BLET News

(Source: Reuters, March 2, 2023) Seven major North American freight rail companies on Thursday agreed to join a voluntary employee safety reporting program after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had urged the action following a Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio of a Norfolk Southern operated train. The “Confidential Close Call Reporting System” encourages employees to…

(Source: The Guardian, March 3, 2023) In leaked audio heard by the Guardian, a manager for one of the US’s largest rail companies can be heard explaining to a former carman that they should stop tagging railcars for broken bearings. The manager says doing so delays other cargo. In late 2016, Stephanie Griffin, a former…

(Source: Associated Press, March 1, 2023) Railroads like the one involved in last month’s fiery crash and toxic chemical release in Ohio would be subject to a series of new federal safety regulations and financial consequences under legislation being introduced Wednesday by the state’s two U.S. senators. The bill would set train crews at a two-person minimum.…

(Source: CNBC, March 1, 2023) The presidents of U.S. railroad unions told Biden administration officials that rail workers have fallen ill at the Norfolk Southern derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio, in a push for more train safety. Rail workers who have worked or continue to work the cleanup site have reported experiencing migraines and…

(Source: The Guardian, February 27, 2023) The PR push is a window into a years-long, multimillion-dollar campaign by America’s biggest railroad corporations to win favor among federal regulators and policymakers and push back against calls for tougher regulation – a successful campaign that is coming under closer scrutiny following the Ohio disaster. Between 2015 and 2022,…