September 15, 2025 | DOT, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
BLET representatives at meetings with the Federal Railroad Administration in Nashville, Tenn., during the week of September 1, 2025. ____________________ The BLET rose to the challenge created by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)’s “regulatory sprint,”...
September 10, 2025 | DOT, FRA
BLET comments in favor of one proposed rule change: Qualification and Certification: Locomotive Engineers What the rule would do: The rule would modify how FRA participates in Operating Crew Review Board (the new name for the Locomotive Engineer Review Board)...
July 25, 2025 | DOT, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has launched a “regulatory sprint,” a term that describes eliminating or changing nearly 200 safety regulations that provide safeguards for the rail industry, its workers, and the communities they serve. Under direction from...
July 17, 2025 | DOT, Headlines, High Speed Rail
(Source: Associated Press, July 16, 2026) The Trump administration revoked federal funding for California’s high-speed rail project on Wednesday, intensifying uncertainty about how the state will make good on its long-delayed promise of building a bullet train to...
July 1, 2025 | DOT, FRA, News, Technology, Top News
BMWED President Tony Cardwell testified before members of Congress this week about the potential dangers of over-reliance on technology. ____________________ BLET members rely on Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) investigations to hold railroads accountable, but...
June 25, 2025 | DOT, FRA, Headlines, Railroad Safety
(Source: Freight Waves, June 24, 2025) Rail unions are raising concerns about the Trump administration’s plan to roll back protections for federal inspectors and investigators put in place in 2021 that they say could increase safety risks in the rail industry. The...
June 9, 2025 | DOT, News, Top News
BLET leadership traveled to the southern U.S. border in Texas in late-May. ____________________ In a June 2 letter, BLET National President Mark Wallace asked U.S. President Donald J. Trump to take “immediate and decisive action” to help protect national security and...
April 15, 2025 | Amtrak, DOT, FRA, Headlines, High Speed Rail
(Source: Texas Tribune, April 15, 2025) President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday terminated a federal grant to help fund a long-sought high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston — saying that if the embattled project moves forward, it will have to do so...
March 7, 2025 | DOT, FRA, High Speed Rail, News, Top News
According to a recent survey, a majority of Californians support the state’s high-speed rail project. Image: California High-Speed Rail Authority ____________________ DOT Secretary Sean Duffy recently ordered the Federal Railroad Administration to conduct a...
February 6, 2025 | Amtrak, DOT, FRA, Headlines
(Source: Trains.com, February 4, 2025) If you thought Federal Railroad Administration grant programs for things like passenger service, shortline track maintenance, and grade crossing elimination projects would be the least likely place to become a front in the...
