Transportation News

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Families encourage overhaul of pilot training

WASHINGTON – Prodded by the families of people killed in a regional airline crash, federal officials issued an extensive overhaul of training requirements for pilots Tuesday. One of the most important changes requires airlines to provide better training on how to prevent and [...]

Metra Members Approve Seven-Year Deal

With 85 percent of eligible ballots returned, SMART Transportation Division conductors and assistant conductors on the Northern Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corp. (known as Metra) have approved a seven-year mediation agreement governing wages and working conditions, th [...]

Metra members approve seven-year deal

With 85 percent of eligible ballots returned, SMART Transportation Division conductors and assistant conductors on the Northern Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corp. (known as Metra) have approved a seven-year mediation agreement governing wages and working conditions, th [...]

House Panel Releases Freight Transportation Report

In a rare display of bipartisan functionality on Capitol Hill, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation has released its final report on the current state of freight transportation in the U.S. and its recommendations [...]

Americans' appetite for Amtrak service growing

While politicians can’t agree on much, Iowans and the majority of Americans surely agree on one thing: They want more Amtrak service, not less. On the heaviest traveled passenger rail corridor in the nation, the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak keeps breaking ridership records. But [...]

SSA, RRB benefits to rise by only 1.5 percent

WASHINGTON – Social Security benefits for nearly 58 million people will increase by 1.5 percent next year, the government announced Wednesday. The increase is among the smallest since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975. It is small because consumer prices haven’ [...]

Boardman to Senate: Invest in NEC

The Northeast Corridor is a national transportation asset and Congress should stop taking it for granted, Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Boardman told a Senate committee yesterday. The corridor is aging, failure prone and lacks redundant systems to keep it o [...]

Unions push for bus driver, train crew rules

Transportation unions want new regulations for train crews and bus drivers.  The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO Oct. 29 endorsed potential federal mandates to require at least two crew members on all U.S. freight trains, protect bus drivers from physical assaults a [...]

First Student loses arbitration, ordered to pay lost wages

First Student Bus Company/William Penn School District in Darby, Pennsylvania went to arbitration against the SMART Transportation Division and lost. Representing SMART TD was Bus Department Alternate Vice President Calvin Studivant who went to bat for local 172. Studivant di [...]