Transportation News

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

Sheriff: NS engineer shot himself

HURLEY, Va. —  The Norfolk Southern locomotive engineer who suffered a bullet wound in the NS Hurley yard here Sept. 20 reportedly confessed to shooting himself, according to news reports citing the sheriff’s office in Buchanan County, Va. Hurley is some 100 miles south [...]

Medicare and ambulance services

Ambulances transport critically ill or injured passengers to hospitals every day. They also take patients with non-emergency conditions to hospitals, critical access hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes and other medical facilities to treat serious health cond [...]

First contract for Illinois Central yardmasters

UTU-represented yardmasters employed by Canadian National Railway’s Illinois Central Railroad have ratified their first collective bargaining agreement. The four-year agreement, reached following mediation assistance by the National Mediation Board, provides for hourly wage i [...]

New pacts for Charlotte bus Local 1596

Members of Local 1596 (Charlotte, N.C.) have finalized new contracts with Transit Management of Charlotte and First Transit of Concord/Kannapolis. The three-year agreements provide for wage increases, improvements in pensions, an increase in the employer contribution to healt [...]

Former ATSF GC Merlyn Hicks dies

Retired UTU General Chairperson Merlyn Hicks, 85, died Sept. 15 in Arkansas City, Kan. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran of World War II, Hicks was employed by the former Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (now part of BNSF) for almost 30 years before his election as secretary [...]

The unscripted Mitt Romney speaks his mind

It is in off-the-cuff comments – rather than scripted press conferences, staged public speaking events or political advertisements on television – that often best reveal the “real” candidate and their thoughts. In off-the-cuff comments by Mitt Romney, at a $50,000 per person  [...]

Wisc. anti-union law overturned; but …

A Wisconsin county judge has invalidated the state legislature’s law curtailing collective bargaining rights for most public employees, but an appeal is expected to the state supreme court whose conservative majority may overturn the lower court ruling as it did in 2011 [...]

Assistance sought for UTU hurricane victims

In the wake of devastating Hurricane Isaac, which caused significant property damage and loss to scores of UTU members in its path along the Gulf Coast in August, the UTU is soliciting donations to assist those struggling brothers and sisters. To speed the collection and disb [...]

Retired Int’l officers Dan Collins, Paul McNamara die

Former UTU International officers Daniel W. Collins and Paul J. McNamara have died. Daniel W. Collins, age 90, who retired in 1992 as UTU assistant general secretary and treasurer, was a member of the 40-person committee that laid the groundwork for merger of the predecessor [...]

UTU member loses foot in Tenn. rail accident

MILLINGTON, Tenn. – A UTU-represented trainman employed by Canadian National Railway subsidiary Illinois Central was seriously injured here early Sept. 5 when reportedly struck by a passing train on a mainline while performing duties on an adjacent track. Millington is a subu [...]