A collective of rail unions and Michigan citizens lobbied the FRA to deny a CSX request that would discontinue use of vital safety signals along a busy freight rail line in Michigan – and won.
SMART Transportation Division, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Brotherhood of Maintenance Way Employees and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen successfully rallied the FRA to block CSX’s bid to discontinue the traffic control system (TCS) along the Michigan rail line that connects Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit.
Click here to read FRA’s letter of denial to CSX.
Tag: train track safety
NAVASOTA, Texas – Fredzania Thompson, a mother-to-be and an aspiring model, was tragically killed during a photo shoot on train tracks. Read the complete article here.
According to John Risch, SMART TD national legislative director, there is a dangerous and growing trend of photographers using railroad tracks as the setting for photo shoots, especially graduation and modeling shoots, and these shoots can be catastrophic.
If you’re made aware of photo shoots occurring on a railroad’s tracks – either by receiving a graduation card in the mail, or by seeing photos like this somewhere, report the photo to a rail management office and ask them contact the photographer.
Christopher Ross Hubbard, age 36, died on Sunday morning, October 30, during an accident that occurred as he and the engineer were performing a routine track switch near the town of Artesia, Miss. Hubbard, from Cottondale, Ala., was a conductor on the Alabama Southern train. The accident occurred on a stretch of track owned by Kansas City Southern. The FRA is investigating. Read more here.