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| BNSF Official Heaps Praise on Galesburg Employees |
Many of the attendees at the second in a series of community meetings designed to help chart the city of Galesburg's Economic Development future all agree on one thing: Burlington Northern Santa Fe's presence in the area cannot be ignored.
The second in a series of six meetings Thursday night being described as "community visioning sessions" focused primarily on transportation and infrastructure needs. All of the eight groups of ten or so people that assembled following a panel discussion, at least in part, focused in on how they believe the railroad needs to continue to be vibrant and successful, and how better publicized the good work that they do needs to be.
During the panel discussion, BNSF Galesburg Terminal Superintendent Rick Danielson said he can't say enough good about his 1,150 employees in Galesburg.
"This is the best workgroup that I've ever had the privilege to work with," Danielson said. "The men and women that I work with out in the yard are very talented, they're very dedicated, they work hard, they're open to challenges, they're open to new ideas, looking for ways we can move our railroad better, more efficiently."
Danielson says rail traffic levels across are down roughly ten-percent due mostly to the economy -- but even there he's full of praise for his people. He says the railroad's employees have found other things to do in that time, minimizing the impact on the local workforce as much as possible.
Danielson says there are plans for expansion of the local yards, depending on how the economy does.
(Carl Sandburg College President Tom Schmidt, also chairman of the Galesburg Regional Economic Development Association, takes notes during Thursday's Community Visioning Session. WGIL News Story and Photo by Will Stevenson.) |
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| 03 12 09 by Newsroom |
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