Archive for February 2020
SMART-TD President: Facing crew challenges, SMART TD and BLET will act in solidarity
(Source: BLET News Flash 02/21/2020) (BLET Editor’s note: The following statement by SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson was published on February 20, 2020.) Sometimes it takes something major to happen for people to sit up and take notice. A wake-up call, if you will. From the standpoint of our national contract negotiations, our union got another…
Read MoreUP in talks to sell Burnham Rail Yard to Colorado DOT
(Source: Progressive Railroading 02/21/2020) Union Pacific Railroad and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) have reached a preliminary agreement for the sale of 59 acres of the Burnham Rail Yard south of downtown Denver, according to local news reports. The High Performance Transportation Enterprise, a CDOT-owned entity, earlier this week approved a nonbinding term sheet that would set a purchase…
Read MoreUnion Pacific, BLET sue each other over new attendance policy
(Source: Courthouse News Service, February 14, 2020) CHICAGO — Union Pacific Railroad and Chicago union workers sued each other on Friday over the implementation of a new attendance policy and the prospect of a strike. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen asked the federal court in Northern Illinois for an injunction against a new…
Read MoreUSDOT: $1 billion in BUILD grant funding is available
(Source: Progressive Railroading 02/20/2020) The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) yesterday announced $1 billion in fiscal-year 2020 discretionary grant funding is available under the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program. The grants are used for planning and capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure and are to be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have…
Read MoreU.S. freight-rail traffic remains sluggish
(Source: Progressive Railroading 02/20/2020) U.S. freight railroads hauled 479,137 carloads and intermodal units in the week ending Feb. 15, an 8.6 percent decrease in traffic compared with the same week in 2019, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR). Total carloads for the week declined 9.1 percent to 227,447 units, while intermodal volume fell 8 percent to…
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