Informal Talks Under Way in Railroad Strike

Informal telephone talks are under way between officials of the Santa Fe Railway and leaders of the more than 7,000 union workers who walked off their jobs last Saturday, spokesmen for both sides said Tuesday.

“A dialogue is under way,” said Robert Gehrt, director of public relations for the Chicago-based railroad. “We’re looking for a way to resolve this.”

Two Amtrak passenger trains in California--the Southwest Chief running between Los Angeles and Chicago and the San Joaquin line between Bakersfield and Oakland--remained out of service Tuesday, canceled by the four-day-old strike against the Santa Fe, which supplies Amtrak with some of its crews and passenger trains.

The Desert Wind, which was using bus service for part of its journey Sunday and Monday, resumed full operations Tuesday using Union Pacific Railroad track and crews.

The daily service between Los Angeles and San Diego, serving about 4,000 commuters, was still unaffected.

Meanwhile the “test train” that precipitated the strike by the United Transportation Union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and 15 other unions was headed back to Chicago from Van Nuys.

The test, which the Santa Fe started Saturday, was of a new type of truck trailer that can be driven on highways as well as railroad tracks. Union workers objected to the company’s use of non-union supervisory personnel for the test run of the 32-car train, which left Chicago Saturday. The train was due back in Chicago late Wednesday, leading company officials to hope the strike would end once the test run ends.