Transportation News

Visit the digital archive of the SMART-TD News (PDFs)

CATS Local 1715 averts strike, gets three-year deal

SMART Transportation Division Local 1715 bus operators employed by Transit Management of Charlotte, Inc., Dec. 12 ratified a three-year agreement with management, averting a possible strike. The new agreement calls for annual wage increases, paid retroactively to July 1, plus [...]

Local 662 ‘Holi-Day’ a resounding success

With an estimated 1,000 people in attendance at its Dec. 7 “Holi-Day” celebration, SMART Transportation Division Local 662 at Richmond, Va., reports the event was a resounding success. Local 662, in conjunction with CSX Transportation and other rail labor organiza [...]

Whistleblowers can now file complaints online

WASHINGTON – Whistleblowers covered by one of 22 statutes administered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration will now be able to file complaints online. The online form will provide workers who have been retaliated against an ad [...]

FRA issues safety advisory on speed restrictions

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Dec. 11 issued an industry-wide Safety Advisory to help ensure railroads adhere to federal regulations regarding maximum authorized train speed limits. The advisory contains four recomm [...]

Rutgers’ Bus Ops Were Smart, Now Their SMART

Bus operators for Rutgers University’s inter-campus bus and shuttle system seeking union representation overwhelmingly chose the SMART Transportation Division Dec. 9 as their collective bargaining representative. Among 112 eligible voters, 74 of the 80 operators participating [...]

Rutgers' bus ops were smart, now SMART

Bus operators for Rutgers University’s inter-campus bus and shuttle system seeking union representation overwhelmingly chose the SMART Transportation Division Dec. 9 as their collective bargaining representative. Among 112 eligible voters, 74 of the 80 operators participating [...]

Has Amtrak's NEC plan slowed to 160 mph?

Has Amtrak abandoned its vision of 220-mile-per-hour bullet trains speeding up and down the Northeast Corridor? The railroad recently issued draft specifications for new trains to replace its existing Acelas that call for 160 m.p.h. trains, not the 220 mph versions Amtrak sai [...]

NTSB team departs Metro-North crash site

WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board’s go-team will leave New York City this week after completing the necessary on-scene investigative work into the cause of the derailment of a Metro-North passenger train on Dec. 1. The NTSB will continue to gather fa [...]

OSHA fines First Student for driving with bald tires

JUNCTION CITY, OREGON — A bus used to drive Junction City School District students to and from school operated with front tires so worn that the cords underneath the tire tread were visible, state workplace safety regulators have found. The bus company, First Student In [...]

Presidential Emergency Board 244 Proceedings Begin

Following years of failed negotiations with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road, the official proceedings of Presidential Emergency Board 244 (PEB 244) began Dec. 2, 2013, at the New York Hilton in New York City. MTA had been seeking thr [...]