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Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Kansas City Southern subsidiary Gateway Western Railway Feb. 22 reached an agreement, giving some locomotive engineers pay increases of more than 49 percent.
The contract, ratified Jan. 15, is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2002, with some payments retroactive to Jan. 1, 2000.
Under the new agreement, an engineer working 12 hours on an express freight train will make about 44 percent more per trip; an engineer working local freight 10 hours on a 100-mile day will make 22 percent more per trip. In some extreme cases pertaining to long-mileage local trips, an engineer's pay would increase more than 49 percent compared with the old agreement.
The new agreement also increases engineers' certification pay to the
national rate of $5, and retains language that enables engineers to be paid an additional $5 over wages earned by any other train crew member.
Meanwhile, BLE also reached agreements with KCS subsidiaries MidSouth Rail and SouthRail. Those deals, similar to the Gateway Western agreement, adopt national general wage increases and early retirement, and health and welfare packages. However, those engineers opted for single pay rates instead of mileage pay.