WASHINGTON – More than a dozen U.S. senators, including North Dakota Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven, are pushing to put more federal railroad inspectors in the field. Boosting inspector numbers – which haven’t grown in the Bakken region even as oil production and crude- [...]
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration April 9 announced its intention to issue a proposed rule requiring two-person train crews on crude oil trains and establishing minimum crew size standards for most main line freight and passe [...]
WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on Wednesday asked oil-by-rail leaders to create a tank car fit to carry the kinds of fuel involved in recent fiery derailments even as he dodged lawmaker questions about when such a plan would be ready. Rail shipments o [...]
The 100th Anniversary of the Ludlow Massacre is upon us. The strike started on September 23, 1913, and the massacre occurred on April 20, 1914, in southern Colorado. The United Mine Workers of America is planning a series of events to commemorate this tragedy. Many academic a [...]
Railroads are launching a new campaign to highlight the dangers of being near train tracks after a spike in rail deaths last year. At this time last year, the railroads were proudly calling 2012 their safest year ever as derailments and crossing accidents kept declining. But [...]
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) yesterday announced that an effort to extend the short-line tax credit for two years cleared a first big hurdle by passing out of the Senate Committee on Finance as a part of the Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) [...]
Each year, tens of thousands of American workers are made sick or die from occupational exposures to hazardous chemicals. While many chemicals are suspected of being harmful, OSHA’s exposure standards are out-of-date and inadequately protective for the small number of c [...]
Local Secretary & Treasurer Dale Biggs of SMART Transportation Division Local 240 at Los Angeles reports that the local’s next monthly meeting will be held Wednesday, April 9, at 7 p.m. at Ozzie’s Diner, upstairs. Biggs is compiling an email list to send out n [...]
The National Transportation Safety Board will announce this week that the Metro-North Railroad engineer at the controls last year during a fatal derailment in the Bronx had an undiagnosed sleep disorder, according to a person with knowledge of the planned announcement. The e [...]
SMART Transportation Division Pennsylvania State Legislative Director Paul Pokrowka is calling on all members to help stop legislation introduced here that bans Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority employees from striking. H.B. 2109, introduced by State Rep. Kat [...]
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