Union official: NYC train engineer ‘nodded’ at controls

Union official: NYC train engineer ‘nodded’ at controls

YONKERS, N.Y.

An engineer whose speeding commuter train ran off the rails along a curve, killing four people, nodded at the controls just before the wreck, and by the time he caught himself it was too late, a union official said Tuesday.

William Rockefeller “basically nodded,” said Anthony Bottalico, leader of the rail employees union, relating what he said the engineer told him.

“He had the equivalent of what we all have when we drive a car,” Bottalico said. “That is, you sometimes have a momentary nod or whatever that might be. How long that lasts, I can’t answer that.”

Rockefeller’s lawyer did not return calls. During a late-afternoon news conference, federal investigators said they were still talking to Rockefeller, and they wouldn’t comment on his level of alertness around the time of the Sunday morning wreck in the Bronx.

Illinois Legislature approves pension fix

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.

The Illinois Legislature approved a historic plan Tuesday to eliminate the state’s $100 billion pension shortfall, a long-delayed decision proponents described as critical to repairing the state’s deeply troubled finances but that faces the immediate threat of a legal challenge from labor unions.

The House voted 62-53 in favor of the plan, which makes deep cuts in state employees’ retirement benefits, minutes after it was approved by a more union-friendly Senate, 30-24. Both chambers are controlled by Democrats, traditional allies of the unions.

The measure now goes to Gov. Pat Quinn, who said he expects to sign it promptly.

Associated Press