Transportation News

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University of Tennessee shuttle operators seal deal

The campus shuttle operators for the University of Tennessee’s transportation service unanimously ratified their first agreement with their employer after choosing SMART representation last year, Alternate Vice President – Bus Alvy Hughes reports. The members of newly formed [...]

Metra to spend $80 million to launch PTC system

Metra’s board on Wednesday approved two large contracts, including one for $80 million to help implement a high-tech safety system that federal officials said would have prevented two Chicago derailments that killed two people and injured scores of passengers. The other [...]

SMART joins NJT Rail Labor Coalition

SMART Transportation Division’s General Committee of Adjustment  GO 610 representing conductors and trainmen, General Committee of Adjustment GO 340 representing yardmasters and SMART Sheet Metal Mechanical and Engineering Local 396 representing mechanical workers have [...]

Unions Advancing New Two-Person Train Crew Bill

Continuing a cooperative effort to promote safety in the railroad industry, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers International Associat [...]

DOT Takes Action on Movement of Energy Products

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today announced with its agencies, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a package of targeted actions that will address some of the issues identif [...]

Metra adopts Confidential Close Call Reporting system

Representatives of Metra management and transportation unions joined officials from the Federal Railroad Administration April 16 to announce the creation of a “Confidential Close Call Reporting System,” which is designed to proactively address safety issues and create a more [...]

FTA Lists Alcohol, Drug-Testing Rates for 2015

Acting Federal Transit Administrator Therese McMillan has determined that the random drug-testing rate will remain at 25 percent for 2015 and the random alcohol-testing rate for 2015 will remain at 10 percent for transit employees performing safety-sensitive functions, accord [...]

FTA lists alcohol, drug-testing rates for 2015

Acting Federal Transit Administrator Therese McMillan has determined that the random drug-testing rate will remain at 25 percent for 2015 and the random alcohol-testing rate for 2015 will remain at 10 percent for transit employees performing safety-sensitive functions, accord [...]

NJT fares could be hiked as much as 9 percent

Commuters could be hit with an NJ Transit fare increase that might reach 9 percent in fiscal year 2016, based on budget documents for the coming year. NJ Transit’s budget documents said revenue from fares would increase by 8.8 percent, from the $928.6 million earned in [...]

AAR: Statistics confirm rail safety advancements

Latest safety statistics released by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in April confirmed 2014 was the safest year on record for freight train operations in the United States, according to the Association of American Railroads. Highlights of FRA freight rail safety da [...]