News - Page 389 of 647

Expert: Driver, trooper could have avoided train crash

March 10, 2015 RALEIGH, N.C. – A truck with an oversized load and a state trooper escort was stuck in a railroad crossing with time enough to alert approaching trains, but there’s no indication Amtrak was warned before a crash that injured 55 people, officials said. An eyewitness told [...]

Amtrak has authority to set on-time performance

March 10, 2015 The following release was issued by the Environmental Law & Policy Center: WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court’s March 9 decision affirming Amtrak’s power to create on-time performance standards could get slumping Midwest arrival times back on track. “This is a good Supre [...]

Tags Amtrak, on-time performance, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

Amtrak train, truck collide in N.C.; several hurt

March 9, 2015 HALIFAX, N.C. – An Amtrak train hit a tractor-trailer that stalled on railroad tracks in North Carolina, toppling the engine onto its side and injuring several people, officials said Monday. Halifax County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Bruce Temple said the accident happened a [...]

Tags Amtrak, collision, North Carolina

Ill. oil train derailment threatens Mississippi River

March 9, 2015 An oil train derailment and spill in northwest Illinois poses an “imminent and substantial danger” of contaminating the Mississippi River, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Saturday. The spill from the derailment, which occurred Thursday, also threaten [...]

Tags crude oil, Illinois

OSHA announces final rule on handling retaliation

March 6, 2015 WASHINGTON – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration today published a final rule finalizing procedures for handling whistleblower retaliation complaints filed under Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The SOX Act protects employees who report fraudulent [...]

Tags OSHA, whistleblower, Whistleblower Protection Program

Georgia Members Join Fellow Unionists To Repair State Park

March 6, 2015 Under the banner of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) Work Boots on the Ground program, members of the Columbus Metal Trades Council (CMTC) volunteered their time and skills on Saturday, Feb. 21, to inspect six boat docks and 66 boat slips at Florence Marina State Park for [...]

Train carrying crude oil derails in Illinois

March 6, 2015 A freight train loaded with crude oil derailed in northern Illinois on Thursday, bursting into flames and prompting officials to suggest that everyone with 1 mile evacuate, authorities said. The BNSF Railway train derailed around 1:05 p.m. in a rural area where the Galena Riv [...]

Tags crude oil, derailment, Illinois

NTSB seeking candidate for rail accident investigator

March 5, 2015 The National Transportation Safety Board is seeking a qualified candidate to serve as a railroad accident investigator and would like to hear from interested SMART Transportation Division members with expertise in railroad operations, railroad accident investigations and rail [...]

Tags National Transportation Safety Board, railroad accident investigator

Senators seek to extend PTC deadline to 2020's end

March 5, 2015 U.S. Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) yesterday introduced a bill (S. 650) that proposes to extend the federally mandated deadline for positive train control (PTC) implementation by five years from 2015’s en [...]

Tags positive train control, PTC, Science and Transportation, Senate Committee on Commerce

TTD applauds passage of Amtrak reauthorization

March 5, 2015 Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, issued the following statement about the U.S. House Representatives passage of the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015 (PRRIA): “Today the House of Representatives took an important step [...]

Tags Amtrak, commuter rail, Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015, PRRIA, Transportation Trades Department