January 16, 2025 | FRA, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
Class I railroads are failing workers and making railroads less safe due to overly harsh employee discipline policies. That’s according to the December 20 letters from the heads of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Occupational Safety and Health...
January 9, 2025 | 2-man Crews, Fatality, Headlines, NS, Railroad Safety
(Source: The State, January 6, 2025) The wreck released about 60 tons of chlorine, which formed a toxic cloud that moved over Graniteville, killing nine people who breathed in the hazardous fumes. In addition to the nine deaths, more than 500 people went to the...
December 20, 2024 | Derailment, Fatality, News, Railroad Safety, SLB Elections, Top News, UP
Locomotive engineer Clay Burt, a member of BLET Division 212 in Sweetwater, Texas, was severely injured and passed away shortly after arriving at the hospital. Images: courtesy of Reeves County Texas ____________________ Two Union Pacific train crew members were...
December 16, 2024 | News, Railroad Safety, Teamsters, Top News
BLET members and their families are advised that the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund has begun accepting applications for the 2025 award year. The Fund awards financial scholarships to the sons, daughters and financial dependents of Teamster members...
December 10, 2024 | FRA, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
FRA Administrator Amit Bose (center) with BLET members, officers, and staff at the FRA’s Rail Share meeting. ____________________ Representatives from the BLET’s National Legislative Office, along with a large contingent of BLET State Legislative Board Chairmen,...
November 22, 2024 | C3RS, Legislation, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
The BLET is urgently working to secure passage of the House Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024 (H.R. 8996) before Congress adjourns. In a Take Action alert issued today, BLET members and their families are asked to use the Take Action tool on the BLET National...
October 29, 2024 | News, Railroad Safety, Top News
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) at a news conference in 2023 calling for passage of the bipartisan Railway Safety Act. ____________________ U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has a long history of supporting rail unions and the rights of workers. His commitment to...
October 20, 2024 | News, Railroad Safety, Top News, TTD
Project 2025 is a 920-page document that spells out what Republicans plan to do if they were to gain the presidency in the 2024 election. While candidate Trump has denied knowledge of the document, it was written by at least 140 Trump advisers and former (and likely...
October 7, 2024 | Headlines, Legislation, Railroad Safety
(Source: Trains.com, October 2, 2024) A New Jersey state senate committee has approved a bill that would require two-person crews for freight trains and set a maximum length of 8,500 feet for “dangerous hazardous trains.” Full story: Trains.com
October 1, 2024 | CSX, Fatality, News, Railroad Safety, Top News
The BLET continues to expose the dangers of remote control train operations after three tragic pedestrian incidents — including a fatality — in Buffalo, New York. The lead story on Page 1 of the September 22 issue of the Buffalo News says it all: “Driverless trains...
