Labor Dept. wants safety reports made public

The Labor Department wants companies to begin filing all workplace injury and illness reports electronically so they are available for anyone in the public to see. The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration will announce the plan on Thursday as part [...]

Metra members approve seven-year deal

With 85 percent of eligible ballots returned, SMART Transportation Division conductors and assistant conductors on the Northern Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corp. (known as Metra) have approved a seven-year mediation agreement governing wages and working conditions, th [...]

Americans' appetite for Amtrak service growing

While politicians can’t agree on much, Iowans and the majority of Americans surely agree on one thing: They want more Amtrak service, not less. On the heaviest traveled passenger rail corridor in the nation, the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak keeps breaking ridership records. But [...]

Boardman to Senate: Invest in NEC

The Northeast Corridor is a national transportation asset and Congress should stop taking it for granted, Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Boardman told a Senate committee yesterday. The corridor is aging, failure prone and lacks redundant systems to keep it o [...]

Hersman, Hart retain NTSB seats

On Monday, Deborah Hersman was sworn in to serve a third two-year term as chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Chair since 2009, Hersman was nominated for a third term by President Barack Obama on Aug. 1 and the nomination was confirmed by the Senate [...]

Pueblo steaming toward Amtrak stop

Support for saving Amtrak’s Southwest Chief passenger train and making Pueblo a route stop is picking up steam. The Pueblo Area Council of Governments passed a resolution Thursday pushing the importance and need for Pueblo to be added on to the Southeastern Colorado route, an [...]

Man assaults women, conductor near train station

OAKLAND — A man who randomly walked up to two women and punched them in the face, punched a train conductor, then pulled a knife on a witness who tried to help, was arrested Thursday afternoon near the Amtrak station at Jack London Square, police said. The 40-year-old m [...]

SEPTA rail members ratify agreement

SMART Transportation Division Local 61 members working at Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority recently ratified a new agreement governing the rates of pay and working conditions of conductors and assistant conductors on the regional commuter railroad. With near [...]

SMART rejects arbitration offer on LIRR

The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Oct. 21 rejected a proffer of arbitration from the National Mediation Board to SMART Transportation Division’s General Committee of Adjustment GO 505, which represents a variety of crafts on th [...]

GO 505 at impasse in LIRR negotiations

The unions representing most of the Long Island Rail Road’s workforce have reached a critical impasse in contract negotiations that could lead to a strike, the LIRR’s top union official said Friday. Anthony Simon, general chairman of the United Transportation Unio [...]