Year: 2014

Home>News>2014

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Jerry Brown of California is riding into an election year on a wave of popularity and an upturn in the state’s fortunes. But a project that has become a personal crusade for him over the past two years — a 520-mile high-speed train line from Los Angeles to San Francisco — is in trouble, reeling from a court ruling that undermined its financing, and from slipping public support and opponents’ rising calls to shut it down.

Mr. Brown and his advisers have strongly affirmed their support for the planned $68 billion rail line, the most ambitious government project attempted in California since the eastern section of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco was completed last year. They urged the public to weather the setbacks that are almost inevitable for projects of this scope.

Read the complete story at The New York Times.

RENO, Nev. – Lawyers for a trucking company are accusing two railroad companies of tampering with evidence about a June 2011 collision between a tractor-trailer and an Amtrak train that killed six people in northern Nevada.

Lawyers for John Davis Trucking Co. say they have evidence the companies tampered with a video of the crash and are hiding or have destroyed the crossing gate arm.

Raed the complete story at The Tribune.

The Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co. is crying foul at what they are calling a flawed procurement process that included few substantial conversations, a complaint lodged with the MBTA before the Globe reported Saturday that the T will recommend that the company’s sole competitor be awarded the state’s lucrative commuter rail operating contract.

In a statement from the company Sunday, accompanied by a letter that had been sent to Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s general counsel Thursday, the company alleged that only one in-person discussion had been held between T officials and the MBCR during months of investigations and vetting — not enough, MBCR officials said, to provide the company with any real chance to explain the new ideas it had planned if it were to continue running the commuter train system.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

DM&E_logoPIERRE, S.D. – The company buying the west end of the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad line will keep all parts of the track open, a company official said Friday.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. announced Thursday it is selling the line to Genesee & Wyoming Inc. for about $210 million.

Read the complete story at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

oil-train-railRail-safety advocates and members of Congress are calling for stricter tank-car safety standards in the wake of a major oil-by-rail accident this week, an appeal that took on new urgency Thursday with the release of a federal advisory that oil from North Dakota’s Bakken formation may be more flammable than other types of crude.

A train carrying crude oil from the Bakken ran off the rails near Casselton, N.D., on Monday, leading to a voluntary evacuation of nearby residents. The accident occurred when freight cars carrying crude oil struck a train that had derailed earlier in the day. No injuries were reported but the crash sparked an inferno and reignited concerns over the potential dangers of shipping oil by rail.

Read the complete story at the National Journal.

On the first day of November, Bruce Corgiat tried to log on to the Union Pacific Railroad’s employee web page just as he’d done most other mornings.

“They’d already blocked me,” he said.

Wow, that was quick. On Halloween, Bruce officially retired from the railroad, as did his father and three brothers before him. But his was different from the others, and getting blocked from the website represented the exclamation point.

Read the complete story at the Modesto Bee.

cp-logo-240Canadian Pacific and Genesee & Wyoming Inc. announced Jan. 2 that they have executed an agreement pursuant to which CP will sell the west end of its Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern line to G&W for continued rail operations.

The west end encompasses approximately 660 miles of CP’s current operations between Tracy, Minn., and Rapid City, S.D.; north of Rapid City to Colony, Wyo.; south of Rapid City to Dakota Junction, Neb.; and connecting branch lines, as well as trackage from Dakota Junction to Crawford, Neb., currently leased to the Nebraska Northwestern Railroad (NNW). Customers on the line ship approximately 52,000 carloads annually of grain, bentonite clay, ethanol, fertilizer and other products. The new rail operation will have the ability to interchange with CP, Union Pacific, BNSF and the NNW.

Read the complete story at eTurboNews.

oil-train-railBILLINGS, Mont. – Following a string of explosive accidents, federal officials say crude oil being shipped by rail from the Northern Plains across the U.S. and Canada may be more flammable than traditional forms of oil.

A safety alert issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation warns the public, emergency responders and shippers about the potential high volatility of crude from the Bakken oil patch. The sprawling oil shale reserve is fueling the surging industry in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, which is now the nation’s second-largest oil producer behind Texas.

Read the complete story at the Associated Press.

Harlyn and Gene Barnes_Bull elkThe Union Sportsmen’s Alliance kicks off the 6th season of its award-winning TV series, Brotherhood Outdoors, with an elk hunt that is as challenging as it is inspiring. The show, winner of “Best Combination Show” in the 2011 Sportsman Choice Awards and a contestant for “Best Educational/Instructional” show in 2013, launches its exciting new season on Jan. 5 at 11 a.m. ET on the Sportsman Channel.
Brotherhood Outdoors co-hosts Daniel Lee Martin and Julie McQueen, who double as the show’s skilled trip guides, invite viewers to come along and experience the behind-the-scenes excitement of outdoor gaming. Heart pounding scenes of hunters in anticipated pursuit of their quarry and the thrill of anglers fighting to pull in fish are woven into heartfelt stories of American’s hard-working sportsmen and women and their commitment to conservation and a hard day’s work.
The new season begins with a memory-filled elk hunt featuring union machinist Gene Barnes who sets his sights on helping his 74-year-old father, Harlyn Barnes, harvest a bull elk in memory of his late son and the cherished hunting trips the three of them shared together. Follow the group as they confront Idaho’s steep terrain and high altitude, hiking to 7,500 feet in elevation to a lookout point to glass for elk.
As the series continues, viewers will join an operating engineer on his quest for Boca Grande tarpon, chase coons through moonlit woods with a laborer, head to California with a machinist for some quick action wingshooting and his first hog, outwit or outwait a 150+ Kansas buck with a roofer and much more!
Brotherhood Outdoors awards union sportsmen and women who are committed to preserving North America’s outdoor heritage with a guided trip or the opportunity to show off their guiding skills and local hunting or fishing destinations on national TV.
Presented by Bank of Labor, Brotherhood Outdoors is also sponsored by the following unions, contractors and corporate partners: Buck Knives, Carhartt, Employee Benefit Systems, International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, National Electrical Contractors Association, ULLICO and United Association/International Training Fund.
For more information about Brotherhood Outdoors, the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance or Sportsman Channel, visit www.BrotherhoodOutdoors.tv and www.facebook.com/brotherhoodoutdoorstv.

oil-train-railBISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Federal investigators said Wednesday they have recovered a broken axle at the scene of an oil train derailment and fire in southeastern North Dakota but don’t know yet whether it caused the wreck.

“We’ll want to know if it was the actual cause of the derailment, or was it broken during the derailment?” National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said.

Read the complete story at the San Francisco Chronicle.