Comp Files

Files from this series were generated from 1983 through 1994. Materials include memos; notes; correspondence; lists of documents and computer files belonging to Mitchell's staff members; reports, many from the Government Accounting Office, the Congressional Research Service, and various railroad companies; safety reports written by railroad inspectors; court documents; copies of constituent mail; press releases, many of them from the Maine Congressional Delegation; and news clippings. Almost half of the series deals with the labor strike against Guilford Transportation Industries that lasted from November 1987 to June 1988. Walking out primarily over safety issues, the strikers were represented by a number of unions, principally the United Transportation Union. The strike also affected Guilford's subsidiary companies, Boston & Maine Corporation, Maine Central Railroad Company, Springfield Terminal Railway Company, and the Delaware & Hudson Railway Company. Additional files concern the 1986 strike of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees against the Maine Central Railroad Company, the Portland Terminal Company, and other Guilford subsidiaries. Additional files concern the subpoena Guilford served in 1989 against Senator Mitchell and a legislative aide, Robert Carolla, requesting all files created by the senator's staff concerning railroads since 1985 for a court case involving the arbitration decision on the strike.

Other material concerns the sale of Conrail, a federally owned freight train company, to Norfolk Southern Corporation, which also involved Guilford and Morgan Stanley. Other subjects include a national railroad strike in 1992 involving the Presidential Emergency Board; the Staggers Act, concerning deregulation of the railroad industry; fees for boxcars; AMTRAK; and Canadian rail services, particularly customs and immigration issues. Files on customs and immigration regarding international travel are also found in the Aviation series. Additional files on immigration are in the Judiciary series. Issues also concern other railroad companies including the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company and the Canadian-Pacific Railroad Company, and specific railroad development projects such as the Central Artery Rail Link in Boston. Federal agencies and committees represented in this series include the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Department of Transporation, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the Senate committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Most files were created and maintained by Robert Carolla, but some of the early files on Conrail were created by Christine Williams. Later files, from 1992 through 1994, were created and maintained by Sandy Brown. Some general labor files are mixed into this series. Additional files on labor issues and strikes exist in the Labor series and the Aviation series.