News

Railroads’ progress on Positive Train Control remains uneven WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (US DOT’s) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today released a status update on its efforts to assist railroads in implementing positive train control systems (PTC), along with the railroads’ self-reported progress for the fourth quarter of 2017. At the direction of Secretary Elaine…

The Trump administration’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has declined a request made by SMART Transportation Division to address the safety concerns of excessively long trains. In an April 25, 2017, letter from National Legislative Director John Risch to Robert Lauby, FRA’s associate administrator for safety, Risch referenced a pair of trains – one CSX train…

UnitedHealthcare today issued a scam alert in response to reports of a number of calls attempting to solicit personal information from railroad workers. An email from Gail Snopkowski, senior service account manager of railroad accounts for UnitedHealthcare, to SMART TD said “several” railroad members have received unsolicited phone calls claiming to be from the insurer….

by The National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project Sleep deprivation impacts workplace safety, productivity and individual health (DARIEN, Ill.) March 2018 – Getting insufficient sleep and working while fatigued have become commonplace in the modern 24/7 workforce, with more than 37 percent of workers sleep-deprived.[i] Over-worked and over-tired employees experience cognitive declines and present employers with heightened…

Registration remains open for rail workers in Arizona, western New Mexico and southeastern California for a 40-hour hazmat training session to be held in Winslow, Ariz. The session on chemical emergence response lasts April 9 to 13 and is part of the docket of classes funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)…