Transportation News

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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 [...]

Rail Retirement benefits frozen for 2011

The Railroad Retirement Board has confirmed for rail workers what the Social Security Administration already has told Social Security recipients: There will be no increase in benefits in 2011. The reason is there was no increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the thir [...]

New NS advertising set for CNN, FOX

Norfolk Southern has launched a new advertising program that will debut on CNN and Fox television. It follows the announcement by Union Pacific last week of a new UP advertising effort to reach potential rail customers and rail investors. The NS ad, according to the railroad, [...]

STB’s lone Republican member to depart

WASHINGTON – U.S. Surface Transportation Board member Charles “Chip” Nottingham said he will not seek reappointment when his term expires Dec. 31. Under federal law, STB members may continue serving for up to 12 months after expiration of their term, or until a su [...]

In anger, handgun pulled on SEPTA bus

UPPER DARBY, Pa. — It’s something every bus driver fears – a gun pulled in anger aboard a bus. It happened – again – in Upper Darby, Pa., last week on a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority bus, according to the Associated Press. A female passe [...]

FRA warns of lapses in situational awareness

Citing a series of on-duty career ending injuries and fatalities over the past 24 months that occurred on or near mainline track, the Federal Railroad Administration has issued a safety advisory on the importance of situational awareness, especially when the job being perform [...]

World’s longest train has new Florida station

SANFORD, Fla. – A new Amtrak station – seating 600 and four times the size of its predecessor – has opened near Orlando for the more than 244,000 annual Amtrak Auto Train passengers, reports an Amtrak press release. The $10.5 million to enlarge and improve the station – sever [...]

BNSF, NS, UP upping bets on intermodal

BNSF, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific have spent or are spending more than $600 million in Kansas, Pennsylvania and Illinois to increase their intermodal business. BNSF is constructing a $200 million intermodal terminal southwest of Kansas City in Edgerton, Kan., reports j [...]

Transit may benefit from new fuels-tax formula

WASHINGTON—State departments of transportation, which have long relied on gasoline and diesel fuel taxes to fund highways and transit programs, are asking Congress to replace the decades old pennies-per-gallon tax with a flat percentage tax, reports Dow Jones newswire. The ch [...]

Amtrak CEO: ‘More humility, listening skills’

    HOPE, Ark. – Amtrak President Joseph Boardman told an audience here last week that poor service and arrogance were to blame for Amtrak’s loss of the contract to operate the Virginia Railway Express, reports the Hope Star newspaper. The commuter service contract [...]