General Information
BLET congratulates new RRB members, salutes outgoing Labor Member Walt Barrows
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, January 8 — On January 2, 2019, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nominations of three new members to the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board: Erhard R. Chorle, Chairman; Thomas Jayne, Management Member; and Jonathan Bragg, Labor Member. BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce congratulated Chorle, Jayne and Bragg on their confirmations and expressed the…
Read MoreImportant Changes to the BLET Short-Term Disability Program
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, January 1 — Effective January 1, 2019, Sun Life Financial will be replacing MetLife as the insurance carrier for The BLET’ Short-Term Disability Program (“STD Program”). Sun Life Financial (located at One Sun Life Executive Park, Wellesley Hills, MA 02481) is one of America’s leaders in group insurance plans and holds an A+…
Read MoreCanada is producing more oil than it can handle
(Source: www.rt.com, January 2, 2019) Western Canada is producing 365,000 bpd more crude oil that current pipeline capacity can handle, a new report from the National Energy Board has revealed. According to the authority, as of September, Western Canada produced a daily average of 4.30 million barrels of crude, while pipeline capacity stood at 3.95…
Read MoreSound Transit’s board OKs 2019 budget
(Source: Progressive Railroading 12/26/2018) Sound Transit‘s board last week approved a $2.9 billion 2019 budget that includes $2.4 billion for capital projects and $345.4 million for transit operations. The capital project funds target continued progress toward opening light-rail service to Northgate in 2021, launching Hilltop Tacoma Link in 2022 and starting East Link light-rail service…
Read MoreAAR: U.S. intermodal traffic set record in 2018
(Source: Progressive Railroading 01/04/2019) U.S. railroads moved more intermodal volume than carloads in 2018, with carloads up 1.8 percent to 13,640,641 units and intermodal volume up 5.5 percent to 14,472,849 units compared with 2017’s figures, according to Association of American Railroads(AAR) data. Combined, U.S. railroads reported 28,113,490 carloads and intermodal units, a 3.7 percent year-over-year increase.…
Read More