Category: Transportation

Home>News>Transportation

Collection boxes set up for stabbed Amtrak conductor

December 9, 2014 Collection boxes have been set up at Chicago’s Union Station to accept donations to assist Amtrak conductor and SMART Transportation Division member Dontreal “Donnie” Bankhead and his family, according to Illinois State Legislative Director Robert Guy. Bankhead, 40, a member [...]

Tags Amtrak, Dontreal “Donnie” Bankhead, Robert Guy, stabbing

Amtrak stabbing suspect: Had to fight a demon

December 9, 2014 NILES, Mich. – The man accused of stabbing four people on an Amtrak train told police that it started after a man he was talking to on the train “turned into a demon and he had to fight them,” according to court documents obtained by 24 Hour News 8. “Michael Williams said he [...]

Tags Amtrak, conductor, stabbing

Court questions Amtrak’s role in setting standards

December 9, 2014 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court appeared divided Monday as it considered whether Amtrak, the government-owned passenger rail company, wields too much clout in setting regulations that private freight carriers also must follow. The nine justices heard arguments in a challe [...]

Tags Amtrak, Federal Railroad Administration, FRA, Supreme Court

Four stabbed, including conductor, on Amtrak train

December 5, 2014 Four people were stabbed, including a conductor, on an Amtrak train tonight (Dec. 5) and a suspect was taken into custody, police said. The stabbing occurred about 7 p.m. in Niles, Mich. Read the complete story at ABC News.

Tags Amtrak, assault, conductor

RRB releases statement on 2015 tax rates

December 5, 2014 The amounts of compensation subject to railroad retirement Tier I and Tier II payroll taxes will increase in 2015, with the Tier I tax rates remaining the same while Tier II tax rates will increase for both railroad employers and employees. Also, railroad unemployment insuran [...]

Tags Railroad Retirement Board, RRB, taxes

Walker Aims At Building Trades, Private Sector Unions

December 5, 2014 A Wisconsin State Representative has announced that he will introduce a Right-to-Work for less bill in the upcoming legislative session. The move comes just days after a former Americans for Prosperity associate, Lorri Pickens, announced a new tea party group called “Wiscons [...]

How two billionaires are destroying high speed rail

December 4, 2014 Eighteen years have passed since the establishment of the California High Speed Rail (CHSR) Authority. Over the course of those eighteen years, high speed rail in the state has been discussed and planned and delayed and delayed more. There have been proposals, referendums, de [...]

Tags California high speed rail, California High-Speed Rail Authority, high-speed rail

Opinion: Metra engineers, conductors do a great job

December 3, 2014 The following letter to the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times by Martin Oberman, chairman of the Metra Board of Directors, was published by the newspaper Nov. 23. It was in response to an article previously published by the newspaper that implied that Metra conductors and engin [...]

Tags Metra

NJT to train crews: Next stop, charm school

December 3, 2014 Some NJ Transit rail employees who deal with commuters will find themselves back in the classroom next year for a customer relations refresher. The program was prompted by issues brought up by commuters on social media and shared with NJ Transit. The two day training classes [...]

Tags New Jersey Transit, NJT

Opinion: Nice things happen on trains

December 3, 2014 Imagine you’re in charge of a company that serves the public good; imagine your company, unlike others in the same business, has to ask for money every year to keep itself, an arterial of the country’s transportation system, running. Imagine that fracking, another part of Ame [...]

Tags Amtrak