WASHINGTON — Two U.S. senators have introduced a resolution that would require unions and railroads to accept recommendations made in August by the Presidential Emergency Board to settle their labor dispute and avert a strike or lockout. The news site Roll Call reports Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) introduced the legislation on […]
ITASCA, Ill. — Given the location of the event —in the heart of the cluster of Chicago suburbs who have organized to fight the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger — it is little surprise that Monday’s public meeting on the merger’s draft Environmental Impact Statement was a prolonged attack on that report, and on the […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway will stop accepting temperature-controlled intermodal traffic as of 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 13, as it prepares for a possible work stoppage, the railroad said in a notice to customers on Monday night. The BNSF notice says the railroad has now reached agreements with nine unions — which would […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak will begin suspending service on some long-distance trains as of tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 13) in preparation for a possible railroad work stoppage later this week. Trains immediately affected will be the longest-duration trains — the Chicago-Los Angeles Southwest Chief; Chicago-Seattle/Portland Empire Builder; Chicago-Emeryville, Calif., California Zephyr; and the Los Angeles-San Antonio portion […]
WASHINGTON — The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association has joined the growing list of groups calling for Congress to intervene in the Class I rail labor dispute. Meanwhile, the Fertilizer Institute, which already had asked Congress to intervene, renewed its call after railroads announced they would begin embargoing hazardous or security-sensitive material, which […]
ITASCA, Ill. — A group of Chicago suburbs seeking more than $9 billion to mitigate impacts of the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger says it will present new testimony showing potential adverse effects at a public meeting tonight on the Surface Transportation Board’s Draft Environmental Impact Study on the merger. The meeting, the first of […]
ARLINGTON, Va. —Three more unions have reached tentative agreements on new national labor agreements, the negotiating body for the railroads, the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, has announced. The tentative agreements announced today (Sunday, Sept. 11), with the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers: […]
Leaders of the two major unions representing train crews have blasted the announcement by railroads that they would begin to embargo hazardous-material and other security-sensitive shipments as “corporate extortion” and “corporate terrorism” designed to force Congress to intervene in the current rail labor dispute. Jeremy Ferguson, president of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation […]
WASHINGTON — The trucking industry doesn’t want a railroad work stoppage any more than railroads do. In a letter sent to Congressional leaders on Friday, the American Trucking Associations warned that trucks would be unable to replace rail service in the event of a strike or lockout. “While trucking and rail companies compete for ground […]
Railroads have begun preparations to secure what they call “hazardous and security-sensitive materials” to make sure no such cargo is left on a train left unattended or unsecured in the event of a work stoppage, the Association of American Railroads, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, and BNSF Railway all said in news releases or messages to […]
WASHINGTON — The Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO has offered its support for Surface Transportation Board vice chairman Robert Primus, who is seeking to serve a second term on the STB. “During his current term, Mr. Primus has demonstrated an expert understanding of the economic state of the railroad industry, including widespread service and […]
WASHINGTON — A report released today (Thursday, Sept. 8) by the railroads’ trade group, the Association of American Railroads, says a nationwide interruption of rail service could cost more than $2 billion per day. The AAR says the report is based on historical Federal Railroad Administration data — specifically updating a 1992 study to quantify […]
