BLET members OK contract with Long Island Rail Road

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) members have voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement with MTA Long Island Rail Road, the union announced yesterday.

The contract was approved by about 85% of members who voted.

The four-year agreement includes higher rates of pay; better health, welfare and pension benefits; and updated work rules for nearly 500 locomotive engineers, BLET officials said in a press release.

The negotiations had been interrupted by the pandemic, prompting the union to ask the National Mediation Board in 2021 to assign a federal mediator.

Meanwhile, the LIRR recently completed a track extension project east of Great Neck that will improve service reliability on the Port Washington Branch following the opening of Grand Central Madison terminal, which will directly connect LIRR service to Manhattan for the first time.

The track segment was extended 1,100 feet to enable the storage of an additional train of up to 12 cars, LIRR officials said in a press release. It’ll support rush-hour service, allowing LIRR to stage an additional train during peak hours.

Grand Central Madison is expected to open by Dec. 31 — without hazard detector technology, after the Federal Railroad Administration waived the safety regulation due to redundancy, reported the New York Post. The technology would automatically stop trains before they can get on the tracks at the new terminal.

FRA and LIRR officials believe it’s nonessential at launch because of several other safeguards already in place. Instead, LIRR plans to integrate hazard detection into onboard train computers by Feb. 15, 2023.