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Inside the secret world of tired pilots

Many airlines do not provide sleeping quarters for their off-duty pilots, yet the pilots are expected to get the required amount of sleep in order to function during their next flight often in an away-from-home city. Some pilots make as little at $17,000 a year and so are for [...]

A tired pilot is a tired pilot, regardless of plane

News broke recently that two pilots reported falling asleep while operating a long-haul Airbus 330 flight to the U.K. full of passengers. For an unknown length of time, autopilot kept the aircraft flying. Before the Aug. 13 flight, the pilots had slept only five hours over th [...]

BNSF offers $5K reward after train shooting

SEATTLE – BNSF Railway has announced it will pay $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspect or suspects who fired at least 15 shots at one of its freight trains west of Quincy at 8:15 p.m. Sept. 24. Gus Melonas, spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based railr [...]

Poll shows conservative support for Amtrak

Armed with polling data obtained by SMART?Transportation Division?political consultant Dean Mitchell of DFM?Research, Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith and Assistant Legislative Director Charlie Skidmore Sept. 14 presented community leaders from Colorado, Kansas [...]

BNSF to serve new crude-rail terminal in Wyo.

CTRAN L.L.C., Cogent Energy Solutions L.L.C. and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners have announced they secured all permits, funding and customers to begin construction on a crude-by-rail terminal adjacent to the Casper Natrona County International Airport in Casper, Wyo. To b [...]

Importance of a current connection for RRB benefits

Under the Railroad Retirement Act, a “current connection” with the railroad industry is one of the eligibility requirements for occupational disability annuities and supplemental annuities, and is one of the factors that determine whether the Railroad Retirement Board or the [...]
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Amtrak funds at risk in extended shutdown

Amtrak, the U.S. intercity passenger railroad, may have trouble staying on track, literally, if a U.S. government shutdown is prolonged for a month or more. The Washington-based railroad, which has never made money, gets 12 percent of its operating budget and most capital and [...]
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Amtrak commits to end food, beverage losses

WASHINGTON – Amtrak is moving forward with a plan to eliminate its food and beverage losses over five years. It builds on successful initiatives implemented since fiscal year 2006 that have increased the cost recovery rate from 49 percent to 65 percent. “We have made steady a [...]

Suicides by rail leave more than just one victim

Sharon Spitler had every intention of taking her life when she left her motel room in the early morning of Sept. 25. At 6:40 a.m., the 56-year-old Westland, Mich., woman walked to the nearby South Shore railroad tracks and stood between the long twin rails that disappear in b [...]

Natural gas locomotives to be common by 2016

In 2011, U.S. railroad companies consumed a little over 3 billion gallons of diesel, nearly 5.5 percent of the total consumption for the entire country. Oil is currently much more expensive than natural gas, which thanks to the shale boom, is at record low prices in the U.S. [...]