BLET News

(Source: Port of Brownsville press release, January 30, 2018) BROWNSVILLE, Texas — On December 28, 2017, Brownsville Navigation District Chairman John Wood signed final paperwork with Union Pacific Railroad to officially culminate a 44-year project to improve the region’s economic vitality, environment and social benefits by relocating two outdated railroad switchyards from downtown Brownsville to areas…

(Source: Omaha World-Herald, January 30, 2018) OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific, whose deferred tax liabilities fell about $5 billion from the federal tax cut, has started construction on a $550 million rail yard in Texas that is the largest capital investment since its founding in 1862. Full story: Omaha World-Herald Wednesday, January 31, 2018

(Source: Railway Age opinion column by Art Miller, January 30, 2018) NEW YORK — Amtrak is “adopting a safety management system approach used by commercial aviation” as it responds to the Dec. 18, 2017 derailment of Amtrak Cascades train 501 that killed three people and injured more than 60, a railroad spokesperson told me Jan.…

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, January 30 — The BLET is pleased to announce that Cornerstone Benefits Management and their affiliates have been selected as the Third Party Administrator for the BLET Short-Term Disability (Part A and B) Benefit with MetLife, which was created pursuant to Article IV, Part A, Section 5 of the December 16, 2003 National…

(Source: Dow Jones Newswires, January 25, 2018) NEW YORK — Union Pacific Corp. says new technology meant to prevent train accidents is causing congestion on the railway. The largest U.S. railroad based on revenue is in the midst of implementing positive train control, or PTC, technology, which is designed to automatically stop a train to…