fatal injury rate more than double the rate for all workers, railroads are hazardous workplaces, especially for brake, signal, and switch operators; rail vehicles pose hazards even to workers in non-railroad occupations.

Read the report from the Federal Government's Bureau of Labor Statistics

New 6/14/09

BLET, UTU file joint petition to prohibit one-person crews

CLEVELAND, June 12 — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the UTU have filed a petition for an emergency order with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) seeking to prohibit the use of one-person train crews — including conventional and remote control yard switching operations.

BLET National President Ed Rodzwicz and UTU International President Mike Futhey signed the petition for the emergency order, which was filed today.

One-person crew operations “have been nothing more than the industry’s attempt to reduce operating costs to increase profits, at the expense of worker safety,” says the BLET and UTU petition seeking the FRA emergency order.

“Remote control operations are a very serious hazard for a number of reasons,” the petition20says. “Any person having safety concerns in mind should recognize that a single-person remote control assignment should never be allowed. It puts rail workers at great risk of injury or death." The FRA is told in the petition, “The evidence shows that no conditions exist where a lone engineer or remote control operations are safe.”

The need for such an emergency order, says the BLET and the UTU, is demonstrated by a May 10 accident on CSX in Selkirk, N.Y., which killed UTU-represented conductor Jerod Boehlke, who was working alone and using a remote control device.

“The workload associated with [remote control operations], while performing other safety critical tasks, demands too much of a single individual, including loss of situational awareness,” says the petition. “How many more incidents like the one at Selkirk need to occur before such operations are prohibited?”

There are numerous incidents of accidents, injuries and fatalities where railroads utilized one-person crews, and the injuries and deaths caused by remote and single-crew operations “have continued unabated since its inception in the early 1990s,” says the petition. “This has been caused in part by the inaction of the FRA to a number of petitions filed both by the BLET and the UTU for emergency orders to prevent such operations.

The petition says that while the FRA has reviewed the safety aspects of one-person crews, it “has really done nothing affirmatively to assure the safety of the employees in such operations.”

The BLET and the UTU also sharply criticized FRA conclusions that the safety records of remote control and conventional operations are “basically the same.”

The BLET and UTU petition says a 2006 FRA report titled “Safety of Remote Control Operations” contains major flaws. Most of FRA’s erroneous figures resulted from the formulas used for calculating the statistics. For example, the accident rates calculated for each railroad failed to normalize the data to account for different crew sizes in RCL and conventional operations, even though FRA had previously stated that normalization was required in order to make an apples-to-apples comparison. After correcting for these errors, the data actually showed that the mean RCL accident rate was nearly 3.5 times the conventional switching rate.

Similarly, correcting mean injury rates reversed the findings of the 2006 report as to which operation was safer. The data actually show a RCL injury rate almost 80 percent higher than the conventional switching injury rate, and the normalized RCL fatality rate was over 3.5 times the normalized conventional switching fatality rate.

An emergency order prohibiting the use of one-person operating crews, including remote control operations, would take effect immediately upon issuance by the FRA.

“It is time for the FRA to take a proactive safety stance, and not merely a band-aid reactive approach to this issue,” the petition concludes.

This message was sent by the BLET NewsFlash Service.

New 6/14/09

Final FMLA remedy a win for Rail Labor

District court decision on FMLA Railroad employees win big in decision against carriers (PDF File)

CLEVELAND, June 10 - Certain BLET members working for the nation's four largest railroads will receive one day's pay for each vacation and/or personal leave day they were forced to use instead of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave.

"We find that qualified grievants are entitled to receive a day's pay at their then-obtaining straight-time rates for each day that the carriers improperly required substitution of FMLA leave for scheduled vacation time or accrued but not-yet-scheduled personal leave days," a three member arbitration panel ruled on June 1. By qualified grievant the panel means an "employee that filed a timely and otherwise procedurally valid claim."

The remedy brings to a conclusion a case that began more than five years ago when four Class I rail carriers instituted a practice that forced workers to use paid vacation and personal leave when taking FMLA leave in certain circumstances.

The BLET and 10 other unions argued the case against BNSF, CSXT, NS and UP.

The panel ruled previously that the carriers' policies regarding substitution of paid vacation and/or paid personal leave for FMLA leave violates the requirements of the national vacation and/or national personal leave agreements. The carriers were ordered to immediately discontinue the invalidated provisions of such policies.

At a hearing in Washington, D.C., on April 21, the arbitration panel considered the question: "What is the appropriate remedy for employees who were required to use paid leave for FMLA leave in violation of the national vacation and/or national personal leave agreements?"

At the hearing, the union position was that each employee who was forced to use paid leave for FMLA leave should receive a day's pay for each day the vacation or personal leave agreement was violated.

"Affected employees were denied their contractual right to determine when and how to use their vacation time and personal leave, and employees lost the ability to take time off for family and social events as they had planned," the panel wrote in their June 1 decision. "This lost time cannot
be recreated."

In general terms, a basic day's pay is considered traditional remedy in the railroad industry for violations of collective bargaining agreements where no remedy is specified. At the April 21 hearing, the unions successfully argued for application of this remedy to the carriers' violation of the national agreements.

"The payment of a day's pay is proper for the violation of the rule not as a penalty, but compensatory damages which will deter the Carrier from complete disregard to its obligation," the panel determined.

"In the present matter, the contractual violation involves a largely intangible infringement upon employee's rights wherein employees were denied the opportunity to take vacations and personal leave at the times of their own choosing because of the carriers' violations. Those leave dates cannot be recovered," the panel determined. "Employees were unable to take time off with their families as they had planned for occasions
like recreation, family gatherings, social events and children's school and athletic programs. Those events and opportunities have been lost and cannot be recreated. A day's pay is at best an unsatisfactory substitute, but, in light of considerable railroad industry practice and in a genuine attempt to put this dispute behind the parties, the remedy sought by the unions is reasonable and appropriate for the violation."

The unions claimed that a monetary remedy was necessary in order to enforce the agreements.

"No useful purpose would be served if we were to find that the Agreement was violated and no remedy was offered," they argued.

The unions contended that, without the application of the traditional day's pay remedy, the agreements at issue could not be effectively enforced. Without some monetary compensation for those employees deprived of their chosen leave times, there simply would be no reason for the carriers not
to commit further violations similar to those found by the Board.

"Employees experienced an FMLA-qualifying events - serious illness of their own or a close relative, or birth or adoption of a child - and the carriers forced these employees to use up their later-scheduled vacation time in conjunction with the FMLA leave to which they were statutorily entitled. Employees could not choose a different time for vacation."

The carriers offered a number of out-of-industry awards in support of their contention that employees were not entitled to damages. But the unions responded that those awards offered little, if any, guidance in deciding the question before the Board.

"Labor relations in the railroad industry are unique in many respects," the panel determined. "The out-of-industry awards cited by the carriers involved FMLA substitution policies and are not on point."

The carriers also argued that unpaid leave should be a remedy, but the panel shot down that line of reasoning.

Noting that the dispute began in 2004 when the industry was riding high and having difficulty handling the workload with its existing workforce, the panel wrote: "Now there are layoffs; work is less available, and grievants need pay, not time off without pay.

"Employees were fully employed and often worked substantial amounts of overtime, making even unpaid periods of leave meaningful. But today, times are harder; and business has declined. Now many claimants are just barely employed, and a significant percentage of the workforce is furloughed. Unpaid leave now is a remedy with little value, even for working and furloughed claimants. For claimants who have retired, are on disability, or have been laid-off, unpaid leave is no remedy at all. The carriers should not be permitted to rely on a changed economic climate to avoid bearing the cost of their contract violations."

The panel wrote that the remedy is compensatory - not punitive.

"What grievants lost was a contract right of significant value. Grievants suffered more than 'mere inconvenience' when they lost their contract right to chose when to take paid time off. Our purpose is to provide compensation for those losses, not to punish the carriers for having
caused them."

This remedy, however, does not apply to everyone.

"Grievants who asked for and later did receive unpaid vacation and personal leave for paid leave days that the carriers who employed them had substituted FMLA leave are not entitled to the remedy ... only for those lost vacation and personal leave days for which they elected to and did receive unpaid leave."

Eleven Rail Labor unions were involved in the case. Mike Wolly and Margo Pave of Zwerdling, Paul, Kahn, & Wolly, P.C., represented the interests of six of the 11 unions - Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, American Train Dispatchers Association, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association.

BLET National President Ed Rodzwicz thanked Mike Wolly and Margo Pave for their efforts to bring about the victory, and noted the time claims filed by BLET members helped provide valuable evidence during the hearing that the carriers' illegal tactics negatively impacted hundreds of families.

"Once again Mike and Margo did a fantastic job vindicating the rights of BLET members," Rodzwicz said. "But the real heroes are the men and women of the BLET who never gave up the fight over all these years: the members who filed the claims, the Local Chairmen who appealed the denials, and the General Chairmen who progressed the cases; their devotion to the cause personalized this struggle for the panel and secured our victory."

This message was sent by the BLET NewsFlash Service.
 

New 4/10/09

BLET opposes rail antitrust efforts

CLEVELAND, April 2 - The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen  is opposing the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009. In letters to the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee, Senate Judiciary Committee, House Judiciary Committee, and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the BLET opposes the Act, which would put railroads under the same antitrust laws that apply to most types of business instead of sending rail mergers and customer-carrier disputes to the Surface Transportation Board.

"While carriers, labor and shippers have not been uniformly satisfied with all processes and decisions of the STB, we believe that this oversight has served its public purpose well, as evidenced by the industry's renaissance over the past decade," BLET National President Ed Rodzwicz wrote.

Instead of passing the Act, the BLET encourages increased cooperation between labor, the government, shippers and carriers.

"A short-term gain for some shippers could result in crippling the industry just as the nation's dependence on railroads becomes critical," Rodzwicz said. "To the extent the Congress believes that the ability of STB to vigorously oversee the railroad industry should be strengthened, we strongly urge you to sit down with the railroads and the shippers and work out the necessary reforms. The BLET supports such a plan of action because it would address legitimate grievances shippers may have without jeopardizing the stability of the industry. Unfortunately, the Act would have the opposite effect. Under these circumstances, we have no option but to oppose passage."

A PDF of the BLET's letter to the House is here:

A PDF of the BLET's letter to the Senate is here:

New 1/09/09

FMLA update: Another positive ruling

CLEVELAND, January 9 - Resolution of the Family and Medical Leave Act

(FMLA) continues to unfold in a positive manner for Rail Labor as a group of FMLA arbitrators unanimously overturned additional carrier arguments on January 8.

After receiving the December 2 Award, which sided unanimously with Labor, the carriers filed a request for interpretation. In the December 8 Award, a panel of three arbitrators ruled that the FMLA policies of the four largest Class I railroads (BNSF, CSXT, NS and UP) violate the industry's national vacation and personal leave agreements.

In the January 2 Award, the arbitrators unanimously rejected the carriers' suggestions that:

1. Unscheduled leave should be treated differently from scheduled leave for purposes of their ability to force employees to use their paid leave as FMLA leave; and

2. The BLET personal leave agreement should be treated differently than the other national personal leave agreements for FMLA substitution purposes.

"I am pleased the arbitrators unanimously agreed with our position," BLET National President Ed Rodzwicz said. "I ask for patience from our members as this lengthy legal process continues to unfold."

Approximately two years ago, the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that the law did not permit the carriers to override collective bargaining agreement provisions that gave workers control over scheduling paid leave. The legal process has been ongoing ever since.

Regarding the first interpretation question, the Board: "unanimously agree[d] that, just as no substitution of such days for FMLA leave may occur after such days are set, neither can it occur before those days are set. We see no legitimate distinction between the two. The carriers are therefore not permitted to require substitution of paid personal leave and/or single vacation days for FMLA leave before those days are set."

Regarding the second, the arbitrators wrote that they: "similarly see no distinction that would vary the impact of our Award, which we intended to apply to [the BLET] agreement's subject matter just as it does to all the others. Our Award therefore bars substitution of paid personal leave under the BLET national personal leave agreement."

The unions are now preparing for the remedy phase of the arbitration. It is expected that a decision on that issue will be issued sometime this spring. Attorneys Mike Wolly and Margo Pave of the firm Zwerdling, Paul, Kahn & Wolly, P.C., are handling the case for BLET and several other Rail Labor unions.

http://www.ble.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=4754

A summary of Emergency Order 26
 Use of electronic devices by transportation employees

New Jersey Transit's Policy for Management Personnel!

1. Never walk without a document in your hands
People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings. People with nothing in their hands look like they're heading for the canteen. People with a newspaper in their hand look like they're heading for the toilet. Above all, make sure you carry loads of stuff home with you at night, thus generating the false impression that you work longer hours than you do.

2. Use computers to look busy
Any time you use a computer, it looks like "work" to the casual observer. You can send and receive personal e-mail, chat and generally have a blast without doing anything remotely related to work. These aren't exactly the societal benefits that the proponents of the computer revolution would like to talk about but they're not bad either. When you get caught by your boss - and you *will* get caught -- your best defense is to claim you're teaching yourself to use new software, thus saving valuable training expenses.

3. Messy desk
Top management can get away with a clean desk. For the rest of us, it looks like we're not working hard enough. Build huge piles of documents around your workspace. To the observer, last year's work looks the same as today's work; it's volume that counts. Pile them high and wide. If you know somebody is coming to your desk, bury the document you'll need halfway down in an existing stack and rummage for it when he/she arrives.

4. Voice Mail
Never answer your phone if you have voice mail. People don't call you just because they want to give you something for nothing - they call because they want YOU to do work for THEM. That's no way to live. Screen all your calls through voice mail. If somebody leaves a voice mail message for you and it sounds like impending work, respond during lunch hour when you know they're not there - it looks like you're hardworking and conscientious even though you're being a devious weasel.

5. Looking Impatient and Annoyed
Always try to look impatient and annoyed to give your bosses the impression that you are always busy.

6. Leave the office late
Always leave the office late, especially when the boss is still around. You could read magazines and storybooks that you always wanted to read but have no time until late before leaving. Make sure you walk past the boss' room on your way out. Send important emails at unearthly hours (e.g. 9:35pm, 7:05am, etc.) and during public holidays.

7. Creative Sighing for Effect
Sigh loudly when there are many people around, giving the impression that you are under extreme pressure.

8. Stacking Strategy
It is not enough to pile lots of documents on the table. Put lots of books on the floor etc. (thick computer manuals are the best).

9. Build Vocabulary
Read up on some computer magazines and pick out all the jargon and new products. Use the phrases freely when in conversation with bosses. Remember: They don't have to understand what you say, but you will sound impressive.

10. Have 2 Jackets
If you work in a big open plan office, always leave a spare jacket draped over the back of your seat. This gives the impression that you are still on the premises. The second jacket should be worn while swanning around elsewhere.
 

Always remember: A meeting that generates minutes is still a meeting regardless of whether anything positive was accomplished and that, in itself, is justification enough!

Regular Features:
Follow the legislative process in New Jersey.
How a bill becomes law in New Jersey: (Engineer's version) (Trainman's version)
Find out who your Congressmen are and how they voted here!

S. 1103 Title: To amend title 49, United States Code, to enhance competition among and between rail carriers in order to ensure efficient rail service and reasonable rail rates in any case in which there is an absence of effective competition, and for other purposes.

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