Southwest Chief: Staying on track

Colorado’s Senate Transportation Committee will consider the bill to save the Amtrak Southwest Chief rail line at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The passenger rail route, which runs through. Southeastern Colorado, has been targeted by Amtrak for possible elimination in 2015 if funding for t [...]

Railroad track inspector has 4,500 miles of worry

WINTHROP, Minn. – Jim Brandt’s steel-toed boots treaded nimbly across the railroad ties as he scanned the track around him for loose bolts, unfastened clips, gaping switches — anything that could prove dangerous for massive trains. Everything looked good, he confirmed w [...]

Girl takes on quest to thank railroad worker

Samantha Alvelo has thanked God for saving her young life after a train rolled over her three decades ago in Havelock, but she has always wanted to thank Joe. She finally got that chance on Friday night. Alvelo completed a decade-long search for the railroad worker she credit [...]

Tell President Obama Not to Sell Off the TVA

The Tennessee Valley Authority has provided tens of millions of people with consistently good service for eight decades. Its prices are lower than those of many private corporations.  And it has provided good jobs and career training opportunities for generations of working p [...]

Chicago Rail Link employees get six-year deal

Trainmen and engineers represented by the SMART Transportation Division and employed by Chicago Rail Link have ratified a new six-year agreement, with 95 percent of the affected employees voting in favor of the deal. The agreement provides for annual wage increases with full [...]

Former Associate General Chairperson Carstens dies

Former Burlington Northern Railroad Associate General Chairperson Harold “Jack” Carstens, 94, died March 19. Carstens, a member of SMART Transportation Local 1637 at Wishram, Wash., was the conductors’ griever for General Committee of Adjustment GO 386. Born Dec. 27, 1919, in [...]