PAY, OR LOSE LOCOMOTIVE, EX-WORKER TELLS AMTRAK

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 14, 1993                   TAG: 9301140091
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW HAVEN, CONN.                                LENGTH: Medium
PAY, OR LOSE LOCOMOTIVE, EX-WORKER TELLS AMTRAK
A former ticket agent who has been unable to collect a court award from Amtrak has taken the next best thing: Engine 902, a 130-ton locomotive.
The locomotive was seized Tuesday by a deputy sheriff on behalf of Dolores Schneider of Agawam, Mass., who won a $1.75 million court judgment last year against Amtrak.
Schneider sued Amtrak after she was robbed and beaten as she walked to her car in the employees' parking lot of Union Station in Hartford, Conn., the night of Jan. 26, 1986. In her lawsuit, Schneider accused Amtrak of not providing proper security for employees.
After Amtrak failed to pay the judgment for nearly a year, Schneider's attorneys executed their right to seize the train. On Tuesday morning, Deputy Sheriff Robert Miller took Engine 902 out of service. That afternoon, Amtrak went to court to reclaim the locomotive, but U.S. District Judge Ellen Burns upheld Schneider's right to take it.
On Wednesday, the locomotive sat in the Union Station railroad yard, surrounded by yellow police tape.
John DiPersia, one of Schneider's attorneys, said the train will be sold to pay Schneider the money Amtrak owes her. He said he doesn't expect to have any trouble finding a buyer.
"We have some buyers from out of state who are interested in it," he said.
DiPersia would not identify the prospective buyers, but said the 12-year-old locomotive probably is worth less than the $1.75 million Amtrak owes Schneider.
"If it's not enough, we're going to seize something else," he said.
Howard Robertson, an Amtrak spokesman in Washington, D.C., said it is the first time in at least 12 years that an Amtrak train had been seized to pay a debt.
He said Amtrak plans to fight the sale of the train.
"We are taking action in court to try to have them release the engine," he said.
But DiPersia said, "If they don't come up with the money, the sheriff will move ahead with the sale."
Having a train seized may be a new experience for Amtrak, but officials at the Metro-North railroad know what it's like.
Two Metro-North passenger cars were seized at a train yard in New Haven last week after the commuter railroad failed to pay a $1.2 million judgment to a signalman who was permanently disabled in February 1990 when he fell off a bridge that had no railing or safety set. DiPersia's law firm also handled that seizure.
Metro-North spokesman Daniel Brucker said the cars were released the next day after Metro-North paid the judgment.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB