Like a train engineer blessed with good weather and clear tracks, Union Pacific has arrived ahead of schedule. The railroad company’s $400 million intermodal facility in Santa Teresa broke ground in 2011, expecting to be operational in 2015. Instead the Omaha, Neb.-base [...]
Representatives of the SMART Transportation Division’s Switching Operations Fatality Analysis Working Group (SOFA) urge railroad operating employees in northern states to exercise a heightened level of caution while working in late winter weather conditions. Minnesota State [...]
By John Previsich, SMART Transportation Division President – 2014 is shaping up to be a remarkable year in the history of our union. The SMART constitution is now finalized and we are moving forward with the ongoing effort to merge our two organizations into one. For those w [...]
The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a two-day public forum next month on the safety of moving crude oil and ethanol by rail, the agency said Thursday. The NTSB has been warning for years that a common type of railroad tank car, known as the DOT-111, was not sui [...]
Never before has the Northern California Sheet Metal Workers’ Local Union No. 104 seen such a vast mobilization of members as it did on Saturday, March 1st in Livermore, California. The 2014 Campaign for Jobs Conference hosted over 500 dedicated members who are willing to fig [...]
TORONTO — The crude oil that exploded during a fatal derailment in Quebec last year that killed 47 people had characteristics similar to that of unleaded gasoline, a highly flammable liquid, Canada’s transportation safety agency said Thursday. The Transportation Safety [...]
A video utilizing stop-motion animation by Evan Orlando, a sheet metal apprentice at Local 16 in Portland, Oregon. According to John Candioti, Local 16 Business Manager, “the video helps explain layout so much that the School Boards we invite to our Training Center fo [...]
The SMART Transportation Division Transportation Safety Team (TST) is comprised of 21 members of the SMART TD, each of whom is on call 24 hours a day to assist in determining the facts in rail-related accidents. The team members are selected by the SMART Transportation Divisi [...]
Last month, President Obama announced an initiative to improve the fuel efficiency of trucks. That’s a lofty goal, but here’s an even better idea: Let’s make an effort to move more freight by rail and less by road. Trains are far more energy-efficient than trucks – and they a [...]
The shakeup of NJ Transit’s upper management is becoming a clean sweep. In the same week that Jim Weinstein’s four-year tenure as NJ Transit’s executive director officially ended, his directors of rail and bus operations, Kevin O’Connor and Joyce Gallagher, are being forced o [...]
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