Union Leaders and Troy Jackson Demand CSX Protect Public Safety in Wake of Recent Train Derailments

Rail union leaders with SMART-TD Local 1400 and U.S. Senate Candidate Troy Jackson held a press conference with the Southern Maine Labor Council in South Portland last week to call on the rail company CSX to improve rail safety on its freight rail lines in southern and central Maine. Local 1400 is asking the company to bring yardmasters back to the yard to prevent a potential tragedy from happening. Rigby Yard is one of the largest and busiest yards in the northeast and surrounded by residential neighborhoods.

After CSX took over the rail yard from PAN-AM in 2022, the company immediately began looking for ways to reduce the workforce and yardmasters were the first on the chopping block. Yardmasters coordinate safe train and switching movements and are essentially the traffic controllers of a railroad yard. They play a critical role in helping emergency response teams to identify hazmat cars containing toxic substances during an emergency. Often train crews are the only CSX employees on the property. Federal regulations restrict train crews from carrying cell phones while on duty, which leaves no one on site to immediately coordinate an emergency response. If the crew members are injured as well, there is no one left on site to call for help.

This becomes even more important as CSX transitions to one-person remote-control operations at Rigby. The RCO remote has a “man down” feature designed to trigger an emergency alarm if the operator becomes incapacitated. But currently, there is no one at Rigby assigned to answer that alarm. A yardmaster on site would provide that critical link—someone who can hear the alarm, locate the employee, and immediately coordinate emergency assistance.

“Right now, the train crews themselves are often the only rail road employees in the whole yard. Train crews cannot carry cell phones, leaving them with no access to 911 and forcing them to rely on railroad’s radio system,” said Dave Stevenson, SMART Transportation Division’s New England Safety and Legislative Director. “How could the largest rail yard in New England have no one in charge? How can South Portland have no single point of contact that’s actually on the property? Properly staffing Rigby Yard is not a radical idea. It’s basic rail safety.”

Stevenson said that SMART 1400 reached out to Senator Susan Collins’ office in 2024 to talk about job cuts and one-person remote-controlled trains in a yard that are not designed for them. He said her staff expressed “concern.”

“Troy Jackson came in in person to our union meetings to hear it first hand from Maine railroad workers about derailments, railroad injuries and fatalities on the job,” said Stevenson. “Troy is serious about rail safety and we’ll start by bringing back Rigby’s yardmasters.”

Earlier this year, the company closed its mechanical repair facility in Waterville and sent the jobs out of state as a cost-cutting measure to boost profits for shareholders. In addition, it implemented remote controlled trains at Rigby Yard with the ultimate goal of one-person train crews. CSX has also laid off machinists, car inspectors and track inspectors.

“Far too often powerful corporations cut corners, cut costs and layoff union workers and rolling back safety measures all in the name padding their profits and increasing their bottom line,” said Troy Jackson at the press conference. “To me, that is the worst thing to do – to treat workers like a commodity that you can use up like a Bic lighter. Bringing back those yardmasters back to Rigby to coordinate safety training, train movements and emergency response is one of the many steps that CSX should take to prevent the next derailment from bring a toxic one. “

A recent federal investigation found that firefighters responding to the tragic fire at the Robbins Lumber in Searsmont in May were not aware of the specific dangers posed by an oxygen-limiting silo, and their own use of water contributed to the deadly explosion, killing three people. The investigation also pointed to the need for better information sharing and a unified command.

"These aren't the robotics games where if a computer program fails or a machine glitches out, you just pick it up and try again," said Jason Shedlock, President of the Southern Maine Labor Council and candidate for state house representing South Portland. "Forgive me if I put my trust in highly-trained human beings over a corporate short cut when it comes to keeping our community safe. In addition, South Portlanders recently and roundly rejected the use of remote surveillance cameras to monitor our community. I can't imagine they'd support CSX's 'camera and a prayer' approach here either."

Learn more about SMART Local 1400’s safety concerns at Rigby Yard: Rail Safety Becomes Public Safety Real Quick – SMART Union.