Transportation News

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Szabo offers oversight of passenger, freight rail safety

Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo addressed members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Feb. 26, providing them with oversight of passenger and freight rail safety and responding [...]

Rails tell Congress they won't meet PTC deadline

WASHINGTON – Railroads warned Congress again Wednesday they wouldn’t meet a 2015 deadline for automatic braking on trains, but engineers and safety officials urged adoption of the technology that might have prevented the fatal Metro North crash in New York this past Dec [...]

GAO report: Airline pilot shortage? Not clear

WASHINGTON – Regional airlines report difficulty over the past year in finding enough pilots to hire, but it isn’t clear whether there is a shortage of pilots, a government watchdog said in a report released Friday. Researchers found “mixed evidence” of a sh [...]

NARP President Capon steps down

Ross Capon, the face of the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) for 39 years on Capitol Hill, is stepping down from his role as president, and apparently will retire from the organization at year’s end. Dr. Larry Scott will serve as NARP acting president [...]

First Transit enters agreement with Red Apple drivers

First Transit, Inc., and members of the SMART Transportation Division have agreed on mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment and signed a collective bargaining agreement, according to the National Labor Relations Board. The transportation management company, wh [...]

Obama touts $302B transportation plan in St. Paul

President Barack Obama came to St. Paul on Wednesday to showcase the city’s newly refurbished Union Depot transit hub as an example of the kinds of transportation development he wants for the rest of the nation. “This project symbolizes what’s possible,̶ [...]

Federal income tax and Railroad Retirement benefits

The following questions and answers describe the tax statements issued by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) each January for federal income tax purposes. Railroad retirement beneficiaries needing information about these statements, or about tax withholding from their benefi [...]

N.Y. reps. urge settlement of LIRR dispute

Twelve members of the U.S. House of Representatives have co-signed a letter to the chairman of New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority urging the MTA to reach a settlement with union employees of the Long Island Rail Road and avert a possible strike by those emp [...]

SMART wins election by Brega bus operators

Bus operators employed by Brega Transport Corp. that provide service for Transport of Rockland in Rockland County, New York, have voted for representation by the SMART Transportation Division. Of the eligible voters who participated in the election, 46 selected SMART TD, 21 v [...]

Treasurers’ workshop set for March in San Antonio

The SMART Transportation Division is conducting a local treasurers’ workshop at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 67 Hall in San Antonio, Texas, March 11-12. Attendance is limited to 30 registrants. Those interested in attending the workshop should contact the office of the SMART [...]