News Archive
A dog walks into a post office…
WASHINGTON — The Railway Mail Service is no more, but the pooch who, more than a century ago, served as a mascot and protector to those who sorted the mail aboard Railway Post Office (RPO) cars has gained new life in a special issue stamp of the U.S. Postal Service. Owney is [...]Maglev’s future bleak after Pa. firm’s bankruptcy
The likelihood of 300-mph magnetic levitation trains operating in the United States anytime soon took another body blow in July when a private-sector firm planning a maglev route in Pennsylvania filed for bankruptcy. Maglev uses powerful electro-magnets to levitate, propel, g [...]1 grey sedan, 2 unknown occupants & a TSA mystery
Witnesses say it’s a grey sedan. A grey four-door sedan — occupied by two men. A grey four-door sedan occupied by two men that shows up at railroad facilities. The men claim to work for the Federal Railroad Administration. That say they are there to inspect a bridge, or [...]Q&As on tentative national rail contract
Following negotiation of the tentative national rail contract, general chairpersons submitted questions about the contract that were relayed by the International to the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), which represents carriers at the bargaining table. Th [...]Wrap up: Major rails’ 2d quarter 2011 profits
Canadian National: Canadian National Railway July 25 reported an 8 percent increase in profit for the second quarter 2011 versus the second quarter 2010, citing a 10 percent increase in intermodal loadings (trailers and containers on flat cars) and a 14 percent increase in in [...]Yard accident claims UTU member
CHICAGO — A Belt Railway of Chicago switchman and UTU member with three years’ service was crushed to death between two rail cars in a hump yard here just after midnight July 25. Andres Tapia, 34, a member of UTU Local 1597 (Chicago), and working a two-person remote con [...]Rising bus death toll accentuates safety reform need
As the UTU continues to lobby safety regulators and Congress on the need for bus-operator fatigue abatement, improved driver training and tougher bus-safety inspections, tragic events are placing even more emphasis on this topic. Since January, according to Advocates for High [...]