Crew members hurt jumping from UP train

The Union Pacific Railroad is investigating after two employees were injured while jumping from a moving locomotive. According to Mark Davis, UPRR director of corporate relations and media, the incident occurred at 2 p.m. Saturday near Kennard. The village is just west of Bla [...]

Local Chairperson Justin Van Houdt dies

SMART Transportation Division Local 313 Chairperson Justin Van Houdt, 34, died unexpectedly Oct. 21 at his home in Hudsonville, Mich., Michigan State Legislative Director Jerry Gibson reports. The cause of death is unknown and the family is awaiting a report from the county m [...]

Antennae on tribal lands further delays PTC

Two years probably wasn’t going to be enough time for railroads to install crash-avoidance technology on 23,000 locomotives and 60,000 miles of tracks, in the biggest rail-safety project in U.S. history. Then they encountered the Choctaw Nation, Muscogee and Navajo. In May, t [...]

SMART rejects arbitration offer on LIRR

The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Oct. 21 rejected a proffer of arbitration from the National Mediation Board to SMART Transportation Division’s General Committee of Adjustment GO 505, which represents a variety of crafts on th [...]

Online open enrollment ends Nov. 2

Railroad employees covered under National Railway Carriers/UTU Health and Welfare Plan or the Railroad Employees’ National Health and Welfare Plan will begin receiving notification of the online open enrollment period that began Oct. 1, 2013, and ends Nov. 2, 2013. The inform [...]

NJ Transit troubled by rise in rail suicides

Some people lie on the tracks in the path of an oncoming train. Some walk defiantly in the direction of a train as it hurtles toward them, or stand in place until they can look directly into the eyes of the terrified engineer. Others walk along the tracks listening to music t [...]

TTD Honors School Bus Drivers During Safety Week

WASHINGTON – The Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO joins the rest of the nation this week in thanking the men and women dedicated to transporting children to and from school during National School Bus Safety Week. In recognition of the challenges faced by school [...]

John Helak Joins SMART General Executive Council

John Helak, Business Manager / FST of Local 71, Buffalo, New York, was appointed to SMART’s General Executive Council as a General Vice President, effective August 14, 2013. Brother Helak began his career in the sheet metal industry as an apprentice in 1978.  He served as a b [...]