January 27, 2023 | 2-man Crews, Headlines, PSR, Railroad Safety, Remote Control, SMART-TD
(Source: SMART Transportation Division press release, January 26, 2023) In a letter dated Jan. 25, the general chairperson of SMART Transportation Division’s GO 577 informed Union Pacific’s senior vice president of operations that the union was withdrawing from any...
January 5, 2023 | Headlines, PSR, Railroad Safety
(Source: Trains Magazine, January 3, 2023) A Government Accountability Office report on Precision Scheduled Railroading says the impact of the low-cost operating model on safety and service is unclear. Rail worker complaints to the FRA regarding safety issues have...
December 28, 2022 | Headlines, Legislation, PSR, Railroad Safety
(Source: Radio Iowa, December 26, 2022) Unions that represent rail workers are lobbying for a state law that would limit the length of trains. A federal report found the length of trains increased 25 percent between 2008 and 2017. There is currently no limit in state...
December 19, 2022 | 2-man Crews, Headlines, Railroad Safety
(Source: Editorial from the North Platte Telegraph, December 18, 2022) Quite frankly, we have yet to hear railroads indicate that anything else matters to them but the amount of money they can save by employing (presumably fewer) “expediters” rather than on-board...
December 15, 2022 | 2-man Crews, FRA, Headlines, Railroad Safety
(Source: CNN, December 14, 2022) When a freight train travels across the country, two people are in the cab of the locomotive working to keep the train, its often hazardous and flammable contents, and the communities they are passing through, all safe. Now the...
November 29, 2022 | Commuter Rail, FRA, Headlines, Railroad Safety
(Source: Trains Magazine, November 29, 2022) The Federal Railroad Administration will grant a waiver allowing the Long Island Rail Road to open its route to the new Grand Central Madison terminal without installation of equipment to prevent Amtrak trains from...
November 1, 2022 | FRA, Headlines, Railroad Safety
(Source: Railway Age, October 31, 2022) The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has issued Safety Advisory 2022-01 for railroads and railroad contractors on the importance of ensuring that portable derails are clearly visible to train crews and operators of other...
October 31, 2022 | Canada, Headlines, Railroad Safety
(Source: Railway Age, October 27, 2022) The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) on Oct. 26 released its Watchlist 2022, putting a “spotlight on key safety issues and actions needed to make Canada’s transportation system even safer.” Full story: Railway...
September 30, 2022 | 2-man Crews, Headlines, PSR, Railroad Safety
(Source: Freight Waves, September 29, 2022) What scares conductor Brian Raleigh the most about the idea of one-person train crews is that trains hauls chemicals, coal and other hazardous materials through towns each day. “It’s not just about saving my partner,”...
September 9, 2022 | FRA, Headlines, Railroad Safety
(Source: Railway Age, September 8, 2022) The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Sept. 8 issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to solicit comments on whether it should retain or remove a provision of the Risk Reduction Program (RRP) final rule, which took effect...
