Transportation News

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

Lifestyle changes for a healthier heart

by UnitedHealthcare Tips to help keep your health on track! While there are many risk factors that can lead to heart disease, you may be able to make certain lifestyle changes to improve your heart health. In addition to your medical treatments and medicines, you may also ben [...]

Both mail and online registration open for 2018 regional meetings

SMART TD has opened paper and online registration for the 2018 regional meetings located in Seattle, July 2 – 4, and in Hollywood, Fla., Aug. 6 – 8. A completed registration form and payment must be received by no later than June 22, 2018, to be considered pre-reg [...]

NTSB releases report on Amtrak/CSX collision

On February 4, 2018, southbound Amtrak train 91, operating on a track warrant, diverted from the main track through a hand-thrown switch into a siding and collided head-on with stationary CSX Transportation local freight train F777 03 on the CSX Columbia Subdivision in Cayce, [...]

Batory sworn in as FRA administrator; Martinez takes helm of FMCSA

After months of waiting, Ronald L. Batory was sworn in on Feb. 28 as the new administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). “This day could not have happened soon enough,” Batory said in remarks delivered during the ceremony administered by Department [...]

DOL Form LM filings only accepted electronically

Beginning with filings for the 2017 fiscal year, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) now requires secretaries and treasurers of SMART Transportation Division locals to electronically file their labor organization annual reports, co [...]

Federal Income Tax and Railroad Retirement Benefits

The following questions and answers describe the tax statements issued by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) each January for Federal income tax purposes. Railroad retirement beneficiaries needing information about these statements, or about tax withholding from their benefi [...]

DIPP payments changing to direct deposit March 1

Effective on March 1, 2018, all new and continuing claims for the SMART Transportation Discipline Income Protection Program (DIPP) will be paid via direct deposit into participants’ accounts. Please complete the authorization for automatic transfer that is attached to y [...]

Working people’s day of action to be held Feb. 24

https://www.facebook.com/AFSCME/videos/10155325175933061/   What is the Working People’s Day of Action? In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life in Memphis, Tenn., to help African-American sanitation workers come together to win freedom and dignity on the job. [...]

Online fundraiser begun for crew hurt in N.Y. derailment

An online fundraising effort has been started for a SMART TD conductor and an engineer who were severely injured Feb. 15 when their train derailed in Attica, N.Y. Conductor Ben Garland of Local 1566 out of Buffalo, N.Y., and engineer Dave Tobey were hospitalized after their N [...]

NTSB issues urgent safety recommendations

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued three urgent safety recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), acting upon the agency’s findings in two ongoing railroad accident investigations. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) received one u [...]