Transportation News

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Amtrak names Ken Hylander as chief safety officer

Amtrak has named Ken Hylander their new executive vice president and chief safety officer. Hylander previously served as chairman of the Flight Safety Foundation and as the chief safety officer at Delta Air Lines. Hylander’s first order of business will be to install a Safety [...]

NTSB publishes preliminary findings on Amtrak 501 Washington derailment

Below are the preliminary findings of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as published on their website. On December 18, 2017, at 7:33 a.m., Pacific standard time, southbound Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation) passenger train 501, consisting of a lea [...]

Phyllis Reed, widow of former B&O GC, dies

Phyllis Reed of Florence, Ky., passed away Wednesday, January 3, 2018, at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Florence. Phyllis was born Aug. 17, 1939, to the late Victor and Mary Osborn. She married former B&O General Committee General Chairman J.T. “Terry” Reed in 196 [...]

Increases in RRB annuity payouts, earning limits go into effect

Most railroad retirement annuities, like Social Security benefits, were scheduled to increase Jan. 1 on the basis of the rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the third quarter of 2016 to the corresponding period of 2017. The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) reports that [...]

SMART TD switchman dies on duty in Minnesota

Brother Nicholas A. Vosejpka, of Hampton, Minn., a switchman with SMART TD Local 1614, died while on duty Dec. 30, 2017, as he worked as a yard foreman at Union Pacific’s Hoffman Yard in St. Paul, Minn. Vosejpka, 35, was walking in the yard performing an air-test in temperatu [...]

Canadian National places major locomotive order

Canadian National has placed the largest power order by a Class I rail carrier in three years, asking for more than 200 ET44AC locomotives to be acquired from General Electric over the next three years, according to a report from Railway Age. The first round of locomotives ar [...]

Make your hotel reservations for 2018 SMART TD regional meetings

Reservations are now open for both the Seattle, Wash., and Hollywood, Fla., regional meetings. Click here to learn how to make hotel reservations for the Seattle meeting.   Click here to learn how to make hotel reservations for Hollywood, Fla. SaveSave

CALL SENATORS: Tax bill could wipe out RRB unemployment/sick fund

The Republican tax bill that is being voted on today has the potential to wipe out Railroad Retirement Board-administered unemployment and sickness benefits. This is your last chance to call and tell your senators to VOTE NO. A call to action posted by SMART Transportation Di [...]