Transportation News

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MTA rejects PEB's proposed raises for LIRR workers

The Long Island Railroad rolled closer to a possible summer strike Jan. 15 when transit executives rejected a proposed series of raises for workers. MTA Labor Relations Director Anita Miller notified the National Mediation Board that the authority would not enact a contract s [...]

TTD addresses FTA regarding MAP 21 requirements

With the support of the SMART Transportation Division, AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department President Edward Wytkind has written a letter to Administrator Peter Rogoff of the Federal Transit Administration. The letter, on behalf of the 32 member union’s that make up the T [...]

House committee hears from transportation advocates

U.S. governors and mayors are pushing Congress to quickly reauthorize long-term legislation to fund transportation projects across the country, fearing that any lapse in funding could disrupt existing projects and hurt local economies. Testifying at a Tuesday hearing before t [...]

FY14 appropriations good for TIGER, Amtrak

Congressional conference committee members cobbling together an actual fiscal year 2014 federal budget have reportedly agreed on budgetary numbers fairly favorable to Amtrak and Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) programs. Federal high speed rail f [...]

Congress provides $15 million for railroad inspections

The fatal derailment of a Metro-North train at the southern tip of the Bronx last month has spurred Capitol Hill lawmakers to boost the federal government’s “woefully underfunded” rail inspection program. The bipartisan spending deal reached Monday night by Republican and Dem [...]

SMART presents its first constitution and ritual

We are pleased, as your general president and transportation division president, to present the first SMART Constitution and ritual to our membership. This is a milestone for both the former Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association and the United Transportation Union, t [...]

FRA to rule on in-cab train cameras

Two U.S. senators say a federal rail safety agency plans to propose a rule regarding the installation of video cameras aboard trains to monitor drivers and record accidents. Sen. Charles Schumer, of New York, and Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, said Sunday that they had b [...]

FMCSA extends medical cert requirement for bus ops

The Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA) Jan. 10 announced that it is extending by one year, until Jan. 30, 2015, a requirement that interstate commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders retain paper copies of their medical examiner’s certificate and continue to make t [...]

LaHood to co-chair Building America's Future

Two former leading U.S. transportation officials who left the Obama administration in recent months were named on Wednesday to new private-sector posts. Ray LaHood, the former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, will join a Washington, D.C-based advocacy group, where he will pu [...]

Keolis wins MBTA commuter rail contract

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s board of directors today unanimously voted to accept the T’s recommendation that Keolis, a French rail company, take over operation of the state’s commuter rail system, winning the state’s largest operating contract in history. [...]