News Archive
AP report: Shooting on bus in Calif. exposes soft spots in ground transport security
A shooting aboard a Greyhound bus traveling between Los Angeles and San Francisco shows how passenger and operator security for ground transportation is more vulnerable when compared to air travel, The Associated Press reported. One passenger lost her life and five other peop [...]
UPDATED w/services: General Chairperson T.K. Vanwinkle passes away
General Chairperson Thomas K. Vanwinkle (GO 919 — Terminal Railroad Association (TRRA) of St. Louis) unexpectedly passed away February 3, 2020. A career railroader, Brother Vanwinkle worked on TRRA as a trainman from 2003 until present. Prior to working at TRRA, Brother Vanwi [...]
Conductor, engineer rescue wandering 5-year-old girl in Minnesota
The efforts of a two-person crew in East St. Paul, Minn., helped to save a wandering five-year-old girl and reunite her with her family. Near midnight Saturday, Feb. 1, SMART Transportation Division Local 1293 member Jarrod Campbell and BLET member Angela Knutson were operati [...]
Alt. VP Scott Chelette speaks on two-person crews
SMART Transportation Division Alternate Vice President J. Scott Chelette, general chairperson of GO 927, was featured in a television news report about the rail industry’s intention to eliminate the conductor from the cab of freight trains in the wake of Class I freight [...]
Newsday article remembers retired member Brzozinski
Richard Brzozinski, 78, is remembered as a compassionate man and model employee of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in a recent story by Newsday. “A veteran Long Island Rail Road conductor on the Babylon line, Brzozinski made a habit of learning the names of all of his regula [...]
SMART-TD files suit challenging NMB’s decision regarding crew consist
On January 23, 2020, SMART Transportation Division and nearly two dozen General Committees brought suit against the National Mediation Board (NMB) challenging its 2-1 decision which granted a National Railway Labor Conference (NRLC) request to appoint an arbitration board mem [...]
Federal agencies announce random testing rates for 2020
Federal agencies have announced their random drug testing rates for the new calendar year. In December, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a test rate increase from 25 percent to 50 percent of the average number of driver positions because of an [...]
FRA’s own report blows hole in arguments against two-person freight crews
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in a 41-page report released Jan. 13th by its Office of Research, Development and Technology said what railroaders already know. Researchers at the Volpe Center over a period of years performed cognitive task analyses (CTAs) that exam [...]