Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen

M. H. Siegele                                                                                November 5, 2004

AVP/BNSF

2600 Lou Menk Drive

P. 0. Box 961030

Fort Worth, TX 76161-0030 Dear Mr. Siegele:

This is in reference to our recent discussions concerning two recent events on BNSF where management officers operated locomotives. As we have discussed, on Thursday September 30, 2004, Road Foreman Pat Ryan took it upon himself to operate a locomotive at Grand Forks, North Dakota for the purpose of showing and explaining the duties of a locomotive engineer to local medical personnel. No attempt was made to properly call a locomotive engineer or ground crew. This is not our first complaint concerning Road Foreman Ryan. In fact, I have attached previous correspondence from our file including replies from the operating department addressing the complaints found in that correspondence. When all of this is considered, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Mr. Ryan should “get it” by now.

Subsequent to the September incident, on the evening of October 26, 2004, Road Foreman C.P. Motley was instructed to operate Suburban Assignment 1259 from Cicero, Illinois to Aurora, Illinois. While we regret that there was a pedestrian fatality involving the assignment earlier in the evening, there was no justification for the Road Foreman’s actions. From what we have been advised, all passengers had been removed from the train and the engineer had been placed on trauma leave well in advance of the need to operate the equipment. In fact, we have been advised that before being relieved, the assigned engineer even discussed his relief with a suburban qualified engineer on a nearby yard assignment. With engineers and ground crew members available at the scene, Road Foreman Motley operated the empty suburban equipment approximately 40 miles back to Aurora.

While we appreciate the commitment made by General Manager Bruce and General Manager Lease that these events will be sternly addressed, we must remind you that we have previously advised of our position on matters such as these. While we have again shown considerable restraint in our reaction to these two events, it is only due to the Carrier’s commitment that steps will be taken to stop blatant acts such as those in our complaint once and for all. As we have also discussed, the patience that we have shown up till now has worn quite thin. All things considered, we are quite confident that BNSF is capable of addressing this matter in a fashion that will make it perfectly clear to the management team that acts such as these will no longer be tolerated. Absent such action, the Carrier must recognize that other avenues available to the Organization under the RLA will replace our unheeded warnings if these blatant violations continue.

Please advise of the steps being taken to address this matter on a system basis at your soonest convenience. If you desire to meet and discuss the matter further, we will make arrangements to do so.

 Sincerely,

 /s/  Dennis R. Pierce

General Chairman

cc: Don Hahs, National President, BLET

    Steve Speagle, Assigned Vice President, BLET

    Harold Ross, General Counsel, BLET

    John Regan, LC, BLET Division 69

    Tony Walker, LC, BLET Division 32

    Bob Smith, ALC, BLET Division 32

    Mark Bruce, General Manager, BNSF

    Bob Lease, General Manager, BNSF