Transportation News

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

More than 13,000 comments received for FRA’s Rule of 2

The SMART Transportation Division would like to thank all of you for your historic response to the FRA’s Notice of Public Rulemaking (NPRM) on Freight Train Crew Size. In the moment when our livelihood and the safety of all involved was on the line, SMART members, along with [...]

FRA issues safety bulletin

The Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Railroad Safety issued the following bulletin on Dec. 20, 2022: SUBJECT: Pre-Departure Inspections – Appendix D to 49 CFR Part 215  The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is investigating a recent fatal accident when a [...]

Union organizes rallies on Capitol Hill, elsewhere

WASHINGTON – SMART Transportation Division organized rallies in multiple locations Dec. 13 to bring attention to rail-related issues, including maintaining the current safe level of a minimum two-person crew in the cabs of locomotives, paid sick leave for workers and an end t [...]

Union states 2PC case before FRA

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) held its much-anticipated hearing Dec. 14 to receive public testimony on its Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) regarding a minimum train crew size. As it was set up, representatives from just two Class I carriers — Union Pacific a [...]

SMART-TD statement on potential extension of status-quo period

As the largest freight rail operating union in the United States, the SMART Transportation Division rejects the notion that any extension of the status quo cooling-off period would have a benefit to alleviating the current contract impasse. The intransigence of the railroad c [...]

ERMA lifetime maximum benefit to increase in 2023

The lifetime maximum benefit for the Railroad Employees National Early Retirement Major Medical Benefit (ERMA or GA-46000) Plan will increase from $182,700 to $188,000 beginning Jan. 1, 2023. At the end of 2001, labor and management had agreed on various procedures to adminis [...]