BLET members are encouraged to contact their members of Congress during the Easter recess and urge them to include provisions to eliminate limbo time in any rail safety legislation that is introduced. The BLET and its allies in Rail Labor believe this provision should be included in any rail safety legislation.

The message that BLET members should convey to their members of Congress is that train crews are fatigued and waiting endless hours for transportation after working 12 hours on a train is contributing to this fatigue.

The BLET has data from one Class I railroad showing that nearly 335,000 crews had work tours in excess of 14 hours during the years 2001 through 2006. This is an average of over 150 crews exceeding the Hours of Service by two hours every day for six years. However, during the past three years, the average is over 205 crews per day. During that same period, an average of about 94 crews per day had work tours longer than 15 hours.

These excessive work tours contribute to the fatigue problem in the industry. The decade since the Supreme Court's decision has seen both the number of crews stranded waiting for transportation and the length of limbo time increase. The problem has become so prevalent in recent years that the December 16, 2003 BLE National Agreement included language committing that participating carriers would "make reasonable efforts to relieve and expeditiously transport [outlawed crews] to the tie-up point." Unfortunately, things have only deteriorated since that commitment was made.

Due to this deterioration, Congress must act on the issue of limbo time by including it in any rail safety legislation. BLET members are also encouraged to use personal examples about their experiences with fatigue and limbo time when talking to their Representatives.

BLET members can find their Representative by clicking here.