Transportation News

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DOT highlights grim state of U.S. infrastructure

Washington, D.C. – The Highway Trust Fund is set to expire on July 31. Without action from Congress, federal funding for transportation will come to a screeching halt. And with it, so will traffic in many places across the country. Over the last six years, Congress has passed [...]

FTA seeks nominations for TRACS

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently published a Federal Register notice seeking nominations for up to eight representatives from the public transportation safety community for Transit Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS) membership. TRACS was chartered in 2009 [...]

Critics say Senate bill would weaken rail safety

Washington, D.C. — A transportation bill introduced by a Senate committee chairman would allow car rental companies to rent recalled vehicles that haven’t been repaired and eliminate any hard deadline for railroads to start using long-sought technology that automaticall [...]

TTD: Commerce Committee bill should be scrapped

Washington, DC — Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement on the Comprehensive Transportation and Consumer Protection Act of 2015, introduced by Sen. John Thune (R – S.D.): “At a time when our country’s tran [...]

Mo. transportation commission chair on public transit

The following letter was written by Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission Chairman Stephen R. Miller. Dear Reader, Genevieve is a young woman pursing graduate work in computer science at a university in Pennsylvania. She is home visiting her family in Kansas City fo [...]

Secretary Foxx says no to privatization of FAA

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx threw cold water Wednesday, July 8, on a Republican plan to privatize large portions of the nation’s air traffic control system. House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) is expected to call for the creation of a [...]

Rail safety alert: crew-induced emergency brake use

Are you prepared to make the decision? How many times have you been a part of a crew-induced emergency? Conductors, how many times have you alerted your engineer to take action to stop the train? Engineers, do you discuss parameters with your conductors for emergency brake ap [...]

Metra conductor not a simple ticket taker

Don’t joke with Metra Assistant Conductor Don Kiesgen that all he does is “take tickets and open doors.” It’s nothing he hasn’t heard from his family already. Sure, the Metra veteran handles those two jobs. There’s also throwing switches, t [...]

DOL seeks nominations for ERISA Advisory Council

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is soliciting nominations to fill five, 3-year vacancies on the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council. T [...]

Peter Neffenger sworn in as sixth TSA administrator

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson welcomed Peter Neffenger Monday, July 6, as the sixth administrator of the Transportation Security Administration in a ceremony held at TSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Neffenger was confirmed by [...]