BLET News

(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,…

(Source: Trains Magazine, February 28, 2023) The Federal Railroad Administration today encouraged railroads to improve the way they collect and use data from wayside hotbox detectors in order to prevent catastrophic derailments like the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern hazardous materials wreck in East Palestine, Ohio. Full story: Trains Magazine