Transportation News

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FMCSA to target bus safety violations

WASHINGTON — Unsafe commercial bus operators are to be targeted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration through a program to be called Compliance Safety Accountability. The agency said the program will include an analysis of safety-based violations — in [...]

Furloughed with novel twist: Reduced days

Unlike prior years, where railroads cut loose employees during lean times, leaving them without benefits, Union Pacific during this recession has attempted to keep many on a reduced schedule, allowing them to retain health care benefits, reports the Topeka Capital-Journal. A [...]

Close calls pilot tests positive on UP

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Union Pacific is four years into its five-year pilot Confidential Close Calls Reporting System (C3RS) and participants are giving it high marks for improving safety culture. C3RS encourages engineers, conductors, trainmen and yardmasters to report c [...]

Congress to consider upping federal fuel tax

WASHINGTON — Truckers won’t be happy when the new Congress, with John Mica (R-Fla.) chairing the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, looks at raising the federal motor fuels tax. Mica told the Florida Times-Union that he supports raising the feder [...]

NS CEO named Railroader of Year

Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman has been named Railroader of the Year by Railway Age magazine. “In addition to performing solidly, controlling costs, improving productivity and continuing to invest in growth capital in a recessionary economy, Norfolk Southern has exce [...]

Alert commuter rail crew saves life near Boston

STOUGHTON, Mass. — An alert and ever vigilant Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad crew — that recognized the difference between a bag of clothes between the tracks and a human being — saved a life in this Boston suburb last week. The MBCR crew, with engineer [...]

UTU hero school-bus driver avoids fatal crash

BUFFALO — UTU-member and Buffalo school bus driver Yolanda Luciano (Local 1908) is being hailed as a hero — likely saving the lives of one or more of the eight elementary-school students aboard her First Student bus by engaging in a split-second emergency defensiv [...]

UTU to FRA: ‘Say no’ to Mexican safety checks

First it was Union Pacific wanting to have its trains inspected in Mexico. Now BNSF is making the same plea to the FRA — and as the UTU and other rail unions did in the case of UP — the FRA is being advised to, “just say no.” Putting safety first canno [...]

FRA to fine railroad for safety violations

WASHINGTON — Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) faces a fine from the FRA for alleged failure to report an injury and for underreporting of days lost by an injured employee and failure to maintain complete and timely records of injuries to other employees [...]

Pigskin to conductor: ‘It’s job security’

Keith Fitzhugh is a conductor trainee on Norfolk Southern’s Atlanta North District. He could be playing football with the New York Jets. If you think trading a National Football League playbook for an operating employee’s rulebook is something akin to carrying the ball [...]