News - Page 383 of 647

CN/GTW members ratify retroactive agreement

April 1, 2015 SMART Transportation Division-represented conductors and trainmen employed by the Canadian National/Grand Trunk Western Railroad unanimously ratified a new six-year agreement March 17, Vice President Doyle Turner reports. The agreement provides for six annual wage increases r [...]

Tags Canadian National/Grand Trunk Western Railroad

Kansas City school bus operators, monitors get deal

April 1, 2015 The school bus operators and monitors of Local 1704 at Kansas City, Mo., have obtained a first contract with First Student, Inc., the operator of school bus service for the city’s school district. This is their first agreement under SMART Transportation Division representatio [...]

Tags First Student, monitors, school bus operators

Certified Welders Are In Demand

March 31, 2015 The anticipated demand for skilled, certified welders in the U.S. in the next five years is staggering. The American Welding Society projects that by 2020 there will be a deficit of 290,000 skilled welders, which includes instructors, inspectors, and engineers. The opportunit [...]

Foxx sends six-year transportation bill to Congress

March 31, 2015 WASHINGTON – Over the past year, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has visited more than 100 communities and heard one common story – shared by all – about crumbling infrastructure and dwindling resources to fix it with. Secretary Foxx March 30 sent to Congress his s [...]

Tags Anthony Foxx, crumbling infrastructure, Department of Transportation, Grow America Act, transportation bill

BNSF adds new safety rules for crude oil trains

March 31, 2015 OMAHA – BNSF Railway Co. has started taking additional safety measures for crude oil shipments because of four recent high-profile derailments in the U.S. and Canada, the railroad said Monday. Under the changes, BNSF is slowing down crude oil trains to 35 mph in cities with m [...]

Tags BNSF Railway, crude oil, oil trains

New Construction Starts Rise In 2015

March 30, 2015 New construction starts in the month of February grew by 16 percent over the previous month due to some large scale projects that took off in Texas, Louisiana and California. According to Dodge Data and Analytics, total construction starts on an unadjusted basis were up 34% [...]

SMART General President Nigro to retire April 30

March 30, 2015 Joseph J. Nigro is retiring as general president of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART), effective April 30. He is stepping down in order to fully focus on recovering from a series of recent surgeries. The SMART General [...]

Tags Joseph J. Nigro

House Passes Passenger Rail Reform, Investment Act

March 30, 2015 The United States House of Representatives March 4 overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation that will provide critical investments in our nation’s passenger rail system. H.R. 749, the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015 (PRRIA) will ensure that our national p [...]

Train-crew bill passes Minn. Senate committees

March 30, 2015 A bill that would require two-person crews aboard Amtrak and most freight trains operating in Minnesota passed out of two Senate committees last week. The safety measure is a top legislative priority of theUnited Transportation Union, which represents about 70,000 workers in [...]

Tags Minnesota, Qyaly, two-person rail crews

L.A. Metrolink train hits car, 22 hurt

March 29, 2015 Los Angeles firefighters say nearly two dozen people suffered injuries, mostly minor, when a commuter train struck a car near downtown Los Angeles and partially derailed. Fire Department spokesman Shawn Lenske says 21 people on the train were hurt in Saturday’s crash. H [...]

Tags Metrolink