Transportation News

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FMCSA extends medical cert requirement for bus ops

The Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA) Jan. 10 announced that it is extending by one year, until Jan. 30, 2015, a requirement that interstate commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders retain paper copies of their medical examiner’s certificate and continue to make t [...]

LaHood to co-chair Building America's Future

Two former leading U.S. transportation officials who left the Obama administration in recent months were named on Wednesday to new private-sector posts. Ray LaHood, the former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, will join a Washington, D.C-based advocacy group, where he will pu [...]

Keolis wins MBTA commuter rail contract

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s board of directors today unanimously voted to accept the T’s recommendation that Keolis, a French rail company, take over operation of the state’s commuter rail system, winning the state’s largest operating contract in history. [...]

Transportation Division Auditor Stephen Noyes retires

SMART Transportation Division Auditor Stephen A. Noyes has retired, effective Dec. 31, 2013, after 42 years of continuous membership. The duties formerly performed by Noyes will now be shared by Transportation Division Auditors Bobby Brantley and Mike Araujo. Local treasurers [...]

Calif. high-speed train in political storm

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Jerry Brown of California is riding into an election year on a wave of popularity and an upturn in the state’s fortunes. But a project that has become a personal crusade for him over the past two years — a 520-mile high-speed train line from Los Angeles to [...]

Rails accused of tampering with video in Amtrak crash

RENO, Nev. – Lawyers for a trucking company are accusing two railroad companies of tampering with evidence about a June 2011 collision between a tractor-trailer and an Amtrak train that killed six people in northern Nevada. Lawyers for John Davis Trucking Co. say they have ev [...]

Commuter rail firm faults MBTA on bid vetting

The Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co. is crying foul at what they are calling a flawed procurement process that included few substantial conversations, a complaint lodged with the MBTA before the Globe reported Saturday that the T will recommend that the company’s sole [...]

After 90 years, no more Corgiats aboard

On the first day of November, Bruce Corgiat tried to log on to the Union Pacific Railroad’s employee web page just as he’d done most other mornings. “They’d already blocked me,” he said. Wow, that was quick. On Halloween, Bruce officially retired from the railroad, as did his [...]

GO 505 delivers gift for autism services

Officers and members of SMART Transportation Division General Committee of Adjustment GO 505 on the Long Island Rail Road Dec. 18 delivered a $5,000 check to support a program for autistic children in the Town of Islip, N.Y. The donation adds to the committee’s yearly commitm [...]

PEB 244 Issues Recommendations In LIRR Dispute

Presidential Emergency Board 244 issued its recommendations Dec. 21 for settling a dispute between the Long Island Rail Road and its unionized employees represented by the SMART Transportation Division and several other labor unions. The board’s recommendations are non-bindin [...]