U.S. Class I railroad traffic continued its growth trend through the Christmas holiday week, reports the Association of American Railroads. Carloads were up almost 30 percent versus the same holiday week in 2009, and intermodal (trailers and containers on flat cars) was up more than 25 percent versus the same holiday week in 2009. The [...]
NS Crescent Corridor gains federal funds
December 30, 2010
Norfolk Southern has won final funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation for its long planned 2,500-mile Crescent Corridor linking New Orleans, Memphis and the Northeast, reports the Journal of Commerce. The Crescent Corridor improvements, when completed, will increase height clearances and speed double-stack movements along the route, and expand intermodal terminals where trailers and [...]
Isn’t it time to stop smoking?
December 29, 2010
What better gift to your health and your family’s health could there be than to resolve to stop smoking in 2011? Easier said than done. That’s for sure. But help is available. For UTU rail members covered by the national contract health plans, each of the medical benefits have smoking cessation programs included in their [...]
Former KCS GC Bob Martin dies at 80
December 28, 2010
SHAWNEE, Kan. — Robert G. Martin, a former UTU general chairperson (GO 457) on Kansas City Southern Railway, died here Dec. 24 at age 80. A native of Beaumont, Texas, he was a member of UTU predecessor Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and, later, UTU Local 20 in Beaumont. Martin worked as a yardman for KCS [...]
UTU working to improve Rail Safety Act
December 27, 2010
By James Stem, UTU National Legislative Director The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA) was not all that rail labor wanted in a safety bill, but it was a good start, and contains much of what we have long sought. Work still needs to be done, including an end to limbo time, advance notice [...]
2 pacts reached on Florida East Coast
December 27, 2010
Two tentative four-year agreements have been reached between the UTU and Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). One of the tentative four-year agreements covers FEC conductors, engineers, trainmen and yardmen represented by the UTU. The second tentative four-year pact covers FEC yardmasters represented by the UTU. The tentative agreements, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009, and extending [...]
Illinois, Amtrak, UP agree on HSR project
December 27, 2010
Some $1.1 billion in federal grants for high-speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis are about to flow to the State of Illinois after the Illinois DOT, Amtrak and Union Pacific reached an agreement on how to accommodate freight and passenger trains on the affected track, reports the Springfield State Journal-Register. The Illinois DOT predicts that [...]
A bus policy worth expanding nationally
December 27, 2010
We know many UTU-represented bus drivers who would cherish for their systems the same zero-tolerance policy toward disorderly conduct that is in effect in Milwaukee. A bus passenger there was escorted off the bus and fined $500 for using obscenities in front of other passengers. Although the passenger, who was collared by an undercover police [...]
Senate failed to act on NMB, STB nominees
December 23, 2010
WASHINGTON — Two Obama administration nominations of Republicans to key transportation regulatory positions — one to the National Mediation Board; the other to the Surface Transportation Board — were returned to the White House by the Senate this week without confirmation action and will have to be resubmitted to the Senate in the new Congress. [...]
