Category: Amtrak/Commuter News

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Amtrak CEO testifies on subsidies, security

May 18, 2011 WASHINGTON — Amtrak President Joseph Boardman told the Senate Appropriations Committee May 17 that Amtrak will never “be able to cut costs enough on long-distance trains to make them profitable. It becomes more a question of policy whether we are going to have bor [...]

Tags Amtrak, boardman, subsidies

Former NFL player secure in NS cab

May 16, 2011 Football season is long over. The New York Jets never made it to the Super Bowl. National Football League players are locked out by their owners. The upcoming football season could be in jeopardy. And how about Norfolk Southern conductor and former Jets defensive back Keith F [...]

Tags fitzhugh, football, nfl, Norfolk Southern

Two Border Patrol agents die in Ariz. train mishap

May 13, 2011 GILA BEND, Ariz. — A westbound Union Pacific freight train hit a U.S. Border Patrol SUV here May 12 as two Border Patrol agents, reportedly chasing suspected undocumented immigrants, suddenly entered an unmarked private crossing in their unmarked SUV as the train approa [...]

Tags border patrol, collision, immigrants, killed, Union Pacific, UP

UTU driver uninjured in fatal Texas bus crash

May 13, 2011 VICTORIA, Texas — UTU member and Valley Transit bus operator Guadalupe Ruiz escaped injury May 12 when his bus was sideswiped by a pickup truck near here. Ruiz is a member of UTU Local 1670, Laredo, Texas. The Associated Press reports that one of the bus passengers was [...]

Tags bus, bus crash, operator, Ruiz, valley transit

Our fight for right has just begun

May 13, 2011 By International President Mike Futhey I was asked if our Collective Bargaining Defense Fund, the UTU PAC and our recently inaugurated direct-contact-with-members outreach can stop the assault on labor by conservative extremists. In union there is strength, and when members o [...]

Tags assault, collective bargaining defense fund, fund

Amtrak pass information

May 11, 2011 Amtrak provides eligible active and retired UTU/SMART TD members with passes which can be used to get free or reduced-rate travel aboard the passenger railroad. UTU/SMART TD membership alone does not make the employee or retiree eligible for these travel privileges, and many [...]

Tags Amtrak pass

Florida Tri-Rail members approve new contract

May 11, 2011 MIAMI – By a four-to-one margin, UTU-member train and engine workers employed by Veolia Transportation — operator of South Florida Tri-Rail — have approved a new agreement. The UTU represents both sides of the cab on Tri-Rail. The agreement includes pay incr [...]

Tags contract, florida, tri-rail, veolia

Amtrak big winner in latest rail-grant release

May 10, 2011 WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s vision for high-speed rail along the Northeast Corridor gained a significant boost May 9 when the Federal Railroad Administration redistributed to Amtrak $795 million of some $2 billion in high-speed rail grants previously rejected by Florida [...]

Tags Amtrak, grants, high-speed, Northeast Corridor

Lollapalooza of event aids injured conductor

May 9, 2011 Norfolk Southern conductor Larry McVay, 43, caught a bad break Jan. 3 when he lost his right arm and right leg in a horrendous switching accident near Lafayette, Ind. His brothers and sisters in UTU Local 768 and UTU NS General Committee of Adjustment 687 — and others w [...]

Tags conductor, donations, injured, mcvay

‘No-ride’ list for Amtrak; armed cops on VRE

May 9, 2011 WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says he wants Amtrak and the Department of Homeland Security to create a “no-ride” list for intercity passenger trains, similar to the Secure Flight monitoring program in place for airlines whereby names of air travel [...]

Tags Amtrak, commuter, inspections