Train and engine service workers from Patriot Rail’s Utah Central Railway (UCRY) have voted unanimously to join the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen (BLET) in an election certified by the National Mediation Board, the union reported in the latest edition of its weekly email newsletter.
The 19-mile UCRY is the first of Patriot Rail’s 31 properties to be organized by the BLET. It interchanges with BNSF and Union Pacific at Harrisville, Ogden, and Little Mountain, Utah (see map, right), and hauls agricultural products, asphalt, biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel), chemicals, crude oil, feed grains, food ingredients, lumber, metal and steel products, lumber/wood products, LPG, petroleum products, plastic resin, sugar, and sweeteners.
According to BLET National Vice President Randy Fannon, who heads the union’s Organizing Department, UCRY workers cited “improved pay and job scheduling, stronger discipline protection, and better working conditions” as reasons for joining the union, BLET reported in its Weekly News Recap dated Dec. 20. Fannon led the short line organizing drive with Brian Herald, a member of BLET Division 95 (Cincinnati, Ohio).
UCRY is the seventh short line that has joined BLET since 2023. The other railroads include Florida Gulf and Atlantic (2023; contract ratified in November 2024), Arizona Eastern Railway (June 2024), COASTER (July 2024), Transglobal Solutions/TGS Cedar Port Railroad (October 2024), Georgia Central Railway (October 2024), and Carrollton Railroad (October 2024).
