SMART TD, UTUIA phones disabled

Telephone communications both to and from the SMART Transportation Division and United Transportation Union Insurance Association offices located in North Olmsted, Ohio, are currently disabled due to hardware issues. Telephone contact with the offices above will be unavailabl [...]

Rail firms to adopt safer tank cars on their own

Companies that transport massive amounts of flammable crude oil say that, after several fiery explosions, they’re not waiting for the U.S. government to issue new regulations and will replace tank cars with new safer cars as fast as they can. Two oil companies, two Canadian r [...]

UP Chairman Jim Young dies

James R. Young, who advanced to become Union Pacific Corp. (UNP) chairman, president and chief executive officer after starting with the railroad company in an entry-level finance position, died today. He was 61 years old. He died after a two-year battle with pancreatic cance [...]

MM&A Railway had repeated brake violations

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd. (MM&A) had been the subject of repeated infraction notices for violations of the rules surrounding the securing of trains for years before the tragedy in Lac-Mégantic, but Transport Canada never imposed any sanctions on the comp [...]

Train carrying Canadian oil derails, leaks in Pa.

A 120-car train making its way across Pennsylvania derailed Thursday morning, spilling thousands of gallons of oil and alarming observers who have called for stricter safety standards on trains hauling hazardous material. The train is owned by the New Jersey-based Norfolk Sou [...]

Minn. lawmakers propose fee on crude transport

ST. PAUL – Improved crude oil safety measures should be funded by charging 1 cent per 100 gallons on all crude transported in Minnesota, the state Legislature’s transportation finance chairmen said Wednesday. “This particular oil is especially volatile and as we have se [...]

Tenn. Republicans want a union-free environment

The United Auto Workers are trying to organize a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, and opposition is building. But it’s not management fighting the union, it’s Republican politicians. The Chattanooga factory, which opened in 2011 to build the Passat, employs about 1, [...]

Report due in March on Canadian-Alaska rail link

A preliminary feasibility study for a proposed1,600-mile rail link from British Columbia to Alaska will be completed in March, officials with G7G Railway Corp., a Vancouver, B.C-based company, told state legislators in Juneau Jan. 30. G7G hopes to ship Alberta oil by rail fro [...]