September 29, 2025 | Furloughs, News, Railroad Retirement, Railroad Safety, Top News
A government shutdown looms and Congress must enact a continuing appropriations act, or Continuing Resolution (CR), by September 30 to prevent a government shutdown that would begin on October 1. At this point, it is unclear if Congress will reach an agreement to...
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 12, 2025 | C3RS, Headlines, Railroad Safety
(Source: Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, August 23, 2025) Two and a half years after a derailed train spewed toxic gases across eastern Ohio, none of the nation’s largest freight railroads have fulfilled promises to join a voluntary federal close call...
September 4, 2025 | C3RS, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
An investigation released last week on railroad safety from the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland — later broadcast on NPR, published in newspapers such as The Washington Post, and distributed by the Associated Press — quotes two...
August 19, 2025 | FRA, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has disbanded its Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), an important venue for labor, management, shippers and Federal regulators to collaboratively discuss and develop rules to improve safety in the railroad industry....
August 8, 2025 | News, Railroad Safety, Top News
According to a disturbing report from the Washington Post, the so-called U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is using a new artificial intelligence tool to slash federal regulations, with the goal of eliminating half of Washington’s regulatory mandates by...
August 7, 2025 | Headlines, Railroad Safety, UP
(Source: Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2025) About 10 times each day, giant freight trains pass along a narrow section of track along the Sacramento River in far Northern California where engineers on the locomotives regularly tense up with stress. “Every single time,...
July 30, 2025 | East Palestine-NS, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
Attendees at the Roundtable, from left: BLET Ohio SLBC John Esterly, BLET VP and NLR Vince Verna, Ohio U.S. Rep Mike Rulli (R-OH), and Division 255 LR and LC Bruce Tatgenhorst. ____________________ Leaders of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division...
July 28, 2025 | Mexico, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
BLET National President Mark Wallace joined America’s Work Force Union Podcast last week to discuss problems with crews from Mexico operating trains in the U.S. and why the practice, while currently limited, should be halted. President Wallace said the...
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...
