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Answers sought in Boston Red Line train incident

December 11, 2015 NECN reported that MassODOT investigators are looking at possible causes of a Boston Red Line train that departed the station and ran for nine minutes without an operator, yet with passengers on board. The incident occurred early morning on Thursday, December 10. The operator [...]

Tags Boston Red Line, MassODOT, MBTA

Longevity of Railroad Retirement beneficiaries

December 11, 2015 Every three years, the Railroad Retirement Board’s Chief Actuary conducts a study of the longevity of its annuitants, as part of a valuation of future revenues and benefit payments. The following questions and answers summarize the results of the most recent longevity study. [...]

Tags longevity, Railroad Retirement Board, RRB

NMB certifies SMART to represent CMQR train and engine service employees

December 9, 2015 In a letter dated Dec. 5, the National Mediation Board (NMB) certified the SMART Transportation Division as the official union of the train and engine service employees of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway (CMQR). SMART TD invoked the services of the NMB Aug. 12, 2015, t [...]

Tags CMQR, NMB

Reform rail/bus equipment purchases, boost jobs

December 9, 2015 $5.4 billion — that’s how much public transit agencies collectively spend on buses and trains each year. U.S. public transportation authorities are using taxpayers’ dollars to employ Americans. Well, sort of — there’s a lot of room for improvement. Thanks to weak laws and pro [...]

Tags AFL-CIO, Buy America, FAST Act, infrastructure, TTD

Congress approves new cross-Hudson rail tunnel

December 8, 2015 Politico New York reported that a Congressional transportation bill that includes provisions to build a new cross-Hudson rail tunnel gained velocity with approval from both the U.S Senate and the House. Read the entire article from Politico New York Dec. 4.

Tags Amtrak, Cross-Hudson rail tunnel, Surface transportation bill

Iowans surveyed support expansion of passenger rail

December 7, 2015 A new survey reaffirms support for expanding passenger rail service in Iowa. More than half the participants — 56 percent — in a survey conducted by the SMART Transportation Division said passenger rail service in Iowa should increase. Another 77 percent said Amtrak should ad [...]

Tags Amtrak, H.R. 1763, passenger rail service, Safe Freight Act, two person crew

SMART TD Praises Passage of FAST Act

December 4, 2015 On December 3, 2015, Congress passed H.R. 22, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST ACT) by overwhelming bipartisan votes of 83 to 16 and 359 to 65 in the Senate and House respectively. The legislation is the first long-term surface transportation reauthorizat [...]

SMART TD praises passage of FAST Act

Tags alerters, Amtrak funding, ECP brakes, FAST Act, Hair Testing, infrastructure, John Previsich, John Risch, PTC, signal protection, tank car safety

RRB releases 2016 tax rates

December 4, 2015 The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) released its annual tax rates, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, for the upcoming 2016 year. The Tier II tax rates are determined annually from a tax rate schedule based on an average account benefits ratio reflecting railroad retirement fund levels [...]

Tags Railroad Retirement Board, railroad retirement tax, RRB, tax rates

FTA launches transit-oriented initiative

December 4, 2015 WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has launched a nationwide transit-oriented development (TOD) initiative to encourage development near transit systems that boosts the local economy; provides easy access to jobs and serv [...]

Tags FTA, TOD, Transit-oriented development technical assistance initiative