Posted on 11/21/2019 9:29:37 AM PST by Yo-Yo
LANSING, MI (WILX) -- Capital Area Ingham County Alerts sent out a notification that "all trains nation-wide have been stopped for an undetermined amount of time."
The alert said specific crossings that are blocked in our area are Hagadorn/Service in East Lansing and Marsh/Haslett in Meridian Township.
News 10 reached out to East Lansing Police Chief Steve Gonzalez regarding the issue.
"I don't know if it's a system failure or what, but it seems pretty large-scale," Gonzalez said.
He said he is not aware of any injuries or accidents that would case a train to stop here locally.
Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman, said the delay is caused by Canadian National, owner of the railroad.
“They’re having a service disruption and we do not anticipate it will affect our operations this evening,” Magliari said.
Magliari declined to say what the service disruption is and why Amtrak is convinced its next train scheduled to pass through mid-Michigan at 8 p.m. won’t be delayed.
“I’ve been briefed by CN,” Magliari said. “They can speak to you about the disruption of service.”
News 10’s attempts to reach CN officials early Thursday afternoon weren’t successful.
This is a breaking news story. WILX News 10 is working to get more details on this story, and will update the story as more information becomes available.
Stay with News 10 and WILX.com as we follow this situation. Refresh your page to make sure you are seeing the most current information.
Copyright 2019 WILX. All rights reserved.
John Galt is in Michigan??
As a Member of the El Paso Model Railroad Association. We were asked to help with the Big Boy 4014, display by Union Pacific here. We were allowed to watch it come in to the Alfalfa rail yard, it was magical, the beautiful deep throated whistle sound was breathtaking. Must have had 8,000 visitors over a two day period. Talked with the Engineer who told me it takes 4 days for the boiler to cool down, also they have to clean the boiler every 30 days.
If the Taggart Transcontinental Bridge over the Mississippi is down, we’re hosed.
Very sloppy article, apparently it was a stoppage of CN traffic only, not all traffic. Nationwide appears to mean parts of the US and Canada.
This writing wouldn’t have made it into my college newspaper it’s so bad.
“all trains stopped nation-wide
WTH ?” ?
One passed by here about 30 minutes ago.
Sometimes you don't.
UPDATE: Canadian National resumes operations after trains stopped
LANSING, MI (WILX) -- Mid-Michigan residents were notified about train stoppages via email shortly after 11:30 a.m. Wednesday through the Capital Area Ingham County Alerts system.
Local officials were notified of a nationwide train stoppage by the Canadian National Police and Michigan State University Police, said Terri Thornberry, director of the Ingham County 911 Communications Center.
“We just got the information and we passed it on,” Thornberry said.
The system notified residents that trains had resumed travel at shortly after 1:30 p.m.
Jonathan Abecassis, a Canadian National spokesman, said service on the railroad’s network in the U.S. was “temporarily affected” because of a suspicious package at CN’s facility in Homewood, Illinois.
Abecassis said police responded to reports of a suspicious package that was found to be harmless. The incident remains under investigation, Abecassis said.
“The network has resumed normal operations at this point,” Abecassis said.
Copyright 2019 WILX. All rights reserved.
The CN: Canadian National Railway is on strike.
It appears the Canadian Parliament is out of session until 12/5/19. They likely will not order them back to work until then.
Dear Customers and Supply Chain Partners, November 21, 2019
We would like to update you on CN’s collective bargaining with the Teamsters Canadian Rail Conference (TCRC- CTY), which represents approximately 3,200 of CN employees working as train conductors and railyard coordinators in Canada.
As communicated earlier, the TCRC-CTY initiated strike action on Tuesday, November 19, 2019. Without our 3,200 conductors, we regrettably have been forced to wind down our rail operations as we do not have sufficient qualified Canadian managers to safely maintain freight operations during this strike.
We remain committed to working with the TCRC-CTY and the federal mediators in order to reach a fair agreement as quickly as possible that provides a safe working environment. The Company strives to safeguard our employees, our customers’ goods, our neighboring communities, and the environment at all times.
Safety is a core value at CN, that is why conducting all operations safely at all times is our top priority. The union claims that the strike was about safety, however those statements do not reflect our discussions.
In our view, our offers have been fair and address the needs expressed by the union, specifically:
• The offer is in line with agreement patterns we have struck with 7,000 other employees represented by 11 unions over the last 12 months. In 10 of those ratified agreements, the Company provided annual compensation adjustments better than inflation. Those agreements improved benefits including short-term disability, basic life insurance, maternity leave, vision care, dental and also included employee share purchase plans. The agreement also covers 1,000 independent owner/operators working for CNTL and includes compensation adjustments in line with the other agreements. Our offer is also in line with agreement patterns with this same union at other railways.
• The current average salary of a Canadian conductor is $114,000 plus benefits, including a defined benefit pension plan. The TCRC-CTY is seeking wage and benefit improvements beyond those negotiated with Unifor and another TCRC bargaining unit this year.
• In terms of safety, CN is dedicated to providing the leadership, organization, support, training and resources necessary to help achieve our goal of being the safest transportation company in North America. For example, we have ongoing Health and Safety committees across the country and at the national level with senior leaders of the union and the company. If there are safety concerns, these committees are designed to discuss such issues and find solutions.
As a solution to end this unfortunate work disruption, CN is proposing the parties submit their differences to voluntary binding arbitration. W e are prepared to present our arguments to a neutral arbitrator to end this dispute, and we hope the union will be willing to do the same. A neutral arbitrator could hear our positions and make a decision. Arbitration would get our 3,200 CN employees back to work in time for the holidays, and as ONE TEAM, we could all continue to serve our customers and the economy.
When an agreement is reached, we will re-establish the reliable service to which you are accustomed.
We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. We remain committed to minimizing the impact upon our customers, our supply chain partners, the Canadian economy, trade in general and the Canadian public.
We will keep you informed as events unfold, otherwise, we will update you at 08:00 EST Friday, November 22, 2019. Thank you for your business, your support and outreach as well as your continued partnership.
Sincerely,
James Cairns, Senior Vice-President, Rail Centric Supply Chain
Keith Reardon, Senior Vice-President, Consumer Product Supply Chain
I think Butch and Sundance used a little too much dynamite
To The Moon!!!
Paging Willie Green
Can we give him a temporary reprieve in order to get his take on this?
Coal freighter just went thru. I guess the plains of Kansas aint in the nation-wide part.
...over Macho Grande.
That baby is barreling thru here at 10:30 tomorrow morning heading west!
Do not miss it!
![](https://i.imgur.com/0sYSTtb.jpg"")
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