Category: Amtrak/Commuter
Stem testifies before House railroad subcommittee
SMART Transportation Division National Legislative Director James Stem and others testified yesterday before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials regarding the importan [...]
Amtrak carried record passenger traffic in 2012
Perhaps sparked by highway congestion or the hassle of air travel, Amtrak’s passenger rail service has been the nation’s fastest growing mode of transportation, according to a new report that urges Congress to push forward with a coordinated national rail plan. The government [...]
Halt the neglect of transportation infrastructure
SMART Transportation Division President Mike Futhey and Assistant President John Previsich this week joined the leaders of other AFL-CIO affiliate unions at the organization’s annual winter meeting. They also meet separately with members of the organization’s Transportation T [...]Congress must advance plan for Amtrak
ORLANDO, Fla. – As lawmakers prepare to debate passenger rail reauthorization, leaders of AFL-CIO transportation unions are calling on Congress to set a long-term future for Amtrak that meets the demands of a growing ridership, invests in the railroad’s decaying equipment an [...]FRA issues new report on fatigue
The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a new report on the status of fatigue among railroad industry employees. In 2001, the FRA began examining the fatigue status of safety-critical railroad employees by using logbooks to collect work and sleep data over a period of [...]
With elections past, our work begins
By James Stem, National Legislative Director – As a new Congress begins its largely partisan struggles, which are sometimes difficult to understand and frequently disturbing, the job of the National Legislative Office is to convince lawmakers that the legislative agenda of S [...]Szabo: Rail investment spurs manufacturers
The following message was sent to the UTU National Legislative Office from Federal Railroad Administrator Joe Szabo: In his State of the Union Address last week, President Obama spoke about the importance of investing in our infrastructure as a path to create new jobs and lay [...]Acting for impaired Railroad Retirement beneficiaries
According to Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) policy, every annuitant has the right to manage his or her own benefits. However, when physical or mental impairments make a railroad retirement annuitant incapable of properly handling benefit payments, or where the RRB determines [...]