By Bill Stephens for trains.com Will the rank and file ratify tentative agreements? The prospect of a disruptive U.S. freight railroad strike was averted thanks to the tentative deal reached overnight between the Class I railroads and the labor unions that represent engineers and conductors, but three key questions remain unanswered. And all of them […]
BY ALEXANDER BOLTON for thehill.com Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday blocked a Republican request to force railroad workers and companies to accept the recommendations of a nonpartisan panel to avoid a strike that would impact millions of Americans. Sanders stood up on the floor to block the speedy approval of the resolution — introduced […]
Labor unions holding supply chain hostage, threatening disastrous $2-billion-a-day railway strike courtesy of burr.senate.gov Today, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, introduced a resolution that would prevent a disastrous rail […]
By JOSH FUNK for apnews.com The heads of the nation’s two largest rail unions said Sunday that the freight railroads’ move to begin delaying some shipments ahead of this week’s looming strike deadline is only an attempt to get shippers to increase the pressure on Congress to intervene and block a work stoppage by imposing […]
Eleanor Mueller and Tanya Snyder for news.yahoo.com Labor Secretary Marty Walsh participated in a meeting Wednesday between the National Mediation Board, the country’s largest rail carriers and eight unions in hopes of preventing a strike, a DOL spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO. The involvement of the NMB and now Walsh himself indicates how seriously the Biden […]
Only Kansas City Southern and CN’s GTW didn’t make the cut Courtesy of trains.com Five of the seven Class I railroads operating in the U.S. were revenue adequate in 2021, the Surface Transportation Board said on Tuesday. Being revenue adequate means a railroads achieved a rate of return equal to or greater […]
BY KARL EVERS-HILLSTROM for thehill.com A potential nationwide freight rail strike is looming, threatening to cripple the U.S. economy ahead of the holiday shopping season and November’s midterm elections. Roughly 115,000 rail workers could walk off the job as soon as Sept. 16 if they cannot agree to a new contract with railroads. […]
Ohio congressman says legislation would streamline training process Article published by trains.com An Ohio congressman has introduced a bill which would allow trainees for railroad jobs to complete some aspects of their training online. U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Zanesville, Ohio) introduced the Rail Employee Training Modernization Act last week, saying that existing regulations require employees […]
By Bill Stephens for trains.com Association of American Railroads says STB reauthorization measure would threaten the viability of the freight railroads and exacerbate ongoing service problems The Surface Transportation Board would get more teeth under a shipper-friendly bill that would reauthorize the agency that regulates freight railroads. The Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act, introduced […]
By Bill Stephens for trains.com In letter to federal regulators, engineer claims cars are on sent on their way to reduce terminal dwell figures Pressure to reduce terminal dwell figures has prompted some Union Pacific yards to routinely depart trains that include misrouted cars simply to get them moving, a UP engineer alleges in a […]