General Information
While everyone was focused on the shutdown, the White House rolled back worker safety rules
(Source: Fortune, January 30, 2019) WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump may have run his 2016 campaign as a champion of the working class, but his administration seems to be chipping away at worker protections. During the president’s 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government, the White House quietly dissolved a 2016 regulation requiring certain…
Read MoreTwo billionaires want to restore glory of U.S. passenger railroads
(Source: Bloomberg, February 1, 2019) WASHINGTON, D.C. — When American industrialist Henry Flagler decided to add Miami as a stop on his east coast Florida railway in the 1890s, the watery settlement had just a few hundred inhabitants. More than a century later, the city has flourished but the American public’s love affair with trains…
Read MoreBNSF customers invested $3 billion in industrial developments in 2018
(Source: Progressive Railroading 02/01/2019) BNSF Railway Co. announced yesterday that plant construction and upgrade investments made by its customers in 2018 totaled nearly $3 billion. Last year marked the eighth consecutive year that BNSF customers and local economic development organizations have invested more than $1 billion in a calendar year for new or expanded facilities, according to a…
Read MoreNew trial ordered for BNSF retaliation case after faulty jury instruction
(Source: Business Insurance, January 31, 2019) WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal appeals court has reinstated retaliation charges filed by a railroad worker on the basis of an incorrect jury instruction. Full story: Business Insurance Friday, February 1, 2019
Read MoreU.S. rail traffic dipped in Week 4
(Source: Progressive Railroading 01/31/2019) Weekly U.S. rail traffic fell for the first time in 2019, with railroads logging a combined 522,026 carloads and intermodal units during the week ending Jan. 26, down 4 percent compared with the same week a year ago, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data. Total carloads for the week dropped 4.7…
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