August 24, 2025 | News, Top News, Unions
From left: Chad Clayton, LR of Division 644: Jeff Crane, LR of Division 155; Cory Martin, Illinois SLB Chairman; and Todd Knight, LC of Division 155. _____________________ Members of the BLET represented their union and the craft of locomotive engineer at the...
August 23, 2025 | Contract Agreement, News, Top News
In a unanimous vote (22-0), members of the BLET ratified their first contract with the Arizona Eastern Railway (AZER). The previously non-union workers voted to join the BLET in June of 2024. The new five-year agreement establishes rights that BLET members working at...
August 23, 2025 | News, Top News, UP
BLET contends that UP’s intent to eliminate North Platte as a home terminal is contractually improper. Photo by Cory Rusch, BLET Division 659 ____________________ The BLET is objecting to a proposed plan presented by Union Pacific to relocate the home terminal...
August 20, 2025 | News, Top News
The Pennsylvania State Senate has failed to approve funding for public transit funding across the Commonwealth. Unless the Republican-controlled upper chamber passes legislation, substantial budget cuts will hit the Commonwealth’s 53 transit agencies this month. All...
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 15, 2025 | News, Top News
The locomotive “Nashville” of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad with a portrait of Abraham Lincoln mounted on the front. The locomotive was one of several used to carry Lincoln’s body from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, Ill. ____________________ The...
August 15, 2025 | News, Top News
An increasingly popular attraction north of Dunsmuir, California, Mossbrae Falls draws thousands of tourists each year — many of whom trespass on UP tracks to get there, causing daily stress and trauma for BLET locomotive engineers. Photo by Anurag Jajoo...
August 14, 2025 | Amtrak, Legislation, News, Top News
The BLET is getting on board with the All Aboard Act. Reintroduced in the United States Senate on July 29 by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), the All Aboard Act would dedicate $200 billion over five years to build high-speed rail, expand existing passenger rail service, and...
August 13, 2025 | Contract Agreement, News, Top News
BLET members on August 6 ratified a new two-year agreement with the New York & Atlantic Railway (NY&A). The new contract extension provides a $1.00 per hour increase to all pay grades effective June 1, 2025, followed by two general wage increases totaling...
August 11, 2025 | News, Top News
While the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has approved mass transit funding, the Senate is still a hold out. BLET’s Maurice Landon, far right, spoke at an August 6 rally in Philadelphia to urge the Senate to act. Pictured here, from left: Thomas Cleveland,...