Rail Industry News
STB closes comment period on CN-KCS voting trust proposal
(Source: Progressive Railroading, June 30, 2021) CN and Kansas City Southern yesterday announced that the Surface Transportation Board's (STB) comment period regarding the companies’ application for a voting-trust approval has closed. Full story: Progressive...
Metra’s new All-Day Pass has been unexpectedly successful
(Source: Streetsblog Chicago, June 29, 2021) CHICAGO — Last year, Metra launched two new unlimited ride passes – one that has been in the works for years and one that was meant to be a temporary. But it is the later that has proven to be more popular with the riders,...
SEPTA Board approves FY22 budget
(Source: Railway Age, June 29, 2021) The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Board has signed off on the proposed $1.52 billion operating budget and $618.85 million capital budget for FY 2022, which starts July 1. Full story: Railway Age
Minnesota OKs funds for second daily Twin Cities-Chicago Amtrak train
(Source: Progressive Railroading, June 29, 2021) The Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago Intercity Passenger Rail project (TCMC Second Train) will receive $10 million from a more than $7 billion omnibus transportation funding package signed into law by Minnesota Gov. Tim...
Opinion: High-speed rail plans should appeal even to staunch critics
(Source: Philadelphia Inquirer opinion column by Mysore Nagaraja, Howard Sackel, and Bob Previdi, June 29, 2021) PHILADELPHIA — Last Thursday, President Joe Biden announced a bipartisan agreement on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure framework, which allocates $66 billion...
Editorial: CP thinks big with KCS merger effort
(Source: Bismarck Tribune, June 30, 2021) BISMARCK, N.D. — It’s always encouraging to see a smaller company expand and do well. That’s what Canadian Pacific Railway is attempting to do with its proposed merger with Kansas City Southern Railway. Full story: Bismarck...
Railroad workers make a hard job look easy
(Source: Texarkana Gazette, June 29, 2021) TEXARKANA — The Union Pacific railroad franchise operates in 23 states, and recently its capability to also operate locally was demonstrated in Atlanta. In just a few hours’ time, employees repaired and replaced a major...
Five lives lost: Workers at CN raise safety alarm after string of rail deaths
(Source: CTV News, June 16, 2021) MONTREAL — In the last two-and-a-half years, since 2018, five conductors have died at CN-owned railyards in Canada. A sixth died a little earlier, in 2017. Some CN employees, past and present, point out that the company’s...
Teamsters applaud job-creation goals of bipartisan infrastructure bill
(Source: International Brotherhood of Teamsters press release, June 29, 2021) WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following is the official statement of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa on the ongoing efforts to pass a comprehensive, bipartisan infrastructure bill. “The...
Beech Grove man charged with arson for fire at Amtrak facility
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice-Southern District of Indiana press release, June 28, 2021) INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A Beech Grove man was arrested today in Indianapolis on federal criminal charges related to his alleged setting fire to two buildings at the Amtrak...
Gateway Program back on track as Buttigieg, Schumer offer financial support
(Source: Daily News, June 28, 2021) NEW YORK — Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer paid a visit to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan on Monday and toured the century-old rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey to offer...
Amtrak expansion expected to increase service to more than 160 additional communities by 2035
(Source: Transportation Today, June 1, 2021) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amtrak announced Thursday that it is beginning work to expand intercity passenger rail service to over 160 more communities by 2035. Full story: Transportation Today
Railroads to pour cold renewable energy water on Koch Industries
(Source: Clean Technica, June 28, 2021) NEW YORK — There is no love lost between the notorious Koch brothers and the nation’s railroad industry, and the relationship is about to get a lot unlovelier. A massive new, first-of-its-kind renewable energy transmission line...
Biden: Bipartisan deal reached on infrastructure plan
(Source: Railway Age, June 25, 2021) NEW YORK — President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators have agreed on a five-year, $973 billion infrastructure framework that includes $579 billion in new spending over that period, of which $312 billion is slated...
Amtrak files with the STB in opposition to CN’s use of voting trust
(Source: Canadian Pacific Railway press release, June 28, 2021) CALGARY — Canadian Pacific Railway Limited ("CP") announced today that Amtrak, operator of intercity passenger rail service across the United States, has submitted comments urging the Surface...
CP urges STB to reject CN-KCS voting trust proposal
(Source: Canadian Pacific Railway press release, June 29, 2021) CALGARY — Canadian Pacific Railway Limited has filed a reply to Canadian National ("CN") and Kansas City Southern's ("KCS") joint motion for voting trust approval with the Surface Transportation Board...
STB receives hundreds of comments about CN voting trust prior to June 28 deadline
(Source: Canadian Press, June 28, 2021) OTTAWA — Canada's two largest railways remain at loggerheads about the first major U.S. railway acquisition in more than 20 years as the deadline for public comments about CN's voting trust for Kansas City Southern comes to a...
Support builds for CN-KCS, CP-KCS merger proposals
(Source: Railway Age, June 28, 2021) NEW YORK — Proposed merger partners CN and Kansas City Southern (KCS), and KCS rival partner Canadian Pacific, on June 28 reported additional support for their respective combinations. It is the final day of the Surface...
Minnesota House passes budget that preserves Northstar, boosts Amtrak
(Source: Associated Press, June 24, 2021) ST. PAUL, Minn. — Another piece of Minnesota’s budget picture fell into place when the House passed a $7 billion transportation funding bill. It preserves the Northstar commuter rail line. It includes money for a second daily...
STB releases new Rail Heritage Map
(Source: Railway Age, June 25, 2021) NEW YORK — The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) has updated its Rail Heritage Map. The map provides the locations of 1,596 rail-related structures, buildings and sites listed on the National...
BLET News
Eric R. Bunch, Division 75 Local Chairman, 1976-2014
The BLET National Division extends deepest sympathies to the family of Eric R. Bunch, a BNSF locomotive engineer and Local Chairman of BLET Division 75 (Kansas City, Mo.), who died unexpectedly of cardiac arrest on July 24, 2014. He was 38 years old.
BLET families win 14 Hoffa scholarships for 2014-15 school year
Fourteen BLET families were winners of scholarships from the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund for the 2014-15 academic year, including three top level $10,000 recipients.
BLET organizes Illinois Railway short line workers
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) scored a short line organizing victory last week as a majority of workers at Illinois Railway voted to make the BLET their designated collective bargaining representative.
Teamsters announce Hoffa Scholarship essay contest
The James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund has announced the topic for this year’s Essay Contest: “The vast majority of union members make more than the minimum wage. Why should Teamsters care what the minimum wage is?”
BLET Job Bank: CN (Wisconsin Central)
The Canadian National Railway (CN) has contacted the BLET National Division to advise that the railroad is recruiting 18 certified locomotive engineers for positions throughout its former Wisconsin Central territory.
BLET delegates can now check eligibility status online
The BLET National Division is making it easier for delegates to track their eligibility status for attendance at the upcoming Third National Convention, which begins in Las Vegas next month.
BLET opens 76th annual EUMA in Cleveland
Approximately 200 members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and their families convened here yesterday for opening ceremonies of the 76th annual Eastern Union Meeting Association (EUMA).
Your Health FSA: What expenses are covered? How can you use it?
If you have a Health Flexible Spending Account (Health FSA), it’s important to know how you can use it and what expenses can and cannot be covered with the Health FSA funds. To learn more visit the following website: http://www.yourtracktohealth.com and click on “Latest News.”
Former BLE General Chairman Jim Osborn, 1930-2014
Brother James Frederick Osborn, a former BLE General Chairman of the Norfolk and Western Railroad (former Wabash) General Committee of Adjustment, passed away at his home in Springfield, Mo., on July 24, 2014. He was 83 years old.
Thousands of union members to protest EPA proposal at rally and march in Pittsburgh on July 31
Thousands of members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) will be joined by electrical workers, boilermakers, railroad workers, utility workers and others at a rally and march in downtown Pittsburgh on July 31. The union workers are protesting the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions from existing sources.
