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Driver in collision with Amtrak train could face charges

January 30, 2017 PORTLAND, Maine — A Portland man who drove his car around the gates at a railroad crossing as an Amtrak train approached could face charges. Derso Mekonen, 56, drove his car around a line of vehicles stopped at a railroad crossing, Friday, Jan. 27, and collided with an [...]

Tags Amtrak Downeaster, charges, charges filed, collision, crash

Ann Begeman replaces Elliott as STB Chairman

January 27, 2017 President Donald J. Trump has appointed Ann Begeman to serve as Acting Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board (STB). Begeman is currently serving a second, five-year term as a Member of the Board following her recent nomination by President Barack Obama Dec. 7, 2016, an [...]

Tags Ann Begeman, Dan Elliott, STB, Surface Transportation Board

Negotiations update on the National Rail Contract

January 26, 2017 Dear members, On December 5, 2016, SMART Transportation Division issued a press release to announce that the unions participating in the Coordinated Bargaining Group (CBG) had requested that the National Mediation Board (NMB) mediate the group’s negotiations with the National [...]

Tags Coordinated Bargaining Group, John Previsich, National Carriers' Conference Committee, National Mediation Board, Presidential Emergency Board, Railway Labor Act

Statement from GP Sellers on Meeting With President Trump

January 25, 2017 Earlier this week, I was joined by SMART Government Affairs Director Steve Dodd and General Vice President Gary Masino in a meeting with President Trump and Building Trades leaders at his first work day in the Oval Office. Throughout, we were regarded with respect and courte [...]

Class I’s release 4th quarter & 2016 annual earnings

January 25, 2017 4th Quarter 2016 Net Earnings: $458 million or $0.49 per share, up from $466 million or $0.48 per share in 2015’s 4th quarter Revenue: Increased by 9 percent to $3,037 billion Operating Income: Increased to $1 billion over last year’s $791 million Operating Ratio: [...]

Tags 2016 annual earnings, 4th Quarter earnings, annual financial reports, Class I's, CN, CP, CSX, earnings, financial results, KCS, NS, UP

SMART Leaders Meet With President Trump At White House

January 23, 2017 General President Sellers led a group of SMART leaders joining Sean McGarvey, president of the North America’s Building Trades Unions, Terry O’Sullivan, president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) and others in a day one meeting w [...]

PTSD: Occupational hazard for railroaders

January 23, 2017 Chuck Akers, lifelong train engineer, was forced to retire early after three physicians concurred that his numerous experiences with collisions that were caused by vehicles and people blocking the tracks (he was cleared of any wrongdoing in all incidents), had culminated into [...]

Tags PTSD, railroad accidents, railroad safety, train engineer PTSD

“Full Circle” – Joe Biden takes Amtrak home to Delaware

January 23, 2017 Commuter rail has been former Vice President Joe Biden’s method of transportation his entire career. During his 36-year run as U.S. Senator, Biden commuted daily from his home in Delaware to Washington D.C., then back home again – a three hour, roundtrip commute. [...]

Tags Amtrak, commuter rail, Joe Biden

SMART TD AND BLET: CALL CONGRESS for 2-PERSON CREW, NOW!

January 20, 2017 CLEVELAND, Jan. 20—The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Rail Air and Transportation Workers (SMART TD) are urging their respective memberships to contact members of the Hou [...]

Tags freight safety, H.R. 233, legislation, Rep. Don Young, two-person crews

AAR describes rail job decline as “being flexible, efficient”

January 18, 2017 Trains.com reported that the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report showing that railroad jobs dropped by 3.8 percent in 2016 – reflecting the elimination of approximately 8,600 railroad jobs. In 2015, the drop in railroad jobs was reported at at sharper decline o [...]

Tags Bureau of Labor Statistics, decline in rail jobs, rail jobs down carriers still profit, railroad jobs