Transportation News

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

Member needs our help with son’s medical bills

  SMART Transportation Division Local 278 member Kyle Jones and his wife Samantha received devastating news Jan. 14, when their seven-year-old son Ayden was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APML). This is an extremely rare cancer for someone as young as Ayden [...]

NTSB finds nearly identical cause of two commuter rail accidents

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that two commuter railroad terminal accidents in the New York area were caused by engineer fatigue resulting from undiagnosed severe obstructive sleep apnea. The Sept. 29, 2016, accident on the New Jersey Transit rail [...]

Fundraiser set up for men killed in Amtrak 91 collision

A memorial fund for Amtrak conductor Mike Cella, a current SMART Transportation Division member out of Local 30 in Florida, and engineer Mike Kempf, a former SMART TD member, who were tragically killed in the line of duty on Sunday, Feb. 4, has been established. Proceeds from [...]

NTSB issues update on Amtrak Train 91 collision

Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), reported some preliminary findings Monday afternoon of his agency’s investigation into the Amtrak-CSX train collision that occurred Feb. 4 near Cayce, S.C. The train had 139 passengers and eigh [...]

SMART TD member killed in Amtrak crash

A current SMART Transportation Division conductor and a former member were killed when Amtrak Train 91 traveling from New York to Miami collided early Feb. 4 with a stationary CSX freight train east of Columbia, S.C. Brother Michael Cella, 36, of Orange Park, Fla., was a cond [...]

Right to Work for Less stopped in Colorado

SMART Transportation Division Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith reports that efforts by some state legislators to advance a Right to Work For Less bill were stopped in committee. By a 6-3 vote, members of the state House’s Colorado House State, Veterans & Mil [...]

SMART TD announces two-person crew bill has been introduced in U.S. Senate

Washington, D.C. (January 31, 2018) – SMART Transportation Division announced today the introduction of the Safe Freight Act (S.2360) by U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota), which would require two crew members — one certified locomotive engineer and one certified co [...]

Amtrak train carrying GOP lawmakers hits garbage truck

A privately chartered Amtrak train carrying dozens of Republican members of the House and Senate crashed into a garbage truck just south of Charlottsville, Va. So far, only minor injuries have been reported amongst the train passengers. One out of the three passengers on the [...]

Secretary & Treasurer page expanded

SMART Transportation Division has completed a reorganization and expansion of its webpage dedicated to assisting secretaries & treasurers of Locals. The page is at https://www.smart-union.org/td/secretary-and-treasurer-tools/. It features guidance for new secretaries & [...]