News - Page 397 of 635

FRA issues advisory on roadway worker authority

November 26, 2014 WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Nov. 25 issued a safety advisory to the rail industry to better protect rail employees working on active tracks, or right-of-ways, under the supervision of a dispatcher. “Clear communic [...]

Tags Federal Railroad Administration, FRA, safety advisory, Safety Advisory 2014-02 Roadway Worker Authority Limits, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx

Amtrak delivers strong FY 2014 financial results

November 25, 2014 Amtrak Nov. 25 reported unaudited record revenue totaling approximately $3.2 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2014, representing the fifth consecutive year of revenue growth, and the eighth out of the past nine years. In FY 2014, America’s Railroad® covered [...]

Tags Amtrak, record revenue

Lipinski on track with new rail policy post

November 25, 2014 Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Chicago, is poised to become the highest-ranking Democrat on a House subcommittee on railroads at a time when issues involving Metra and Amtrak will be barreling down the track next year. His Southwest Side turf has more rail lines than any congressional [...]

Tags House subcommittee on railroads, Rep. Dan Lipinski

Rails sound alarm ahead of Chicago gridlock replay

November 25, 2014 With last week’s 7 feet of snow in upstate New York heralding an early winter, railroads crisscrossing Chicago are rushing to open 24-hour command centers, install heaters to keep switches from freezing, and plotting ways to reroute traffic. The aim is to avoid the gridlock t [...]

Tags Chicago, gridlock, snow

Local 17 JATC Hailed By US Secretary of Labor As Model For Rest of Nation

November 25, 2014 Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 was the first of the building trades to register its apprenticeship program in the state of Massachusetts as far back as 1952. While visiting the state on Nov. 17, U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez dropped by the Sheet Metal Workers Joint Apprentices [...]

BNSF announces $6B capital expenditures for 2015

November 20, 2014 BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) today announced that its planned capital expenditures for 2015 will be $6 billion, which will go toward maintenance and expansion of the railroad in order to meet the expected demand for freight rail service. The 2015 plan marks the third year in a [...]

Tags 2015 capital expenditures, BNSF Railway

Transportation Division sets 2015 regional meetings

November 20, 2014 The SMART Transportation Division has set the dates and locations of the union’s two 2015 regional meetings. The western regional meeting will be held June 29 – July 1 at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. The eastern regional meeting will be held July 13-15 at the Rhode Island [...]

Tags 2015 regional meetings, Arizona Biltmore, Omni Providence Hotel, Providence Biltmore, Rhode Island Convention Center

NTSB recommends better sleep disorder screening

November 20, 2014 Federal regulators who concluded that an engineer’s sleep apnea caused a deadly train derailment in New York adopted several recommendations Wednesday for better screening of such disorders, including a call for improved physician training. The National Transportation Safety [...]

Tags National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, railroads, Sleep Apnea

NS continues actions to boost performance

November 19, 2014 An acceleration of resource additions, coupled with the annual volume decline after Thanksgiving, should provide incremental improvements in train performance and terminal fluidity heading into next year, Norfolk Southern Corp. officials said in a service update posted on the [...]

Tags Norfolk Southern, operational performance, train and engine service employees

How employees deal with death on the railroad

November 18, 2014