Canadian Pacific (CP) CEO Hunter Harrison has faced a wall of opposition ever since announcing his intention to merge his company with Norfolk Southern (NS) last November. And that wall includes NS itself. On Dec. 7th, NS released a “white paper” that outlined the various reasons why a merger would be unwise, including the viability
On Monday, labor leaders, religious leaders, and Members of Congress came together to once-again denounce the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a massive trade deal currently being proposed between the U.S. and eleven other nations; and one that many are calling “NAFTA on Steroids.” TCU stood in solidarity with IAM at the Capitol
The TCU Legislative Department hopes everyone had a fun and safe holiday season and wishes you the best in this New Year! And to ring in 2016, we wanted to provide a recap of the happenings in DC last month. This past December there was much to celebrate for TCU members as Santa arrived a
With recent tragic events taking center-stage on Capitol Hill, President Obama reluctantly signed another two-week extension of the current Highway-Transit bill. The bill had been scheduled to expire this evening. The extension should provide lawmakers the needed time to hammer out the final details on a much longer bill that would potentially provide authorized funding
On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed their Surface Transportation bill (a.k.a. “Highway” bill). After votes on over 100 amendments, the bill eventually passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 363-64. Notably, the House rejected the Ribble amendment that would have increased truck weight limitations. TCU had urgedlawmakers numerous times to strike the language, and it
On Wednesday, Congress moved to extend the Positive Train Control (PTC) deadline by three years, clearing the way for railroads to continue operations as they work to properly install, test, and fully implement the new safety network. The bipartisan legislation that was worked out between House and Senate committee staff was attached to the Surface
On October 29, 2015 the US DOT announced the award of $500 million in TIGER VII discretionary grants to transportation projects in various states. The recipients of these competitive, merit-based grants were States, local governments, port authorities, transit agencies, and metropolitan planning organizations. TCU wrote letters to the Administration in support of these grants. 18
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Sarah Feinberg as Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Feinberg had been serving as Acting Administrator for the past nine months. Ed Wytkind, President of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), issued a statement applauding her confirmation: “…In the nine months that Feinberg has served as Acting Administrator,
Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) Calls For PTC Extension TCU was in attendance as a bipartisan group of lawmakers held a press conference to call for an immediate extension of the Positive Train Control (PTC) deadline, slated to go into effect at the end of the year. Leading the event was Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) and
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee introduced a six-year, $325 billion reauthorization bill for our nation’s highway and transit programs. The bill provides $261 billion for highways and $55 billion for transit, and the rest being assigned to safety programs. The Committee is scheduled to begin the markup process on Thursday, October 22nd. With an
