Transportation News

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School bus driver fired for Facebook post

A school bus driver for Haralson County Schools in Alabama was terminated after he posted a comment on Facebook about a student not receiving a free lunch. The case serves as the latest example of the confusing and risky nature of social media posts by school employees and ca [...]

Minn. legislative board holding open house

The SMART Transportation Division’s Minnesota State Legislative Board is sponsoring an open house June 17 for all active and retired members from all carrier properties. This free educational experience will be held from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Roseville Radisson Hotel at 25 [...]

Transport Canada recommends ‘voluntary’ recorders

Transport Canada recommends ‘voluntary’ recorders in trains Transport Canada is leaving it up to rail companies to decide whether to install video and audio recorders in locomotives, despite a decade of recommendations by accident investigators to install the devices. The Tra [...]

BNSF boosts Bakken oil boom

MINOT, N.D. — To bolster its ability to haul freight, including crude oil, Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway Co. plans to spend $4.1 billion on capital improvements in 2013, a single-year record for an American railroad, the company says. Such grand business plans, though, didn’t [...]

Carper named for 2nd term on Amtrak board

MACOMB, Ill. — President Barack Obama has re-nominated former Macomb mayor Tom Carper to the Amtrak Board of Directors. Carper got confirmation June 5 from staff members in the White House. Read the full story at the Quincy Herald-Whig.

Amtrak: ‘We are eating our assets alive’

WASHINGTON – The reduced level of federal investment in Northeast Corridor (NEC) infrastructure has resulted in a cumulative degradation of its components, nearing the loss of asset functionality and decreased reliability of the system that threatens the successful cont [...]

Local 1188 establishes tornado relief fund

Local 1188 at Oklahoma City, Okla., has established a relief fund to assist their brothers and sisters who have been affected by May’s tornado in Moore, Okla. “Several members of Local 1188 and Local 1042 in Oklahoma City have had their homes damaged or completely destroyed. [...]

Our purpose is safety, security, opportunity

As our Washington staff interacts with decision makers here in the nation’s capital, our focus is to improve our members’ job security and safety and to create more job opportunities in our industries. We are presently involved in a number of efforts to fulfill those goals. F [...]

Previsich appointed to freight advisory committee

Increasing the contributions of the SMART Transportation Division’s input in shaping public transportation policy, SMART Transportation Division General Secretary & Treasurer John Previsich May 30 was named to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Freight Advis [...]

FRA issues advisory on warning system repairs

The Federal Railroad Administration June 3 issued a safety advisory on the importance railroad safety procedures to ensure the safety of the traveling public and railroad employees when highway-rail grade crossing warning systems and wayside signal systems are temporarily rem [...]