A federal judge ruled recently that Union Pacific Railroad is no longer bound to its 149-year-old contract with the City of Palestine and Anderson County. Local officials called the move a blow to local railroad workers and the economy, effectively gutting the future of the railroad jobs in the area. Through the original 1872 contract,
The National Transportation Safety Board determined on Jan. 25 that an airbrake failure caused the fatal, Oct. 4, 2018, collision between two Union Pacific trains in Granite Canyon, Wyo. The collision occurred when the air brakes on an eastbound UP freight train failed while descending a hill. The NTSB determined an air-flow restriction in the brake
TCU Carmen Division Lodge 6013 Members Kirk Sorensen and Matt Schneeberg were recognized by Canadian National Railroad (CN) for their quick actions in helping a 11 year old girl, they found on a train, to safety. “We were conducting an inspection of a train last November in Stevens Point, WI watching carefully as it went
On January 15, 2020, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued an extensive Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Brake System Safety Standards.” The NPRM proposed sweeping changes to brake inspections standards, and incorporated into the regulations, a large number of waivers it has issued to railroads and railroad associations. Among these changes, are modifications to
This is a follow up to a previous article concerning the BNSF Railway’s (BNSF’s) recent petition for waiver from certain provisions of the Federal railroad safety regulations contained in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 215, Railroad Freight Car Safety Standards, relating to the combining of two existing trains, and any
On August 28, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA’s) approval of the Kansas City Southern Railway Company’s (KCSR’s) plan to use Mexican engineers to operate trains within the U.S. As background, KCSR recently developed a revised engineer certification program for engineers working for
CSX has recently petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for waiver from certain provisions of the Federal railroad safety regulations contained at 49 CFR part 225, Railroad Accidents/Incidents: Reports Classification, and Investigations. Specifically, CSX requests a waiver from 49 CFR 225.25(h), which requires, in part, that monthly listings of employee reportable injuries, occupational illnesses, and
Washington, DC, August 7 — On August 5, 2020, 12 rail unions whose members and their families are covered by the NRC/UTU Plan and the Railroad Employees National Health and Welfare Plan, filed suit against the nation’s Class I railroad carriers in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The suit asks the
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) has recently petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for waiver from Federal railroad safety regulations regarding pre-departure inspections. BNSF specifically requested relief from 49 CFR 215.13, which requires that a pre-departure inspection be performed when combining two separate consists including one or more cars and one or more
On April 12, 2019, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) granted the BNSF Railway (BNSF) a test waiver to conduct a pilot program on the carrier’s Southern Transcon trains between Chicago, IL, and California to “demonstrate that the use of wheel temperature detectors to prove brake health effectiveness (BHE) will improve safety, reduce risks to employees,
