News

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board of Directors unanimously adopted a motion to establish an agency-wide Good Jobs and Equity Policy that will cover billions of dollars of taxpayer-purchased trains, buses, and equipment last night. The motion was introduced by Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis and included five co-authors from…

The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has announced that during the lapse in federal funding for certain government operations which began Jan. 20, ongoing benefit payments will continue and all RRB offices are expected to remain open. RRB field offices, operating with reduced staffs, will continue to accept new claims for unemployment and sickness benefits,…

Three former rail workers were found not guilty of criminal negligence by a Canadian jury for their connection to the 2013 Lac-Megantic crash. Locomotive engineer Tom Harding, traffic controller Richard Labrie and manager of train operations Jean Demaitre were charged in 2014 with criminal negligence causing the death of 47 people. The jury began their…

SMART Transportation Division Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith reports that legislators in his state are again considering a Right to Work For Less bill. This is the second time in two years that politicians are attempting to undermine the right to union representation in that state, Smith said. The bill, this time known as…

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao said at CES, an annual technology show in Las Vegas, that she plans to take steps toward creating policy guiding the development of self-driving transportation for trucks, buses, transit systems and trains. One of the steps that Chao plans to take toward creating this new policy is to deregulate…