Transportation News

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Virginia SLD reminds state voters: Absentee voting has begun!

SMART Transportation Division Virginia State Legislative Director Ronnie Hobbs issued a reminder Oct. 16 that absentee voting in-person or by mail has begun for the state’s Nov. 5 general elections. Voters can cast absentee ballots in person at their local voting regist [...]

Poll claims Coloradans are willing to pay more taxes for rail service

A recent poll conducted by RBI Strategies & Research in conjunction with Magellan Strategies found that 61% of those surveyed would support a sales tax increase to fund a passenger rail service project along Colorado’s Front Range. Although a sales tax increase is support [...]

Kansas SLD criticizes UP yard cuts

Union Pacific’s version of Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) claimed more victims recently. UP announced last week that it was doing away with its Neff Yard in Kansas City, Mo., and with it 200 well-paying rail jobs evaporate. The short-term benefits of these and other wo [...]

Update on the facts of the crew consist lawsuit from President Ferguson

Brothers and sisters of the SMART Transportation Division, I wanted to take this opportunity to explain what the crew consist lawsuit that has been filed in federal court in Texas is about. From the questions we have received, it appears that there is some confusion. The laws [...]

FMCSA re-charters its safety advisory committee

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced in a notice published in the Federal Register on Oct. 2 that it was renewing the charter of its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) for two years, effective Sept. 27. The MCSAC was established to pr [...]

TD ready to respond as carriers once again attack crew consist

NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio (October 3, 2019) — Today, the nation’s Class I rail carriers, along with a few other railroads, filed suit in federal district court in the Northern District of Texas in an attempt to undermine our collective bargaining agreements as well as the bar [...]

Carrier sues Illinois to stop two-person crew law

Indiana Rail Road, with the backing of the major rail carrier organizations, has filed suit challenging a law requiring two people on freight crews in Illinois, the Courthouse News Service reported. “The recent history of railroads confirms the wisdom of FRA’s expert de [...]

Autumn brings nominations and elections for locals

SMART Transportation Division members are reminded that legislative representative and alternate legislative representative elections are scheduled to be held this autumn, with nominations to be taken in October and elections conducted in November. Locals must solicit for the [...]