Most Freight Trains Running Despite Strike, Santa Fe Says

Supervisors for the Santa Fe Railroad kept at least two-thirds of freight trains in operation Sunday, the second day of a strike by engineers, brakemen, yardmen and switchmen, the company said.

The walkout, called in protest of new freight equipment that can operate with fewer crew members, forced the cancellation for the second day of a passenger train, the “Southwest Chief,” which runs daily between Los Angeles and Chicago, Amtrak spokeswoman Sue Martin said. In addition, the strike halted service on the “San Joaquin Flyer,” which runs between Bakersfield and Oakland.

Nevertheless, the heavily traveled Amtrak commuter line between Los Angeles and San Diego was running as scheduled Sunday, although reservations clerks were warning travelers hoping to take the train this week to phone in case there were changes.

Buses Used as Connectors

And people traveling between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City on the daily “Desert Wind” made connecting trips on buses between Union Station and Yermo, west of Barstow, where the trains stopped running because of the strike.

Mike Martin, a Santa Fe spokesman, said all “time-sensitive” freight shipments--such as mail and loads that would result in the shutdown of a factory if not received--were being made. He said fresh produce from the San Joaquin Valley would be delayed “only slightly.”

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway has 12,000 miles of lines in 13 states, from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico, and across the Southwest. Like other rail operators, the company has been hurt by stiff competition, mainly from the trucking industry.

The walkout by thousands of railroad workers was spurred by the test run of a train equipped with a high-speed “RoadRailer” truck-trailer unit that can be adapted to railroad tracks. That train, which is scheduled to arrive at the General Motors assembly plant in Van Nuys today, is manned by two supervisors. Ordinarily, most Santa Fe trains travel with four crewmen aboard.