Transportation News

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RRB announces schedule of spring pre-retirement seminars

The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has announced its schedule of pre-retirement seminars for March – June 2019. The RRB hosts these seminars for rail employees and spouses who are within five years of retirement. The board recently combined their traditional informatio [...]

FRA denies KCSR’s request to outsource brake tests to Mexico

In a victory for safety, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) denied a request by Kansas City Southern Railroad (KCSR) to outsource brake inspections to Mexico, the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD) reports. “In its decision, the FRA correctly told KCSR th [...]

AFL-CIO TTD sets rail safety priorities at meeting

The AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD) on March 11 announced the railroad industry issues that the coalition of transportation unions, of which SMART Transportation Division is a member, will prioritize in the coming months. Of the highest importance, the [...]

Progress on two-person crew bill in Washington state

The Washington State Legislative Board had some good news to report this week about its effort to get two-person crew legislation passed in the state. “For six consecutive years, we have doggedly pursued passage of this critical public safety bill. Today, for the first [...]

RRB: Longevity of Railroad Retirement beneficiaries

Every three years, the Railroad Retirement Board’s chief actuary conducts a study of the longevity of its annuitants, as part of a valuation of future revenues and benefit payments. The following questions and answers summarize the results of the most recent longevity study. [...]

Amtrak releases on-time report card for host railroads

National passenger carrier Amtrak released its 2018 Host Railroad Report Card, which grades six of the Class I freight host railroads based on delays caused to Amtrak trains over the last 12 months. The grades ranged from A to F, with Canadian Pacific being the lone recipient [...]

2019 UTUIA scholarship deadline is March 31

  This year, UTUIA has committed once again to supporting the children and grandchildren of our members by continuing to offer 50 four-year college scholarships and 50 two-year trade school scholarships, both at $2,000.00 per student, per year. Currently, UTUIA is paying [...]

Amtrak announces death of former CEO Joseph Boardman

Amtrak announced today that former President and CEO Joseph Boardman, 70, died today after having a stroke March 5: “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Joe Boardman.” “Joe, during his tenure as FRA administrator, Amtrak board member and Amtrak president & C [...]