Union announces tentative deal for conductors with Amtrak

Passenger train at grade crossing

WASHINGTON — The union representing Amtrak conductors and assistant conductors announced it had reached a new tentative agreement with the passenger operator for a seven-year contract covering more than 2,100 employees. The agreement with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD) will include a “substantial general wage increase,” the […]

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Caltrain offers first look at all-electric schedules

SAN FRANCISCO — A month before Stadler electric, bilevel multiple-unit trainsets are set to completely transform Caltrain’s 51-mile corridor from downtown San Francisco to San Jose, Calif., commuters are getting their first look at specifics of the schedules to be implemented beginning Sept. 21. Some electric trainsets began operating earlier this month [see “News photos: […]

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Lockouts begin on CN, CPKC

Red locomotives of CN and CP in yard

Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City are now shut down in Canada after locking out Teamsters Canada Rail Conference operating crews beginning at 12:01 a.m. today (Aug. 22) — the first time both railroads have been hit by a work stoppage at the same time. A lockout of CPKC rail traffic controllers began […]

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NYC’s Riley on the IC

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New York Central’s Chicago–Cincinnati streamliner, the James Whitcomb Riley, speeds past Illinois Central’s suburban-train station at 75th Street on the South Side of Chicago in 1947. The Riley left from IC’s Central Station on the lakefront and switched to NYC rails at Kankakee. Willard A. Gardner photo […]

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Canadian commuter rail operations prepare for work stoppage

Blue and silver locomotive with commuter train

The potential strike by CPKC rail traffic controllers — set to begin Thursday morning — will scramble commuting in Canada’s three largest cities. Commuter rail operations in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal all rely on CPKC dispatching to varying degrees, and those operations will cease during a strike by controllers. Hardest hit will be Montreal, where […]

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