Author: paul

Home>Articles by: paul

RRB_seal_150pxBeginning Oct. 1, 2013, the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) will reduce railroad unemployment and sickness insurance benefits by 7.2 percent due to federal budget cuts first implemented in March 2013. The original reduction had been 9.2 percent since March.

The adjusted reduction amount is based on revised projections of benefit claims and payments under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. It will remain in effect through Sept. 30, 2014, the end of the fiscal year. Reductions in future fiscal years, should they occur, will be calculated based on applicable law.

The 7.2 percent reduction in railroad unemployment and sickness benefits will reduce the maximum daily benefit rate from $68.00 to $63.10. As a result, the total maximum amount payable in a two-week period with 10 days of unemployment will drop from $680 to $631.04.

Certain railroad sickness benefits are also subject to regular tier I railroad retirement taxes, resulting in a further reduction of 7.65 percent. Applying the 7.2 percent reduction to these sickness benefits will result in a daily benefit rate of $58.27, with a maximum two-week total of $582.77.

Under the previous 9.2 percent reduction, the maximum two-week unemployment benefit was $617.44, while the maximum for sickness benefits subject to tier I payroll taxes was $570.21.

These reductions are required under the Budget Control Act of 2011 and a subsequent sequestration order filed by President Obama to implement the mandated cuts. The law exempted social security benefits, as well as railroad retirement, survivor, and disability benefits paid by the RRB, from sequestration.

In fiscal year 2012, the RRB paid $11.3 billion in retirement and survivor benefits to about 573,000 beneficiaries, and net unemployment-sickness benefits of $88.5 million to about 26,000 claimants.

 

WASHINGTON – Spurred by a deadly train crash in Los Angeles, Congress in 2008 passed with great fanfare legislation requiring the nation’s railroads to install a sophisticated collision-avoidance system by the end of 2015.

Five years later, an industry move to extend the deadline to 2020 is picking up steam on Capitol Hill.

Read the complete story at the Los Angeles Times.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have gone to Amarillo to investigate the cause of Sept. 25’s BNSF train collision. 

The condition of the two BNSF employees that were originally reported to have suffered critical injuries in the crash have been upgraded to non-critical condition.

According to television station News Channel 10 in Amarillo, all four injured employees were expected to be evaluated and released from the hospital.

NEW YORK – Federal and state authorities should investigate the utility and transportation authority responsible for running the nation’s second-busiest railroad following a power failure that has disrupted service for tens of thousands of commuters in New York and Connecticut, two U.S. senators said Sunday.

Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said they have sent a letter to officials at the Department of Energy and New York’sPublic Service Commission asking them to help restore power and figure out what caused Wednesday’s power outage at a suburban New York substation of the Metro-North Railroad.

Read the complete story at Greenwich Time.

What’s shaping up as a weeks-long service interruption on the Metro-North Railroad near New York shows how dependent the busiest U.S. passenger-rail corridor is on electric power and how easily a breakdown in single component can paralyze U.S. infrastructure.

“The demand for rail service in the northeast United States is increasing enormously,” said Richard Ravitch, the former New York lieutenant governor who spent four years as chairman of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs Metro-North. “We do not have the capacity that we need. We need a modern rail system that half the countries in the world have that we don’t have.

Read the complete story at Bloomberg Businessweek.

Amtrak LogoINDIANAPOLIS. Ind. (WLFI) – In less than three weeks, Amtrak’s Hoosier State Line will stop operating. That is unless Indiana spends millions of dollars to keep it from getting derailed.
Dozens of supporters of the Hoosier State Line gathered Thursday afternoon at the Indiana Statehouse. Members of the United Transportation Union were on hand at the rally, even though they said they don’t represent Indiana Amtrak employees.
“Support our fellow railroaders and make sure, try our best to keep jobs,” said Kyle Brooking.
Click here to read more.

An FAA advisory committee decided Thursday that passengers should be allowed to use electronic devices during takeoffs and landings on airplanes.

faa_logoWASHINGTON — A Federal Aviation Administration advisory committee recommended Thursday that airline passengers be allowed to use smartphones, tablets, e-readers and other personal electronic devices during takeoffs and landings, according to industry officials familiar with the committee’s deliberations.

Click here to read more. 

union_pacific_logoOMAHA – U.S. Veterans Magazine named Union Pacific Railroad among the nation’s top veteran-friendly companies. The results were announced in the publication’s 2013 “Best of the Best” list, created to encourage diversity-inclusion practices among industry leaders.

“Being named a top veteran-friendly company is an honor that highlights our commitment to hiring and supporting veterans,” said Roy Schroer, Union Pacific vice president-human resources. “Military experience translates very well into the railroad industry. Veterans’ leadership skills and teamwork focus enhance our railroad’s safety, service and efficiency.”

Approximately 23 percent of Union Pacific’s nearly 3,900 hires in 2012 were veterans. Union Pacific is a member of the Army Reserve’s Employee Partnership Initiative; is a supporter of the Army Partnership for Youth Success program; and is a past recipient of the Freedom Award, the U.S. government’s highest employer recognition, and the Military Officers Association of America Distinguished Service Award.

U.S. Veterans Magazine selected Union Pacific based on evaluations that identified efforts to be accessible and outreach to veteran populations. The review process utilized independent and market research, interviews, diversity conference participation and survey responses.

 

lauby_web
Lauby

Robert C. Lauby has been selected as associate administrator for railroad safety/chief safety officer for the Federal Railroad Administration.

In that position, he will provide regulatory oversight for rail safety in the United States and oversees the development and enforcement of safety regulations and programs related to the rail industry.

Lauby has 35 years of railroad and rail transit experience. He joined the FRA in August 2009 and has been a member of the senior executive service since March 2010.

As the deputy associate administrator for regulatory and legislative operations, he was responsible for safety rule making activities and has served as chairperson of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC).

“Bob Lauby was formerly in charge of rail accident investigations at the National Transportation Safety Board and was very supportive of the UTU’s efforts at the NTSB with our Transportation Safety Team. He was very helpful at our Boston regional meeting this year,” SMART TD National Legislative Director James Stem said.

The FRA also announced that Les Fiorenzo, regional administrator for Region 1, will serve as acting deputy associate administrator for safety compliance and program implementation. In this role, Fiorenzo will be directly responsible for the safety inspection and enforcement program in the FRA’s eight regions.

 

RRB_seal_150pxPresident Barack Obama Sept. 24 nominated Steven Anthony as the management member of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, replacing Jerome F. Kever, whose term is expiring.

Anthony’s appointment will require Senate confirmation.

Anthony most recently served as senior general counsel and secretary for the Norfolk Southern Corporation from 2007 to 2012. Previously, he was a Washington lobbyist for NS from 1997 to 2007 and NS general counsel from 1981 to 1997.

From 1978 to 1981, Anthony was secretary and general counsel of the Illinois Terminal Railroad.

Anthony received a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of Missouri and a juris doctorate from the University of Tulsa.

Kever was appointed to serve as management member of the RRB by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 upon the recommendation of the Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. He was reappointed to a second term of office by President Bill Clinton in 1995, and then to a third term in May 2000, which ended in August 2003. He was reappointed by President George W. Bush.

The RRB is an independent agency in the executive branch of the federal government that administers comprehensive retirement-survivor and unemployment-sickness benefit programs for the nation’s railroad workers and their families. As part of the retirement program, the RRB also has administrative responsibilities under the Social Security Act for certain benefit payments and railroad workers’ Medicare coverage.