Rail Industry News
Norfolk Southern wants to raise bridges, lower track in north Pittsburgh, but residents are in no mood
(Source: Railway Track & Structures, December 2, 2019) NEW YORK — Norfolk Southern wants to double-stack its trains as they move through Pittsburgh, but residents in the north side of the city are stacking up arguments and fighting back. Full story: Railway Track &...
Brightline, Florida’s high-speed train, has highest U.S. death rate
(Source: CBS Miami/Associated Press, December 2, 2019) MIAMI, Fla. — Florida’s high-speed passenger rail service, Brightline, which will soon be renamed Virgin Trains USA, has the worst death rate in the country. None of Brightline’s deaths were caused by crew error...
Canadian drillers to boost crude by rail shipments
(Source: OilPrice.com, December 2, 2019) CALGARY — Due to continued shortage of oil pipelines to take Canada’s oil to markets, Canadian producers plan to remove diluents from their oil sands production so they can load more of the heavy oil onto railcars than they...
Blumenthal leads effort to end Amtrak’s shield from lawsuits
(Source: Connecticut Mirror, December 3, 2019) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Richard Blumenthal is leading a congressional pushback against Amtrak’s new ticketing policy, which prevents passengers from suing the railroad company. Early this year, Amtrak changed the...
CN cuts earnings outlook on strike hit
(Source: Freight Waves, December 3, 2019) TORONTO — Canadian National lowered its earnings guidance based on the impact of the recent eight-day rail strike. Full story: Freight Waves
Railroad executives insist Precision Scheduled Railroading is about growth, not shrinking the industry
(Source: Trains Magazine, November 26, 2019) NEW YORK — CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific executives insisted last week that Precision Scheduled Railroading is a formula for growth, not a way for the industry to cut its way to prosperity. Full...
Amtrak dining cars as profit centers
(Source: Railway Age opinion column by J. Bruce Richardson, November 29, 2019. Mr. Richardson is Executive Vice President, Passenger Services for Corridor Rail Development Corporation of Chicago.) NEW YORK — One of the great hurrahs of Amtrak dining cars came in the...
Hiawatha ridership numbers grow despite lack of speedy service improvements
(Source: Radio Station WUWM, November 28, 2019) MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — Amtrak is projecting a new record for ridership on its Hiawatha trains between Milwaukee and Chicago. Looking ahead, some modest changes to the service are expected in the next few years, but it isn't...
Bluff collapse north of San Diego disrupts passenger rail service
(Source: San Diego Union-Tribune, December 1, 2019) SAN DIEGO — Passenger rail service on the main line between Los Angeles and San Diego faced interruptions Saturday after a section of the Del Mar bluffs collapsed within a few feet of tracks following heavy rains...
China plans new coal plants, trims support for clean energy
(Source: Associated Press, December 2, 2019) WASHINGTON, D.C. — As world leaders gather in Spain to discuss how to slow the warming of the planet, a spotlight falls on China — the top emitter of greenhouse gases. As China’s economy slows to the lowest level in a...
Warren, Sanders criticize Amtrak’s arbitration policy for passengers
(Source: Politico, November 27, 2019) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fourteen Senate Democrats, including four presidential candidates, criticized Amtrak's new arbitration policy for passengers in a letter to the CEO of the federally subsidized railroad. Full story: Politico
Union Pacific suing the city of Palestine, Texas, to nullify 150-year-old jobs contract
(Source: Palestine Herald-Press, November 29, 2019) PALESTIN, Texas — Union Pacific Railroad is suing the city of Palestine to scrap a 150-year-old contract that now guarantees the employment of dozens of local residents. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, alleges the...
No way Conservatives will admit they look foolish for calls to legislate CN strikers back to work
(Source: www.rabble.ca, November 27, 2019) OTTAWA — Now that a tentative agreement in the national strike by 3,200 CN yard workers and train crew members has been reached in collective bargaining as God and the Canada Industrial Relations Board both intended, you'd...
How the CN strike played on the freight market
(Source: Freight Waves, December 1, 2019) TORONTO — The end of the Canadian National strike couldn’t have come soon enough for Canada. Further disruption to the flow of goods – especially canola and wheat exports — could have been devastating to an economy whose...
“It’s the equivalent of being drunk:” Fatigue baked into Canadian rail worker scheduling, experts say
(Source: Toronto Star, December 1, 2019) CALGARY — Fatigue was one of the major factors behind a recent weeklong strike by 3,200 CN workers represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. According to fatigue experts and past research, railway crews awake for...
STB: U.S. Class I employment decline continued in October
(Source: Progressive Railroading, November 27, 2019) Class Is as of mid-October employed 134,582 people, down 1.67 percent from mid-September's level and down 9.51 percent from October 2018's count, according to Surface Transportation Board (STB) data. All but one of...
Weekly U.S. coal carloads down 7.6% on the year
(Source: S&P Global Platts, November 27, 2019) HOUSTON — Weekly US coal carload originations totaled 75,859 in the week ended November 23, up 4.5% from the previous week, Association of American roads data showed Wednesday. From the year-ago week, originations were...
AAR reports rail traffic increase for week ending November 23, 2019
(Source: Association of American Railroads press release, November 27, 2019) WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending November 23, 2019. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was...
Snowstorm can’t stop Big Boy steam locomotive
(Source: Denverite, November 26, 2019) DENVER, Colo. — If you want to get around snowy conditions, maybe try a giant train. Tuesday’s snowstorm was no match for Union Pacific Railroad’s Big Boy No. 4014, a 1.2 million pound engine that successfully departed Denver on...
Canadian Pacific wants back into the Port of Saint John
(Source: CBC News, November 27, 2019) MONTREAL — Twenty-five years after selling off or abandoning its rail operations to the East Coast, Canadian Pacific Railway is moving back into the region with the purchase of close to 800 kilometers of track leading deep into...
BLET News
Amtrak FY06 appropriations update
H.R. 3058 — the fiscal year 2006 Transportation, Treasury, HUD Appropriations bill — is scheduled to be considered this week. Votes are expected to begin as early as tomorrow.
UTU seeks another backdoor raid of BLET
This backdoor attempt is similar to the “Bosnian Amendment” the UTU attempted to pass in 1997 and the single operating craft idea introduced to the National Mediation Board in 1998.
Fact Sheet: Teamster Diversity
People refer to the Teamsters Union as a “trucker’s union,” but in reality trucking makes up only about 10 percent of the Union’s membership.
Two BLET family members win Union Plus Scholarships
Brianna Jones and Ashley Stengel, children of BLET members, have been selected to receive 2005 Union Plus scholarship awards. Jones, daughter of Wyoming State Legislative Board Chairman and BLET Division 44 (Cheyenne, Wyo.) member Terry R. Jones, will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Stengel, daughter of BLET Division 78 (Louisville, Ky.) member J. Kevin Stengel, will receive $750.
BLET Job Bank: Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway is extending its operation of the Soo Line District and is looking for locomotive engineers and conductors to work in Elkhart, Indiana.
Remote control safety bill reintroduced in Congress
Representative Gene Green (D-TX) has reintroduced a bill banning the use of remote control locomotives to carry hazardous materials in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill, H.R. 2843, had been introduced in the 108th Congress.
Biden introduces rail security legislation in Senate
U.S. Senator Joesph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) introduced a BLET/IBT sponsored rail security bill in the Senate today that would provide a $10 million training fund for rail workers who handle hazardous materials.
BLET continues fight against UTU double dues
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) is moving forward with its lawsuit to halt the United Transportation Union’s attempt to implement a seniority maintenance and seniority retention agreement reached with the nation’s railroads.
Strike and Defense Fund available to BLET
While the BLET does not expect the National Mediation Board to rule in favor of the United Transportation Union’s request for a single-craft representation election, the Brotherhood is still prepared for an all-out campaign to protect its membership and the historical operating crafts at the Union Pacific Railroad.
BLET, IBT lobby on Capitol Hill in support of Amtrak
Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and other representatives of rail labor held meetings on Capitol Hill last week to discuss Amtrak and other issues of importance to railroad workers.
