BLET Newsroom
The latest comprehensive, up-to-date features and news releases effecting the BLET.
Texas: BLET notches another short line organizing victory — third one in 2024
Train and engine service employees at Transglobal Solutions/TGS Cedar Port Railroad in Baytown, Texas, voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining the BLET this week. Rail industry publication Progressive Railroading described Cedar Port, where the railroad operates, as...
Members still have time to request replacement ballots in Metra-UP implementing agreement
Ballots are due on October 8 in the Metro-Union Pacific implementing agreement. Photo: Chase Gunnoe _____________________ BLET members are continuing to vote on a tentative implementing agreement regarding Metra’s takeover of services from the Union Pacific Railroad....
Pearson reelected to third term as Colorado State Legislative Board Chairman
Brother Paul Pearson of BLET Division 133 (Denver, Colo.) was reelected by acclamation to his third term as Chairman of the Colorado State Legislative Board at its 8th quadrennial meeting in Centennial, Colo., on September 18. Brother Pearson hired out with the...
Help is available for BLET members who suffered damage or property loss from Hurricane Helene
Big Bend Region, Florida — Coast Guard personnel from the Gulf Strike team and Station Pascagoula conducting urban search and rescue operations alongside federal and state partners to assist stranded people. (Photo Credit: U.S. Coast Guard) ____________________ More...
Biden-Harris administration calls on CPKC, CN and CSXT to guarantee paid sick leave for all railroad workers
Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. Department of Labor photo ____________________ On September 25, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su sent letters to the CEOs of three Class I freight railroads — CPKC,...
Buffalo: CSXT’s remote control trains kill and maim pedestrians
The BLET continues to expose the dangers of remote control train operations after three tragic pedestrian incidents — including a fatality — in Buffalo, New York. The lead story on Page 1 of the September 22 issue of the Buffalo News says it all: “Driverless trains...
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NJ Train regulation bill advances in state senate
A New Jersey state senate committee has approved a bill that would require two-person crews for freight trains and set a maximum length of 8,500 feet for “dangerous hazardous trains.”
NTSB: Improper coupling, excessive in-train forces caused March 2023 NS derailment
Contributing to the accident was the misidentification of couplers without alignment control during the NS’ inspection process, according to an NTSB report issued Sept. 22.
CSX’s former Clinchfield largely unrecognizable after historic flood
With roadways out of service and railroad washouts prohibiting inspections and repair, CSX’s Blue Ridge Subdivision and much of its Clinchfield are likely to remain out of the service for the foreseeable future.
Q&A: RRB financial reports
As of September 30, 2023, total railroad retirement system assets, comprising assets managed by the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust (NRRIT) and the railroad retirement system accounts at the Treasury, equaled $26.5 billion.
UP explains absence from early contract agreements with organized labor
UP has sought to renegotiate the scheduling deal it reached last year with the BLET, under which engineers work 11 days and then have four days off. That prompted the union to sue the railroad this summer because it had yet to implement the scheduling agreement systemwide.
NTSB identifies probable cause of close-clearance death of CSX conductor trainee
“In this accident, a conductor trainee was fatally injured when he rode a shoving movement through a close clearance — a 7-inch gap — between his train and a series of parked locomotives. The conductor, riding a different ladder on the same railcar through the same gap, was not injured,” the NTSB said.
STB urges BNSF and UP to be prepared for West Coast container surge
Specifically, Primus asked the railroads for their plans to provide reliable service, how they will allocate resources to West Coast ports, and how the railroads are sharing information with port officials.
Biden-Harris administration calls on Class I freight railroads to guarantee paid sick leave and get to 100% worker coverage
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su today sent letters to the CEOs of three Class I freight railroads – CPKC, CN, and CSX – calling on them to guarantee paid sick leave to all of their employees.
Regulators scrutinize trends on second day of rail growth hearings
At the opening of today’s Surface Transportation Board hearing on the lack of rail freight volume growth, Vice Chair Karen Hedlund said she was still struck by what she heard the day before from analysts and shippers and Class I railroad executives.
BLET MEMBERSHIP PUBLICATIONS
October 2024
