BLET Newsroom
The latest comprehensive, up-to-date features and news releases effecting the BLET.
One-person trains “make no sense” Senator Brown says
With the Norfolk Southern Rail Yard in Cleveland as a backdrop and leaders of the BLET by his side, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) held a news conference Monday calling for passage of the bipartisan Railway Safety Act of 2023.
Welcome aboard, Brother Gomez
Brother Jorge R. Gomez, a BNSF locomotive engineer and member of Division 264 in El Paso, Texas, has joined the BLET National Division staff as a full-time Special Representative. BLET National President Eddie Hall said his appointment became effective March 13, 2023
Registration open for Legislative Representative training class, June 5-9, 2023
The BLET Education & Training Department, in conjunction with the National Legislative Office, will conduct a class for BLET Division Legislative Representatives in Washington, D.C., from June 5-9, 2023.
BLET members ratify Springfield Terminal implementing agreement
The Implementing Agreement addresses changes in operations resulting from the transaction and applies protective conditions. In addition, the implementing agreement sets forth the process to divide the workforce between Springfield Terminal (ST) and Berkshire and Eastern (B&E) and defines the limits of the railroads after the Change Over Date.
BLET members ratify new contract with CP Rail/Soo Line
Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) today ratified a new five-year agreement with the CP Rail/Soo Line Railroad.
Funeral arrangements for fallen Brother Lou Shuster
Services for late BLET member Louis P. Shuster will be held next week.
National Contract Negotiations
Amtrak
Commuter Rail
BNSF
Canadian National
Canadian Pacific
CSX
Norfolk Southern
Union Pacific
STB
FRA
AAR Freight Trends
NMB
NTSB
OBITUARIES
Daily Headlines
Bipartisan support emerges for railroad safety bill in U.S. Senate
A bipartisan consensus that Congress should act to toughen regulations on railroads emerged Wednesday as senators heard fresh testimony on the fiery hazardous train derailment last month on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
Class I employment rose in February 2023
Year over year, the number of transportation (train and engine) employees increased 7.99%.
UP reaches paid sick leave agreements with eight unions
On the heels of deals at other Class I railroads, Union Pacific has reached agreements with eight unions to provide workers up to seven paid sick days.
Rail traffic down 9.4% from 2022 for week ending March 22, 2023
In the first 11 weeks of 2023, intermodal traffic is down 9.6% compared to the same period in 2022.
NTSB examines pressure relief devices from East Palestine derailment
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board examined and tested pressure relief devices removed from the five vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) tank cars involved in the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio.
FRA issues supplemental NPRM for emergency escape breathing apparatus standards
The FRA on March 22 released a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to expand occupational noise exposure regulations and require railroads to provide locomotive crews with appropriate “atmosphere-supplying emergency escape breathing apparatuses” when their trains transport hazardous material.
Editorial: Trains are huge polluters, and California regulators should clean them up
Communities near railyards, ports and other freight corridors have long been hit hard by air pollution from dirty, old locomotives.
NTSB: NS train that derailed in Alabama lacked needed couplers
A Norfolk Southern train that derailed in Alabama earlier this month lacked required alignment control couplers for two of its locomotives and a company inspection did not identify their absence, federal investigators said Monday.
Railroads were trying to remake their image, then a train derailed in Ohio
“In the eyes of the public, the railroads went from bad service to being bad bosses, to now being dangerous within 12 months,” said Anthony Hatch, owner of transportation consulting firm ABH Consulting. “Railroads will pay a price – all of them, not just Norfolk Southern.”
BLET MEMBERSHIP PUBLICATIONS
January - March 2023
