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WASHINGTON – As Congress gets into full swing after the August recess, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) released a survey Sept. 15 that shows the numbers of Americans that support increasing federal public transportation investment grew to nearly 68 percent. This represents a nearly two point increase over last year. The survey, which was conducted by the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) for APTA, also found that nearly 74 percent of Americans support the use of tax dollars for creating, expanding, and improving public transportation options in their communities.

“We believe Congress should move swiftly on a robust long-term funding plan for the next surface transportation bill, and not wait until the extension deadline of May 31,” said APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy. “Americans understand the importance of investing in public transportation because it is a catalyst to transforming their community.”

Seventy six percent of those surveyed agreed with the statement that public transportation investment can help create jobs and pave the way to a stronger economy. When asked about the affordable transportation options for people, nearly 88 percent of respondents agreed that public transit expands opportunities and provides access to new jobs and careers as well as to medical care, schools, and colleges.

“Research data shows support for increased revenues for public transportation. This support continues to increase because Americans realize that everyone benefits from public transit investments through the economic growth in their community, even if they do not ride it,” said Melaniphy.

The survey by MTI was a result of 1,503 telephone interviews with individuals across the United States and the margin of error is minus 2.53 percentage points, at the 95 percent confidence level.

 

The SMART Transportation Division will resume its regional meetings in 2015. Transportation Division officers and staff are currently working on securing locations for the summer of 2015.

The regional meetings provide valuable educational opportunities to members and officers at all levels of the organization, as well as a fraternal experience that creates lasting friendships.

No regional meetings were scheduled in 2014 due to the SMART Transportation Division Convention and SMART General Convention both being held this past summer.

The 2015 regional meeting schedule will be posted at www.utu.org as soon as details become available. Watch this website and the SMART Transportation Division News for further information.

Amtrak LogoThe House is proposing a 40 percent funding cut for new Amtrak construction in a new passenger rail bill that was unveiled on Thursday by the chamber’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Amtrak has received about $1 billion per year from the federal government since its inception in 1971.

Read the complete story at The Hill.

PrintU.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced railroad safety legislation Sept. 10 that continues dialogue on the nation’s rail safety laws.

S. 2784, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2014, contains language that requires freight trains be crewed with at least one federally certified conductor and one federally certified engineer. The Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers fully supports that requirement.

The issue of single-person train operations has gained national prominence recently when BNSF Railway proposed a contract to some of their operating employees that would remove conductors from trains, a proposal that was voted down this week by the affected employees. BNSF had a substantial train accident in Casselton, N.D., involving a crude oil train Dec. 30 where two-person crews played a vital role in working with first responders to protect the public.

SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich has cautioned that one-person train operations are unsafe. “No one would permit an airliner to fly with just one pilot, even though they can fly themselves. Trains, which cannot operate themselves, should be no different,” he said.

Legislation requiring a minimum of two persons on trains, H.R. 3040, is pending in the House of Representatives. This bill was introduced by U.S. Reps. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) last year and has 80 co-sponsors.

“We thank Sen. Blumenthal for including this provision which maintains current practices. While America’s railroads generally operate with a minimum of one conductor and one engineer, there are a handful of rogue operators who are operating unsafe, single-person trains. This legislation will put an end to that unsafe practice,” Previsich said.

The legislation also requires Class I and passenger railroads to install audio and image recording devices in locomotive cabs. “We plan to work with the Senate to try to get this unwarranted proposal removed from the bill,” Previsich said.

An overview of S. 2784 can be found here.

To read the complete text of the bill, click here.

U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) Sept. 10 announced a comprehensive overhaul of rail safety laws and protocols to enforce and enhance safety and reliability following a series of high profile rail catastrophes in New York, Connecticut and nationwide that has undermined public trust in rail infrastructure, safety protocols, management and oversight. This legislation, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2014, will impact Long Island Railroad, Metro-North, New Jersey Transit, Amtrak and other passenger railroads across the country.

Accidents, derailments and severe service disruptions, including the deadly December 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment, the preventable death of Metro-North worker Robert Luden in West Haven, Conn., in May 2013, the May 2013 derailment of a Metro-North train near Bridgeport that injured many and caused extensive service disruptions and delays, and the numerous catastrophic derailments and explosions of trains transporting crude oil, and other high profile rail catastrophes nationwide have exposed a glaring need for comprehensive reform of the nation’s rail safety laws and protocols.

Schumer and Blumenthal’s bill puts into law many of the recommendations found in the Federal Railroad Administration’s “Operation Deep Dive” report assessing the safety and training plans and practices by Metro-North, as well as the findings of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s own blue-ribbon panel study released last week.

“The deadly Metro North crash, plus so many others across the country, have exposed time-and-again that our passenger and freight railroads must do more to promote a ‘culture of safety’, above all other priorities,” said Sen. Schumer. “That is why Sen. Blumenthal and I have worked to develop a comprehensive rail safety bill that will take the lessons of this tragic crash, plus the expert recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board and others, and make them into tough requirements for our railroads, including a mandate for inward and outward facing cameras on all trains, new requirements for increased rail inspections, a significant boost in fines for safety violations, and more. For too long, railroads have failed to completely heed the lessons of fatal train crashes and this legislation will change that.”

“This major, comprehensive measure will help American railroads move toward 21st century safety and reliability,” said Sen. Blumenthal. “Rigorous public oversight and scrutiny are critical, and that’s where this bill begins. We must assure that safety and reliability standards receive real enforcement, not mere lip service. The watchdog agencies must bite, not just bark, and whistleblowers must be protected. We need a national rail strategy to stop the cascading catastrophes, derailments, spectacular crashes, senseless worker injuries and deaths, and needless mundane delays that all undermine public trust and confidence. This measure seeks to restore public trust and confidence and assure that railroads reflect what commuters and communities demand – safety and reliability, and on time performance, as complementary not conflicting goals. The bill also lays the groundwork for investments in important technology like positive train control (PTC) and other upgrades that are proven to save lives and enhance service. They must be followed by other investments that hopefully will gain bipartisan support, because they benefit our economy and all Americans.”

The bill will:

  • Bolster the FRA’s (FRA) oversight of our country’s rail systems by authorizing an increase in funding for FRA’s safety and operations work.
  • Require greater FRA accountability for unmet statutory mandates and open NTSB recommendations through regular quarterly reports to Congress.
  • Require the installation and implementation of technology like inward- and outward-facing cameras, alerters and redundant signal protection.
  • Strengthen FRA’s enforcement powers by increasing civil penalties for those who engage in unsafe activity. Civil penalties would be at least $13,000 and up to $500,000 for any safety sensitive violations, and a minimum of $1 million for grossly negligent violations or repeated violations that cause death or injury.
  • Improve railroad operating practices by requiring enhanced inspection practices by commuter railroads.
  • Require greater use of modern inspection technology and stepped up enforcement of speed restrictions.
  • Provide resources for passenger and commuter railroads so they can implement critical technology like PTC by December 2015 deadline.
  • Require coordination between DOT and the FCC to ensure passenger and commuter railroads have access to necessary spectrum to make PTC operate effectively.
  • Require expedited FRA action on the development of rules governing fatigue management plans for railroads.
  • Require safer operating practices for the transportation of crude oil and flammable liquids.
  • Require the national roll out of a confidential close call reporting initiative and the participation by freight, passenger and commuter railroads in the program.
  • Ensure the openness and transparency of railroad safety information.

John Wilson, a student from Howell High School, joined two dozen teens from across the nation to spend a week riding the rails.

They weren’t trying out the hobo life; they were participating in Michigan Technological University Rail and Intermodal Transportation Program, part of the university’s popular summer youth programs.

Read the complete story at the Livingston Daily.

oil-train-railWarning that the frequent railroad trains loaded with crude oil passing through the Chicago area are a “serious risk to public safety,” the City Council is calling for tighter restrictions on the shipments than federal officials proposed in July.

Council members on Tuesday also asked that the city and other municipalities be given the authority to impose a hazardous material transportation fee on shippers – money that would help cover the cost of training firefighters and supplying the equipment and foam to battle a tank car derailment and fire.

Read the complete story at the Chicago Tribune.

FRA_logo_wordsWASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that will help protect communities from crude oil and hazardous materials incidents by strengthening requirements for securing unattended freight trains. The proposed rule codifies many of the requirements included in Emergency Order 28, which the FRA issued in August 2013 following the Lac-Megantic accident and strengthens existing regulations for railroad cars containing certain hazardous materials.

“Safety is our top priority,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Today’s action is only the latest in more than two dozen steps we have taken in the last year to further safeguard communities along train routes that carry crude oil and other flammable liquids.

The new measures proposed in the NPRM would require railroads to:

Prevent trains or vehicles transporting specified hazardous materials from being left unattended on a mainline track or side track outside a yard, unless specific securement requirements are followed.Develop a plan identifying such locations or circumstances.Verify securement by qualified persons; and ensure that locks on locomotive cab are secure. Include securement requirements in job briefings.Perform additional inspections by qualified persons when emergency responders have been on equipment.Install locking mechanisms on locomotive doors and repair them in a timely manner.

The rule covers equipment containing poisonous by inhalation (PIH) materials and those defined as Division 2.1 (flammable gas), Class 3 (flammable or combustible liquid), Class 1.1 or 1.2 (explosive) materials, or a hazardous substance listed in 49 CFR 173.31(f)(2). This includes most crude oil moved in the United States.

“While our existing securement regulations have been largely successful, it’s important in light of events over the past year that we take additional steps to mitigate risk here in the United States,” said Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo. “This rulemaking will solidify our existing securement regulations and provide additional safeguards against the rolling of unattended freight trains, especially those carrying hazardous materials.”

The NPRM is the result of collaborative effort between the industry and other stakeholders who formed a working group to review securement rules, practices and operating procedures over the last year. The working group, convened through the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee in August 2013, submitted its final recommendations for a proposed rule to the FRA in April 2014. The Department has also continued to collaborate with Canada.

The Department of Transportation, the FRA and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) have taken more than two dozen actions as part of a comprehensive approach to ensure that the safe transport of hazardous materials by rail is preserved and enhanced. Over the last year, they have issued emergency orders and safety advisories, conducted special inspections such as Operation Classification, and brought together railroad companies and the oil industry to reach an agreement on a series of immediate actions they can take to improve safety including reducing speeds, increasing inspections, using new brake technology, developing improved sampling and testing plans, and investing in first responder training. Additionally, they have issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for a comprehensive rulemaking package regarding the safe transportation of crude oil and plan to announce a proposed rule to address train crew size.

A bipartisan pair of senators is planning to introduce legislation to beef up the panel of federal regulators that is supposed to oversee operations on the nation’s freight and passenger railways.

The panel, the Department of Transportation’s Surface Transportation Board (STB), has been at the center of a recent dispute between Amtrak and a Canadian freight rail operator over delays on tracks that are shared between the two companies in Illinois.

Read the complete story a The Hill.