BNSF announced on Wednesday in a letter to employees that three maintenance shops will be closed in Montana and Wyoming, while additional mechanical department job cuts will occur in Alliance and Lincoln, Neb.; Mandan and Minot, N.D.; Topeka, Kan.; and Superior, Wis. “In tota [...]
Canadian Pacific’s acquisition of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway (CM&Q) was approved by the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) on May 1, and will take effect June 18, 2020. The purchase from Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC, officia [...]
SMART Transportation Division Local 61 (Philadelphia, Pa.) has experienced the loss of a second member from the novel coronavirus. Brother Stephen McFadden, 51, of Philadelphia, and a SEPTA conductor, died April 30 from COVID-19. He had been a member of the union since Septem [...]
Net Earnings: Decreased 5% to $1.19 billion. Revenue: Decreased 6% to $5.4 billion. Operating Income: Increased 2% to $1.8 billion. Operating Expenses:Decreased 6.7% to $3.6 billion. Operating Ratio: Improved by 4 points to 65.2%. Link to read BNSF’s full earnings repor [...]
In a move that carrier officials said was in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, Norfolk Southern has idled the hump yard at Linwood Terminal in North Carolina, costing more than 80 people their jobs. NS told Trains Magazine May 1 that the “unforeseeable business circums [...]
After nearly four decades of service to members and numerous administrations in various roles in both SMART Transportation Division’s Public Relations and President’s Department, Senior Administrative Assistant to the President John Horvath is calling it a career. Starting Ma [...]
Demetrios Vatistas, secretary and treasurer for SMART Transportation Division Local 281 (Milwaukee, Wis.), discussed working as a Metra conductor during the coronavirus pandemic with a Chicago-area newspaper. Vatistas has been S&T for his local since February 2019 and a T [...]
I wanted to send out another update on what is going on at the agency. We have received inquiries regarding Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that was established under the CARES Act and whether railroaders may be eligible for benefits under that program if they are not [...]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy R. Ferguson and National Legislative Director Gregory Hynes met with U.S. Rep. and Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) earlier this week, alerting him to carriers’ inadequate effor [...]
SMART General President Joseph Sellers Jr. and SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson as well as dozens of unions, business groups, economic justice organizations, and local transit advocates from across the nation wrote today to Vice President Mike Pence and [...]
