April 3, 2023 | Headlines, PSR, Railroad Safety
(Source: ProPublica, April 3, 2023) Driven by the efficiency goals of precision scheduled railroading, companies are forgoing long-held safety precautions, such as assembling trains to distribute weight and risk or taking the proper time to inspect them. Instead,...
April 3, 2023 | 2-man Crews, Headlines, Remote Control, UP
(Source: NBC News, April 1, 2023) Congress is pushing to mandate a specific crew size on trains following a series of dangerous incidents. But the legislation leaves out a type of train that regularly carries hazardous chemicals in major metropolitan areas with no...
April 3, 2023 | Derailment, East Palestine-NS, Headlines, Lawsuit, NS
(Source: Associated Press, March 31, 2023) The federal government filed a lawsuit against railroad Norfolk Southern over environmental damage caused by a train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border that spilled hazardous chemicals into nearby creeks and...
April 3, 2023 | FRA, Headlines
(Source: Railway Age, March 30, 2023) The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has published the results of its train-to-train impact test evaluating the effectiveness of crash energy management (CEM) components in improving crashworthiness for equipped locomotives...
April 3, 2023 | Derailment, East Palestine-NS, Headlines, NS, PSR
(Source: New York Times, April 3, 2023) “It’s profit over everything, not just safety,” Mark Wallace, First Vice President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said in reference to the entire rail industry. “It’s profit over customer service. It’s...
April 3, 2023 | Commuter Rail, Headlines, UP
(Source: Progressive Railroading, March 31, 2023) Union Pacific Railroad announced yesterday it’s working with Metra to “safely and seamlessly” transfer UP’s Chicago commuter rail operations to the passenger railroad. Full story: Progressive...
April 3, 2023 | Headlines, Railroad Retirement
(Source: Railroad Retirement Board press release, March 31, 2023) CHICAGO — Retirees, and those planning retirement, should be aware of the railroad retirement laws and rules governing benefit payments to annuitants who work after retirement, whether they have retired...
March 31, 2023 | 2-man Crews, Headlines, Legislation, Railroad Safety
(Source: Associated Press, March 29, 2023) Rail safety measures proposed after the February train derailment and toxic chemical burn in East Palestine are closer to becoming law in Ohio, as part of a nearly $13.5 billion transportation budget that cleared the...
March 31, 2023 | BNSF, Derailment, East Palestine-NS, Headlines, NS
(Source: Vox, March 30, 2023) Although train derailments involving hazardous chemicals are relatively rare, the occurrence of the Minnesota derailment so close to the Ohio one has raised questions about train safety and whether new regulations are needed to prevent...
March 31, 2023 | Headlines, Railroad Safety
(Source: Freight Waves, March 30, 2023) Environmental advocates are hoping the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Association (PHMSA) will soon release a proposed rulemaking that will become the new regulation governing the movement of liquefied natural gas by...
