Crewmen Describe Heavy Drug Use by Rail Workers

The railroad industry is riddled with workers who drink large amounts of beer or use marijuana and other drugs on the job, two Conrail crewmen involved in a fatal Amtrak crash last year told Congress on Thursday.

Engineer Ricky L. Gates said he believed 10% or 20% of rail workers drink or use drugs on duty, while brakeman Edward W. Cromwell said the figure was closer to 40% or 50%.

The two men told the Senate Commerce Committee that when they began their railroad careers 14 years ago, as many as 80% of their fellow employees used drugs or alcohol during working hours.

“It was almost every trip,” Gates said of his early railroad years. “Originally, I thought I wasn’t accepted . . . by my fellow employees because I didn’t indulge with them.”

Describes Beer Stops

Gates, 33, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the collision that killed 16 people and injured 175 others, said at times he has stopped trains he was driving to obtain beer. He is an admitted alcoholic and referred repeatedly during the testimony to “my disease.”

Cromwell, who was granted immunity in the Amtrak case and was going to testify against Gates, told the lawmakers that workers’ boredom and supervisors’ “lack of concern” made drug and alcohol consumption commonplace.

Gates and Cromwell were crewmen aboard three Conrail engines on Jan. 4, 1987, when they ran through a stop signal in Chase, Md., and into the path of the Amtrak train. Gates will face up to five years in jail and a $1,000 fine when he is sentenced on March 29 for one count of manslaughter.

Estimate by Union Official

Daniel W. Collins, assistant general secretary of the United Transportation Union, told the committee that perhaps 10% of rail workers on duty or subject to being called in to work are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Carol Perkins, spokeswoman for the American Assn. of Railroads, said that rail workers had the same percentage of alcohol or drug use as the rest of society.