District of Columbia State Legislative Director and SMART Transportation Safety Team member Willie Bates has been invited by Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo to serve on the Stakeholder Review Panel for the agency’s new Clear Signal for Action safety program. The C [...]
WASHINGTON – Veterans and disabled workers who often struggle to find work could have an easier time landing a job under new federal regulations. The rules, announced Aug. 27 by the Labor Department, will require most government contractors to set a goal of having disabled wo [...]
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is required by law to submit annual financial reports to Congress on the financial condition of the railroad retirement system and the railroad unemployment insurance system. These reports must also include recommendations for any financing [...]
Rail use in America continues to climb ever higher. In July, Amtrak posted its busiest ridership month ever. But what are the busiest individual routes? Let’s take a look. Here are the 10 highest ridership Amtrak routes, as of July, 2013. Read the complete story at grea [...]
NEW YORK – Darius McCollum can explain the complicated workings of the New York City transit system with the precision of a veteran conductor. He knows every subway stop, every line, every train. It’s an obsession that has dominated his life. But instead of becoming a t [...]
Linda Kruger-Small was driving home on a rainy night, just a few days before Christmas 2008. She was on an unfamiliar street and followed a right turn arrow that put her on railroad tracks at Orangethorpe Avenue in Anaheim. It turned out to be a fatal move. Her car became stu [...]
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation introduced a positive train control (PTC) extension bill. The bill seeks to extend the statutory deadline for PTC implementation by five years to Dec. 31, 2020, as well as provide another optional two-year e [...]
The Federal Railroad Administration announced Aug. 8 that it would hold an emergency meeting of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) Aug. 29. The meeting will focus on the July 6 train derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. Preliminary findings from the derailment and s [...]
On July 30, Federal Railroad Administrator Joe Szabo addressed attendees of the SMART Transportation Division’s regional meeting in Anaheim, Calif., speaking about future endeavors the FRA has for the rail industry and about safety enhancements moving forward. “Ra [...]
Responding to a federal mandate and acting on transportation legislation passed this year by the General Assembly, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Tuesday that Virginia will assume more financial responsibility for Amtrak regional service in the state. The agreement had to be in [...]