Transportation News

Visit the digital archive of the SMART-TD News (PDFs)

RRB: Railroad Retirement and Unemployment Insurance taxes in 2019

The amounts of compensation subject to railroad retirement tier I and tier II payroll taxes will increase in 2019, while the tax rates on employers and employees will stay the same. In addition, unemployment insurance contribution rates paid by railroad employers will continu [...]

Two more suits added against CSX alleging FMLA violations

According to the Jacksonville Business Journal, two more lawsuits were filed Nov. 29 alleging that CSX Corp. has violated employees’ rights protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). According to the Department of Labor, “FMLA provides eligible emplo [...]

Alaska Railroad back to running at full throttle after earthquake

The Alaska Railroad (ARR) is back up and running after Friday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake. Regularly scheduled freight services started running again Tuesday, Dec. 4. ARR suspended all service after the quake in order to assess damage along its nearly 500 miles of tracka [...]

UPDATED: Two TD Connect workshops remain open for 2019

Because of great demand, a new round of workshops has been added to help local treasurers learn how to use TD Connect, the new eBilling system that also manages member records. A series of five prior workshops scheduled for late 2018 filled to capacity. A second round was add [...]

Alaska Railroad stalled by earthquake damage

A magnitude-7.0 earthquake rippled through Matanuska-Susitna Borough and Anchorage, Alaska, causing collapses and damage to Alaska’s infrastructure on Friday, Nov. 30. More than 200 aftershocks, some up to 5.7 magnitude, continued for 12 hours after the initial quake. D [...]

Final FMCSA rule regarding operators with diabetes takes effect

A final rule published from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) permits medical examiners to allow commercial operators with insulated-treated diabetes to get behind the wheel without a months-long waiting period, Transport Topics reports. The permission g [...]

FTA allocates $281 million in funding for five transit projects

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced a total of $281 million in additional Fiscal Year 2018 federal funding allocations to five transit projects in Arizona, California, Minnesota and Texas. Funding will be provide [...]