Transportation News

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Opinion: How much safety are rails willing to pay for?

When a train derails and people die, as happened Dec. 1 in New York, there are going to be lots of questions. Eventually, there will be answers to most. But will anyone be able to answer this question: How much are the lives of train passengers worth? On Dec. 2, as investigat [...]

N.Y. rep. proposes action to prevent railway accidents

WASHINGTON — A New York congressman is proposing legislation aimed at preventing another accident like Sunday’s fatal Metro-North derailment in the Bronx. The proposal from Democratic Rep. Sean Maloney of Cold Spring would help Metro-North and other commuter rail systems appl [...]

Former general chairperson Tim Smith dies

Funeral services were held Tuesday, Dec. 3, for Timothy J. Smith, 66, who died Nov. 28 after a hard fought battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Smith worked 30 years as an engineer for Lake Terminal Railroad in Lorain, Ohio, with 22 of those years serving as general chairperson. H [...]

Train derailment airs queries about technology

YONKERS, N.Y. – The revelation that a New York City commuter train derailed while barreling into a sharp curve at nearly three times the speed limit is fueling questions about whether automated crash-avoidance technology could have prevented the carnage. Safety officials have [...]

FRA announces rule on passenger rail emergencies

The Federal Railroad Administration Nov. 29 announced a new final rule intended to further help with the evacuation of passengers and crewmembers in the event of a rail emergency. Among the provisions, the rule requires that vestibule and interior passageway doors on passenge [...]

School Bus Summit Shines Spotlight On Safety

WASHINGTON – The threat of unscrupulous school bus contractors transporting our nation’s students and the working conditions of drivers are among the topics featured at today’s school bus summit hosted by the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. “During this summi [...]

School bus summit shines spotlight on safety

WASHINGTON – The threat of unscrupulous school bus contractors transporting our nation’s students and the working conditions of drivers are among the topics featured at today’s school bus summit hosted by the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. “During this summi [...]

Speed eyed in Metro-North train crash

Investigators are looking at speed as a contributing factor to what may have caused a Grand Central-bound Metro-North train to derail while rounding a curve in the Bronx on Sunday, Dec. 1, sending train cars down a slope toward the Harlem River and throwing passengers out win [...]

Seven dead in two separate railroad accidents

Seven people were killed in separate railroad accidents Sunday, Dec. 1, in New York and New Mexico. Three employees of the Southwest Railroad in New Mexico died when when the train’s locomotive plunged 40 feet into a ravine. In suburban New York City, a Metro-North comm [...]

Transportation budget bill spares SEPTA

SEPTA expects to receive $350 million of the bill’s $475 million earmarked for public transportation. The Pennsylvania state government passed a $2.3 billion transportation package that will allow SEPTA to dodge a doomsday budget that would have cut transit services throughou [...]