Transportation News

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

Open enrollment for RR GA-23111 health plans

During November and December, UnitedHealthcare will hold an open enrollment under railroad plans GA-23111. During this open enrollment period, any individual eligible for coverage under one of the GA-23111 plans may enroll and be accepted for coverage without medical underwri [...]

STB to consider partial rail reregulation

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Surface Transportation Board says it will hold a hearing Dec. 9 to review certain exemptions from economic regulation afforded railroads – specifically, commodity exemptions, boxcar exemptions and intermodal trailer and container exemptions. The exemptio [...]

Up, up and up go rail freight shipments

Rail freight loadings continue to show improvement, reports the AAR in releasing carloading data for the week ending Oct. 16. Total U.S. carloadings increased by more than 10 percent over the same week in 2009. Intermodal loadings were up by more than 15 percent over the comp [...]

Amtrak’s chief operating officer departs

Amtrak reported Oct. 21 that Chief Operating Officer Bill Crosbie is leaving Amtrak immediately, and the position of chief operating officer is being abolished.  Amtrak President Joseph Boardman, in an employee advisory, said the vice presidents of the operating departments w [...]

Here is CORRECT RRB toll-free number

Take note of the CORRECT toll-free telephone number for the Railroad Retirement Board’s Information Line: (877) 772-5772 This number replaces a previous toll-free number to reach the Railroad Retirement Board. The old number no longer reaches the Railroad Retirement Boa [...]

UP profit soars; those furloughed will return

Union Pacific earnings for the third quarter 2010 soared by 51 percent from the third quarter 2009, the railroad told investors Oct. 21. UP told Wall Street analysts it was the company’s most profitable quarter ever. In reporting the record earnings, UP Chairman Jim You [...]

These thefts can derail, kill and maim

As the recession takes its toll, an increased rail safety threat is emerging – the theft of rail spikes and tie plates from active railroad lines. In Woodbine, N.J., last week, police arrested four men suspected of stealing spikes and tie plates from five miles of New Jersey [...]

Train & engine employment still rising

Train and engine employment continues to climb back toward pre-recession levels, with Class I railroads continuing to call back furloughed train crews. The Surface Transportation Board posted data for September, showing train and engine employment on Class I railroads grew al [...]

UTU PAC: It’s about jobs, benefits, safety

UTU Michigan State Legislative Director Jerry Gibson knows the value of the UTU PAC in electing labor friendly lawmakers. He knows how to share those facts, also. UTU Local 1075 Secretary-Treasurer John Purcell says he and other members of his Trenton, Mich., local had “no cl [...]

FRA told: ‘Mexican trains must be inspected’

Union Pacific is at it again — and the UTU and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen intend to stop it, again. The “it” is a UP request to the Federal Railroad Administration that UP be allowed to bring trains from Mexico into the United State [...]