Category: News

Canada bans one-man crews on hazmat trains

July 24, 2013 OTTAWA — Transport Canada July 23 announced an emergency directive pursuant to section 33 of the Railway Safety Act to increase rail safety, banning one-man crews on trains hauling one or more cars loaded with hazardous materials. Although the cause of the accident in Lac-Még [...]

Tags one-man crew, Quebec, Transport Canada, two-person crews

Amtrak teams up with Jim Henson in sweepstakes

July 23, 2013 Jim Henson’s Pajanimals has teamed up with Amtrak in their new sweepstakes. The sweepstakes offers three levels of prizes: Grand prize (one winner), first prize (five winners) and second prize (10 winners). The grand prize-winner will receive four round-trip tickets on [...]

Tags Amtrak, Contest, Jim Henson, Pajanimals, Sweepstakes

RRB labor member announces staff appointments

July 22, 2013 Walter A. Barrows, the labor member of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), recently announced two senior-level staff appointments within his immediate office. Michael J. Collins, who has been an assistant to the labor member since April 2003, will assume the position of [...]

Tags RRB

Insufficient brake force blamed in Quebec derailment

July 22, 2013 LAC-MEGANTIC, Que. – Insufficient brake force was applied before an oil train slammed into a town in Quebec on July 6 and killed 47 people, officials said Friday. Donald Ross, chief investigator for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said the insufficient brake force [...]

Tags Quebec

Senate confirms Tom Perez for Labor secretary

July 19, 2013 The Senate confirmed Tom Perez as Labor secretary on a 54-46 party-line vote July 18, making him the second of President Barack Obama’s nominees to win confirmation this week following a deal to preserve the filibuster. Perez won cloture Wednesday on a 60-40 vote, with six Re [...]

Tags Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez

DeQueen & Eastern yardmasters go SMART

July 18, 2013 Joining their fellow train and engine workers employed by the DeQueen & Eastern Railroad, the company’s yardmasters July 17 chose the SMART Transportation Division as their bargaining representative. By a two-to-one margin, the yardmasters opted for SMART TD. Train [...]

Tags DeQueen & Eastern Railroad

Pilots challenged by monitoring automated systems

July 18, 2013 WASHINGTON – Airline pilots spend nearly all their time monitoring automated cockpit systems rather than “hand-flying” planes, but their brains aren’t wired to continually pay close attention to instruments that rarely fail or show discrepancies. As a result [...]

Tags aviation, pilots

Anaheim regional meeting entertainment set

July 18, 2013 While the focus of the SMART Transportation Division’s regional meetings has always been on education for its members, attendees are provided the opportunity for a little relaxation as well. Those attending the Anaheim regional meeting scheduled for July 29-31 are in fo [...]

Tags anaheim

Quebec rail disaster may jump-starting safe push

July 18, 2013 A runaway oil train that killed scores of people when it slammed into a Quebec town is bringing renewed calls on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border for tougher safety rules for railroads. Regulators and watchdogs have sought for years improvements to a common tank car desig [...]

Tags James Stem, one-man crew, Quebec

Union says one-man train crews unsafe

July 18, 2013 HERMON, Maine — The runaway Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway train that plowed through a small Quebec town killing 50 people on July 6 had one engineer assigned to it. The American union of railway workers representing most of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway workers [...]

Tags BLET, one-man crews, Quebec