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osha-logo_webWASHINGTON – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration today issued a final rule establishing procedures and time frames for handling employee retaliation complaints under the National Transit Systems Security Act (NTSSA) and the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA). The final rule is effective Nov. 9, 2015.

NTSSA establishes protections against retaliation for public transportation agency employees who engage in whistleblowing activities related to public transportation safety or security. FRSA provides protections against retaliation for railroad carrier employees who report a work-related injury or engage in other whistleblowing activities related to railroad safety or security. These protections extend to employees of contractors and subcontractors who do work for public transportation agencies and railroad carriers.

Both provisions were enacted by the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007. FRSA was amended in 2008 to prohibit railroad carriers from denying, delaying or interfering with employees’ medical or first aid treatment. The FRSA amendments also require that injured employees be promptly transported to the nearest hospital upon request.

“Railroad workers have the right to report injuries and to follow their doctor’s treatment plans for injuries sustained in the course of their employment without fearing that they will be retaliated against,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “Railroad and public transit agency workers must never be silenced by the threat of losing their job when their safety or the safety of the public is at stake.”

In 2010, OSHA published an interim final rule and requested public comments. The final rule responds to the comments, incorporates recent case law under the statutes and updates the rules to improve both employees’ and employers’ access to information about the case during OSHA’s investigation and their ability to participate in OSHA’s investigation.

OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection for Public Transportation Agency Workers* and Whistleblower Protection for Railroad Workers* fact sheets explain who is covered under the acts, protected activity, types of retaliation and the process for filing a complaint.

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of 22 statutes protecting employees who report violations of various securities, commercial motor vehicle, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, rail, maritime, health care, workplace safety and health, and consumer product safety laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.whistleblowers.gov.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

U.S. Capitol Building; Capitol Building; Washington D.C.The U.S. House passed a six-year surface transportation reauthorization and reform bill that calls for more than $300 billion in federal funding for highway, transit and rail programs. If approved by the full Congress and signed by President Obama, the bill would become the first long-term transportation law passed since 2005.

The Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 (the STRR Act) was approved by a vote of 363 to 64. It was introduced by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R – Pa.), Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D – Ore.), Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Sam Graves (R – Mo.), and Highways and Transit Subcommittee Ranking Member Eleanor Holmes Norton (D – D.C.).

“The STRR Act provides strong reforms and policies to help us improve America’s transportation system, and now we can get to work on resolving the differences with the Senate bill and carry a final measure over the goal line,” Shuster said in a press release.

Read more from Progressive Railroading.

ns_LogoCHICAGO – Norfolk Southern joined local and state officials to dedicate a new fleet of environmentally friendly, rail yard locomotives for Chicago today at its 47th Street intermodal facility.

The engines are branded “Eco” locomotives for their operating efficiencies in reducing emissions and fuel consumption. More than $19 million in grant funding through the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) made the $30 million public-private partnership to replace Norfolk Southern’s entire Chicago yard locomotive fleet possible. The new units feature a stylistic green paint scheme with an Illinois-shaped icon and the slogan “Working Together for a Cleaner State.”

“These locomotives will be rolling billboards in Chicago for years to come of one of the finest examples of collaboration between public and private partners to think and act big on diesel emission reduction technology,” said Norfolk Southern Vice President Mechanical Don Graab. “The bottom line is cleaner air quality for Chicago residents. We thank the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois Department of Transportation, and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning for their partnership in helping us achieve this goal for our locomotive fleet.”

Read more from Sys-Con Media.

Great Lakes airplaneScotts Bluff County has joined Gering in requesting the Federal Aviation Administration change its regulation that increases the number of flying hours pilots must have for commercial flights.

In 2013, the FAA increased the number of flight hours are required to fly larger aircraft from approximately 200 to 1,500. That has caused a shortage of pilots for smaller airlines.

“Pilots will usually come out of flight school with about 250 to 500 hours of flight time and they can go to work for a smaller airline,” said Darwin Skelton, Manager of the Western Nebraska Regional Airport. “With the increase to 1,500 hours, new commercial pilots can’t fly anymore.”

Read more from the Gering Citizen.

WASHINGTON — Details of a sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal released Thursday set the stage for a raucous debate in the U.S. Congress but also may provide reassurances to those who worried the agreement could gut protections for the environment, public health and labor.

The text of the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement between the U.S. and 11 other countries including Japan and Mexico runs to 30 chapters and hundreds of pages. It is mind-boggling in its detail, laying out plans for the handling of trade in everything from zinc dust to railway sleepers and live eels.

Governments of the 12 member countries released the complete text online Thursday, making public the specifics of an agreement that critics complain was forged in secrecy.

Read more from Timesunion.

Tri-RailSMART Transportation Division represented engineers, conductors, and transportation specialists have ratified their tentative agreement with Tri-Rail/Transdev. 

The agreement, which passed by an overwhelming majority, provides members a fair wage with affordable healthcare for themselves and their families. 

“I would like to thank the members for staying united throughout the lengthy negotiations,” said GO-769 General Chairperson Dirk Sampson “We would not have been able to have this successful outcome without the assistance of SMART Transportation Division Vice President Jeremy Ferguson. Brother Ferguson, with the help of Local 30’s Local Chairperson Andy D’Egidio and Vice Local Chairperson John Britt, made a team that enabled us to negotiate an agreement that will provide the members with a 9.24 percent wage increase over the three-year period. It also maintains our high standards of health and welfare benefits with only a modest increase in bi-weekly premiums.” 

Members can expect to see the increase in bi-weekly contributions applied in the next pay period, and a retroactive wage payment that will follow. 

The Tri-Rail system serves a 72-mile corridor running parallel to Interstate 95 between West Palm Beach in the North to Miami in the South. It provides service to three major airports: West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami. There are 18 stations en route, which provide ticket vending services for customers as well as electronic train information signs. The service is designed to integrate with local bus routes at every station to ensure excellent connections and seamless passenger service. Transdev employs 85 people who operate 50 trains each weekday, carrying 16,000 passengers every day.

union_pacific_logoGREAT SALT LAKE — One of the strangest and most striking places in Utah — an enormous oddity that scientists say was created accidentally by human engineering — is getting a bit of a remodeling job.

Union Pacific Railroad is beginning a bridge-building project to replace a small portion of a causeway that’s been blamed for a half-century of disruption in the natural circulation of the Great Salt Lake.

Experts say the railroad causeway built across the lake in 1959 led to the formation of a vast plate of hardened salt covering hundreds of square miles — probably one of the largest man-made objects on Earth. It surrounds and evidently underlies nearly the entire north arm of the lake.

“The construction of the causeway has created the necessary conditions for the salt to form,” said Andrew Rupke of the Utah Geological Survey who has been conducting studies on the so-called salt crust that developed in the last 56 years.

Read more from KSL.com.

triple_trailerWASHINGTON –  A congressional proposal that would see much heavier trucks on the nation’s highways will cost taxpayers billions of dollars in damaged roads and bridges while further straining already depleted federal coffers, one of the nation’s top transportation representatives said Wednesday.

The proposal, offered as an amendment to a bill that funds the nation’s highways, would increase the current weight limit for a tractor-trailer from 80,000 pounds to 91,000 pounds – adding the equivalent of two large SUVs to every truck.

Many trucking companies, business trade groups, highway safety organizations, citizens’ groups, as well as the Truckload Carriers Association, oppose the measure.

“The added truck weight will further destroy precious national infrastructure and cost taxpayers dearly,” said Edward R. Hamberger, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads. “Allowing trucks to be 14 percent heavier would be a fundamental change to national policy. Lawmakers should strike this amendment before sending a final highway bill to the White House for the President’s signature.”

A June 2015 study from the U.S. Department of Transportation found that the added stress of bigger trucks would require engineering and repair work – or even a complete replacement – of nearly 5,000 bridges. The DOT analyzed only 20 percent of the nation’s bridges for its report, so the true cost of allowing larger trucks would be in the billions of dollars.

In addition to damaging infrastructure, bigger trucks with bigger loads will increase fuel consumption by millions of gallons a year, generate increased greenhouse gas emissions and divert more freight to the country’s already gridlocked highways.

The issue underscores important differences between freight trains and trucks. Not only are railroads four-times more fuel efficient than trucks and more environmentally friendly, but, freight rail and its vast coast-to-coast network is funded by private funds. Taxpayers must foot the bill to maintain and upgrade highways and highway bridges. 

“At a time when federal spending on infrastructure is essential, this proposal would create a massive additional cost borne by the U.S. taxpayer, a cost that is entirely avoidable,” Hamberger said.

DOT_Logo_150pxThe U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) last week unveiled its decisions in awarding the seventh round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program. The agency announced it had awarded a total $500 million in grants to 39 projects in 34 different states, with some projects crossing state lines.

The awards followed the departments evaluation of 627 eligible applications, requesting a total $10.1 billion worth of projects — 20 times the program’s available funding. 

Read more from Progressive Railroading.