SMART UnionChastised for its “reprehensible conduct” Union Pacific railroad has been ordered to pay nearly $310,000 to a North Platte man who was fired after a co-worker ran over his foot.
A federal judge has ruled that UP, which is headquartered in Omaha, displayed “blatant disregard” for a federal whistleblower law which allows railroad workers to report injuries.
Read the complete story at NebraskaWatchdog.org.
SEATTLE – When a 64-year-old transit bus driver saw three people board at the rear of his bus during the Monday morning rush hour in downtown Seattle, he asked them to come up front to pay.
Two did. The third passenger paced back and forth, then hit the driver and shot him twice before running away, acting Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel said.
Read the complete story at the Associated Press.
Seeing a fiddle being constructed of wood is rare enough but those visiting this Nova Scotia boardwalk had a chance to see something even rarer — fiddles being made of copper and brass.
The life-sized instruments were being made by sheet metal apprentices from across Canada who were taking part in a skills competition during a national convention being held here this week for sheet metal workers and roofers. For David Whitty of Sydney, taking part in the competition was a welcome change from what he normally does.
Click here for the full article in the Cape Breton Post by Elizabeth Patterson.
NEW YORK – Darius McCollum can explain the complicated workings of the New York City transit system with the precision of a veteran conductor. He knows every subway stop, every line, every train.
It’s an obsession that has dominated his life. But instead of becoming a transit worker, he’s become a transit impostor. Twenty-nine times, beginning when he was a teenager, he’s been arrested for crimes that include piloting a subway train, stealing a bus and donning uniforms to pose as a conductor and even track worker.
Read the complete story at the Associated Press.
It is true the Norfolk Southern Corp.’s intermodal facility project at Elliston, as Cynthia Munley suggests in her July 30 letter (“Keep rail plan sidetracked,” pick of the day), will bring much greater truck traffic to that area (or so the company hopes) from the surrounding locales, perhaps even from a hundred or more miles away. That is the intent.
Continued investment in the Heartland Corridor and the Crescent Corridor along Interstate 81 by Norfolk Southern, Virginia and the federal government actually will benefit the environment as well as the taxpayer by taking long distance trucks off the interstate highway system.
Anyone who drives I-81 is quite aware of the endless line of trucks going both north and south, and having to jockey through them on the hills can be quite hairy at times. Our seemingly never-ending highway construction is partly a byproduct of our lack of investment in the nation’s rail infrastructure, not just Virginia’s.
Locally, the “truck climbing” lane being built between Roanoke and Christiansburg costs $75 million for approximately five miles of highway. One lane, specifically built for truck traffic.
These types of subsidies to the trucking industry nationwide over the last 50 to 60 years have so undermined the ability of railroads to be cost competitive they have abandoned thousands upon thousands of miles of trackage and have been unable to adequately upgrade their remaining network.
In an attempt to arrest this downward spiral, the state of Virginia began assisting Norfolk Southern, CSX and the various short lines with funding in 2005, when, during former Gov. Mark Warner’s administration, the Rail Enhancement Fund was created.
The portion of the Crescent Corridor which runs through the Shenandoah Valley into Roanoke and on to Bristol is slated for multiple siding extensions and improvements so that longer trains can meet one another at closer points, yet much more will be needed to truly modernize the line. Because the railroad is what we refer to as a “single track territory,” a train going north has to share the track with a train going south. This is also true in many places on the Heartland Corridor going east and west, where much of the “double track” that once existed, for example between Roanoke and Crewe, no longer does because one set of tracks was pulled up as freight volumes decreased and it became cost prohibitive to maintain it.
Again, as the highway system was continually invested in by the hundreds of billions of dollars to the great benefit of the trucking industry, that investment had a reverse effect on the rail industry. Here’s a great example of the disparity: When the rails were first laid between Roanoke and Hagerstown, Md., between 1870 and 1882, the roadways were dirt or wood planks, and freight traveled by wagons drawn by teams of horses or mules. In the early 1900s, various forms of hard surfacing were used after the automobile was born. Then U. S. 11 was built in the late 1920s down the Shenandoah Valley and was expanded to three and four lanes over time.
In the 1960s, Interstate 81 was begun and continues to be improved to this day. Meanwhile, that same stretch of railroad from Hagerstown to Roanoke is basically right where they laid it more than 130 years ago, on the same “goat path,” as I like to say. The same curves that restrict speeds to 30 mph in many places, no bypasses built around towns, aging bridges and signals, and short sidings not designed for today’s longer trains. Meanwhile, we debate adding another lane to I-81.
Since railroads move tonnage four times as efficiently as trucks on average, it just doesn’t make sense. Is the Elliston area the best choice in this region for an intermodal facility? I don’t know, but building those facilities and upgrading Virginia’s and the nation’s rail infrastructure will ultimately decrease the number of trucks on the highways, lead to safer highways and less diesel emissions, and cost all of us less in taxes and less for the products we buy.
The preceding letter was written by Pat Corp, the SMART Transportation Division’s Virginia State Legislative Director, and was published Aug. 1 in The Roanoke Times. Corp, of Roanoke, is a Norfolk Southern engineer.
Linda Kruger-Small was driving home on a rainy night, just a few days before Christmas 2008. She was on an unfamiliar street and followed a right turn arrow that put her on railroad tracks at Orangethorpe Avenue in Anaheim.
It turned out to be a fatal move. Her car became stuck on the tracks as a train barreled toward her. She dialed 911 to ask if the train could be stopped. Moments later came a horrible collision. Passersby pulled Kruger-Small from the wreckage, but it was too late.
Read the complete story at NBC4.
Palmetto GBA is reminding railroad retirees that Railroad Medicare Part B provides coverage for services such as doctors’ visits, ambulance transports, lab tests and some supplies. Benefits are the same for eligible individuals, whether eligibility is through Railroad Retirement or Social Security.
Railroad Medicare is funded by a portion of Railroad Retirement Tier I and Social Security payroll taxes paid by employees and employers. Monthly premiums are also applied to the program.
There are times when Medicare-participating providers and suppliers don’t understand that if they accept Medicare Part B, this includes Railroad Medicare too.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has incorporated information about Railroad Medicare in its online manual publications pertaining to Medicare Policy and Regulation. The CMS manual states:
“Carrier jurisdiction claims for individuals who are QRRBs (Qualified Railroad Retirement Beneficiaries), including those who are entitled to both Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits, are handled by the Palmetto Government Benefits Administrators (GBA) L.L.C., a subsidiary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina.”
The CMS also includes information about Railroad Medicare in its annual Medicare & You booklet mailed to Medicare patients every year.
When Palmetto GBA conducts educational events or speaks one-on-one with providers and suppliers, they always explain what Railroad Medicare is and confirm that Medicare Part B benefits are standard nationwide.
If a provider or supplier you want to work with participates in Medicare, but states “not Railroad Medicare,” Palmetto GBA recommends that they call Palmetto’s Provider Contact Center at (888) 355-9165. Palmetto’s staff is trained to discuss these matters with all Part B providers and suppliers. They also recommend providers or suppliers visit Palmetto’s website at www.PalmettoGBA.com/RR.
If you have questions about your Part B coverage, call Palmetto’s Beneficiary Contact Center at (800) 833-4455, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET.
Palmetto also encourages beneficiaries to visit their website at www.PalmettoGBA.com/RR/Me and sign up for email updates. To do so, select “Email Updates” on the lower left-hand side of the web page under “Stay Connected.”
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation introduced a positive train control (PTC) extension bill. The bill seeks to extend the statutory deadline for PTC implementation by five years to Dec. 31, 2020, as well as provide another optional two-year extension on 60,000 miles of track across the country. Shortline railroads that operate on PTC-mandated track would receive an extension of five years if approved by the FRA.
Right now, the PTC implementation deadline is Dec. 31, 2015. The bill is based upon findings of the FRA in 2012 that identified several technical and programmatic problems with the implementation of PTC.
Passenger and freight railroads have expressed concern over meeting the current 2015 deadline, claiming they may be forced to stop operations to implement PTC or risk breaking the law by continuing to operate without it.
SMART Transportation Division National Legislative Director James Stem testified before the committee June 19 on PTC, as well as other issues.
“If Congress chooses to grant a blanket extension for PTC, the railroads that are behind on their implementation schedule today will further slow their progress, or just stop the process until that new extension expires,” Stem said.
“Any extension for PTC implementation should be on an individual basis, short in duration, six to 12 months, and only after identifying the reasons that the current implementation date is not obtainable.”
Some railroads, including Amtrak, BNSF and Metrolink in California, have announced they will be able to meet the statutory deadline and are continuing the implementation and testing of PTC components.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) introduced the bill.
Avantair locked its doors to employees June 26 and ceased all operations. Now, less than two months later, executives have also been locked out, this time by the courts.
Florida bankruptcy courts have allowed creditors to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy against the airline. Judge Catherine McEwen appointed a bankruptcy trustee to oversee the case and has granted the trustee’s motion to prohibit all access to the premises and cancel all access cards to the airline. The trustee filed the motion due to an inspection in which it was noted that offices and other areas had been emptied.
Avantair had until Aug. 6 to respond to the filing of bankruptcy but have asked for and been granted a week’s reprieve by Judge McEwen. A hearing, which was scheduled for Aug. 9, was also postponed until Aug. 16.
In filing for the reprieve, Avantair said it “has aggressively pursued and continues to aggressively pursue sources of financing and negotiations with potential plan sponsors. Although the company has not yet been able to reach a deal, these negotiations continue on a daily basis. Accordingly, the company is in need of additional time.”
Avantair continued, saying “[Avantair] is not operating and, if it is unable to develop a viable alternative to liquidation in the next week, it will likely consent to the Chapter 7 filing.”
In mid-July, Avantair announced its plans to move forward and resume flights in early August with a new name, “NewCo.” The plan never went forward due to owner resistance.
The plan would have required owners to pay a one-time fee of $25,000 that the company stated was necessary for repairs, as well as a 40 percent increase of management fees to be paid monthly. Owners have remained adamant that they will not provide the airline with any more funds and are seeking to get their airplanes back from the airline.
The Federal Railroad Administration announced Aug. 8 that it would hold an emergency meeting of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) Aug. 29. The meeting will focus on the July 6 train derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec.
Preliminary findings from the derailment and safety procedures that may not have been followed will be discussed.
RSAC was established in 1996 to provide advice and recommendations to the FRA on railroad safety matters and is composed of 54 voting representatives from 32 member organizations, representing various rail industry perspectives. There are also non-voting advisory representatives from the NTSB and Federal Transit Administration.
SMART Transportation Division has three members on the committee: Transportation Division President Mike Futhey, Transportation Division Assistant President and General Secretary & Treasurer John Previsich and National Legislative Director James Stem. Charles Fraley from SMART (Sheet Metal Workers) is also a member.
The 9 a.m. meeting is open to the public at the National Housing Center, 1201 15th St. N.W., Washington, DC 20005.