Transportation News

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Federal panel hears concerns on railroad safety

WASHINGTON – A federal panel heard comments Wednesday on the adequacy of safety regulations for railroads, during the first of two meetings that will focus on last month’s deadly train derailment in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Fatigue is the top safety concern among train cre [...]

Labor rules to boost employment for vets, disabled

WASHINGTON – Veterans and disabled workers who often struggle to find work could have an easier time landing a job under new federal regulations. The rules, announced Aug. 27 by the Labor Department, will require most government contractors to set a goal of having disabled wo [...]

Veteran ‘railroad guy’ takes over at Metra

Unlike his predecessor, who ran a Los Angeles bus company, Metra’s new interim executive director is a veteran “railroad guy” who actually knows how to drive a train. Donald Orseno broke into the railroad business collecting tickets, helping set up trains an [...]

RRB issues financial report

The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is required by law to submit annual financial reports to Congress on the financial condition of the railroad retirement system and the railroad unemployment insurance system. These reports must also include recommendations for any financing [...]

FAA issues policy on aircraft cabin crewmembers

WASHINGTON –The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), working with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Aug. 22 issued a final policy for improving workplace safety for aircraft cabin crewmem [...]

TTD asks lawmakers to restore RRB benefits

The Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO has written letters to all members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives asking them to restore full unemployment and sickness benefits to Railroad Retirement beneficiaries whose benefits have been reduced due [...]

FRA issues guidance memorandum on EO 28

The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a guidance memorandum for Emergency Order 28, which seeks to prevent trains operating on mainline tracks or sidings from moving unintentionally. The memorandum has been sent to all Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) member [...]

Szabo ‘shocked’ at MM&A’s one-person train crews

The nation’s top railroad administrator has told the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway that he is “shocked” that the company has not adopted a policy of using two-person crews on its trains in the United States. In a letter to the Maine-based company, F [...]

Avantair to be liquidated

Clearwater Fla.-based Avantair’s assets will be sold off and the company liquidated after it failed to meet a deadline last week to contest an involuntary Chapter 7 filing in the Florida Middle District U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tampa. Judge Catherine McEwen signed an order on [...]

Canada eyes PTC following disaster

After the recent disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is looking at possibly implementing positive train control (PTC) systems on its railroads. In 2010 and 2012, two major train derailments have been linked to trainmen not followi [...]