SMART UnionWASHINGTON – A sense of belonging to the middle class occupies a cherished place in America. It conjures images of self-sufficient people with stable jobs and pleasant homes working toward prosperity.
Yet nearly five years after the Great Recession ended, more people are coming to the painful realization that they’re no longer part of it.
Read the complete story at the Associated Press.
“I didn’t want to go back and look at the accident, because I didn’t want to see what happened. I didn’t want to see the after affects,” says Glenn Thompson, retired Union Pacific Railroad conductor.
Glenn Thompson is a retired conductor that worked for Union Pacific for 39 years. During his time with the railroad, his locomotive hit a Simplot truck carrying diesel, while the train was traveling at a speed of 69 miles per hour and the man in the truck was killed.
(Thompson is a member of SMART Transportation Division Local 265 at Pocatello, Idaho.)
Read the complete story at Television Station KPVI.
Wabtec Corp. has signed contracts valued at $16.6 million with Alaska Railroad Corp. to provide Positive Train Control equipment and services, the Wilmerding-based company announced Wednesday (April 2).
The systems will be installed on the railroad’s 525 miles of controlled track, which are used for both freight and passenger service. Under the contract, Wabtec said it will provide its Interoperable Electronic Train Management System equipment and PTC components for 54 locomotives.
Read the complete story at Pittsburgh Business Times.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Union Pacific Corp. has begun operations at a massive new railroad facility in southern New Mexico near both the U.S.-Mexico border and El Paso, Texas.
The Omaha, Neb.,-based railroad will use its newly constructed hub facility in Santa Teresa to transfer cargo between trains and trucks, as well as for refueling engines and changing train crews.
Read the complete story at The Kansas City Star.
BNSF Railway Co., the carrier owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will need the rest of 2014 to untangle train tie-ups in the corridor that serves North Dakota’s Bakken shale region.
A system-wide traffic jam, caused by surging grain and crude-oil volumes coupled with harsh weather, is being resolved on the southern lines linking Chicago and Los Angeles, Chief Executive Officer Carl Ice said yesterday in an interview at the railroad’s headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.
Raed the complete story at Bloomberg News.
CHICAGO (April 2, 2014)–Midwest High Speed Rail Association Executive Director Richard Harnish issued the following statement on Wednesday in response to Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed budget, which would completely eliminate funding for Amtrak:
“Buried deep in the pages of Congressman Paul Ryan’s proposed 2015 federal budget today is a murder. The victim of this crime is Amtrak, the nation’s federally supported railway system. The eradication of Amtrak will hurt the millions of American railroad passengers, destroy the jobs of approximately thousand railroad employees, and impact the economic life of the hundreds of towns and major cities on Amtrak routes all over this country.
“The Ryan budget aims to cut over $5 trillion in federal spending, on many programs of all shapes and sizes. But when it comes to Amtrak, he aims not merely to reduce the expenditure but to eradicate it completely.
“Does Congressman Ryan imagine selling our train system off for scrap? Or just letting it fall to ruin?
“For the past several years, train ridership has been on the upswing, with more and more customers coming to appreciate and rely upon intercity and interstate rail as a primary means of travel. Rail travel, and Amtrak specifically, supports both business travel and tourism.
“A significant number of states and major cities are now working on plans for major improvements and modernization of the passenger trains in order to make them faster, safer and to hold down the costs.
“Several multistate initiatives for modern, high-speed rail are currently in development. Every major industrialized nation relies heavily upon passenger rail travel because it is less expensive and more environmentally friendly than air travel. Rep. Ryan seems to be unaware of this reality.
“This is not the first time that Amtrak has come under budgetary attack. There are always short-sighted politicians who fail to recognize the economic generating power of a nationwide railway system. They grossly underestimate the impact of Amtrak in linking the country’s small towns, agricultural and urban regions, and in generating businesses along the routes.
“All previous efforts to destroy Amtrak have been met with an outcry of protest from rail and business communities and it looks like we need to make our voices heard yet again.
“On behalf of millions of rail travelers in the nation’s heartland, the Midwest High Speed Rail Association urges Congress: Reject this plan to destroy Amtrak. Invest in our train system, don’t kill it. The rails are a national treasure not for sentimental reasons but as an engine of economic growth and prosperity. Let’s improve them and keep pace with the international standard for domestic travel.”
The Surface Transportation Board announced today that it will hold a public hearing on April 10, 2014, to provide interested persons the opportunity to report on recent railroad service issues, review proposed solutions to existing service problems, and discuss additional options to improve service.
The Board has been closely monitoring the rail industry’s performance metrics and is concerned about service problems across the nation’s railroad network, particularly on the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CP) and BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) systems. The Board Members have written to and met with the leadership of BNSF and CP to discuss these concerns.
The Board’s Office of Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs and Compliance has been working with affected parties to better understand the problems shippers are facing and to help facilitate service solutions. Board staff recently held a meeting in North Dakota with shippers from multiple states and the agency anticipates additional meetings in other affected areas.
The Board will hold a public hearing beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 10, 2014, in the Board’s Hearing Room at the agency’s headquarters located at 395 E Street, S.W., in Washington, D.C. The Board will direct BNSF and CP to appear at the hearing, and the agency encourages impacted shippers and other Class I carriers to appear as well. The hearing will be open for public observation.
The Missouri House of Representatives plans to vote on right-to-work legislation today, April 2.
State Legislative Director Ken Menges, asks that all Missourians call their state representatives today and tell them to vote no on right-to-work.
“Tell your Representative that these laws being pushed by out-of-state corporate CEOs are bad for Missouri’s working families: they’ll lower wages and benefits at a time when the middle class is already struggling,” Menges said.
Click here to learn more on how to contact your Missouri legislators.
A task force formed by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to examine transit service in the Chicago area has concluded that the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) should be abolished and Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace be consolidated under a single “integrated” board with three operating units, according to a report submitted to the governor yesterday.
The Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force unanimously adopted the report and recommendations. The panel recommends that a new oversight board be established that would set policies and prioritize transit investments.
In addition, the panel calls for new governance rules, new sources of revenue to help support transit and new performance-based management practices for transit service.
Read the complete story at Progressive Railroading.
Think hybrids that go 60 miles on a gallon are efficient? Trains can go eight times as far with 2,000 pounds in their backseat. And they’re only getting smarter.
Trains are no longer the lumbering hunks of metal of the 20th century. Today’s locomotives are computers on wheels, and they’re beginning to take business from fuel-guzzling semi-trucks.
“From a longtime standpoint, the continued conversion from truck to rail will continue,” said GE Transportation CEO Russell Stokes Thursday at the Forbes Reinventing America conference.
Read more at Forbes.