Category: Washington
STB requires additional service reporting from railroads
The federal Surface Transportation Board issued the following statement on Friday, May 6: The Surface Transportation Board today announced that it will require certain railroads to submit service recovery plans as well as provide additional data and regular progress reports on rail service, operations, and employment. These measures are meant to inform the Board’s assessment […]
FRA admin: Train length a factor in considering crew-size rule
Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose last week addressed a shippers’ conference and said that part of his agency’s rationale in approaching a minimum crew size rulemaking will be taking into consideration the carriers’ use of longer trains, Trains Magazine reported April 8. “We think having a consistent standard for crew size across the country benefits […]
STB announces hearing regarding rail service
Class I railroad officials have a two-day-long hearing before the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) to prepare for later this month. Reports from shippers to STB regarding poor service — the latest being a letter directly from the National Grain and Feed Association, a group representing more than 8,000 facilities — as well as a […]
SMART-TD, BLET gather allies at TTD Executive Committee meeting
CLEVELAND, Ohio (April 6, 2022) — The nation’s two largest railroad unions continue to gather allies and momentum as they oppose the imposition of precision scheduled railroading (PSR) tactics by Class I carriers that put safety and the health and lives of working people at risk. At the April 4 Executive Committee meeting of the […]
SMART-TD highlights realities causing NGFA’s concerns about freight rail operations
On Friday, April 1, the SMART Transportation Division sought Surface Transportation Board Administrator Martin Oberman’s intervention in ending the precision scheduled railroading (PSR) onslaught that has caused continual havoc in the United States’ supply chain and gutted the rail workforce. SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson detailed the anti-worker attendance policies implemented by the nation’s largest freight […]
TD Local 759 president meets DOT head
Local 759 (Paramus, N.J.) President and Legislative Representative Rafael Becerra met with Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Tom Carper and Gov. John Carney on Friday, March 4, in Wilmington, Del., as part of an event promoting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), formerly known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Brother Becerra, a […]
Transportation labor reacts to the State of the Union Address
The AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, of which the SMART Transportation Division is a proud member, released the following statement on March 1 after President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, president and secretary-treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the below statement in response to President Biden’s […]
Kansas SLD introduces DOT Secretary Buttigieg, U.S. Rep. Davids at KC event
Kansas State Legislative Director Ty Dragoo (Local 1503, Marysville, Kan.) accepted an invitation from the federal Department of Transportation to introduce DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids at a Jan. 28 event discussing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in Kansas City. “It’s no accident when federal agencies call on our […]