Commentary

Union boss may have LIRR in checkmate

This is about the Long Island Rail Road. It’s about a dispute over wages and benefits. It’s about politics that have a stereotypically anti-labor House Republican majority poised to line up on rail labor’s side to embarrass a Democratic governor. And it’s about a union boss named Anthony Simon, who should be teaching strategy to future battle commanders at the Army War College.

Prendergast fires Williams as LIRR president

Long Island Rail Road President Helena Williams is the latest casualty in a series of sweeping changes New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Thomas F. Prendergast has been making since he took office. Prendergast fired Williams, 58, following an MTA board meeting on Wednesday, April 30, 2014.

NYMTA, TWU reach tentative agreement

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Transit Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 have reached a tentative five-year labor agreement to settle a two-year-old contract dispute affecting 34,000 MTA New York City Transit workers.

Metro-North wreck kills four, injures 63

Four people were killed and 63 were injured, 11 critically, when a seven-car Metro-North train derailed on a curve and rolled over at 7:20 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1. The train, which had originated in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., at 5:54 a.m., was headed southbound toward Grand Central Terminal. It was a diesel-powered push-pull consist operating in push mode, as is standard practice on southbound Metro-North diesel trains. It appears now that human error, rather than mechanical or electrical failure, caused the accident.

Siemens, Bombardier pair on NYMTA PTC

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has awarded a contract to a consortium of Siemens Rail Automation and Bombardier Transportation Rail Control Solutions to install Positive Train Control (PTC) on MTA Metro-North Railroad and MTA Long Island Rail Road, the two largest regional/commuter rail systems in the U.S. The maximum value of the contract is $428 million, including all phases and options.
Commentary

MTA labor talks: Cannon to left, cannon to right

Hard times motivate T-bone steak lovers to chow down on Spam or Sloppy Joes, but unionized workers employed by MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), MTA Metro-North Railroad, MTA Staten Island Railway (SIR), and New York’s subways, MTA New York City Transit (NYCT)—all operated and largely funded by the cash-strapped State of New York, under the umbrella of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)—are resolved to resist a change in diet.

New president for MTA New York City Transit

New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast announced Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013 that he has appointed Carmen Bianco as president of MTA New York City Transit.

Schumer, Lautenberg, LaHood announce major Gateway Program funding step

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced May 30 that that the USDOT “has begun the process of fulfilling Amtrak’s request for $185 million in Hurricane Sandy Relief funding.”

NYMTA No. 7 Line Extension earns professional accolade

The New York State Society of Professional Engineers (NYSSPE) has selected New York MTA’s No. 7 Subway Line Extension as its 2013 Construction Project of the Year.

Prendergast named New York MTA chief

In a move largely anticipated by observers of the New York City metropolitan area’s public transportation system, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has named veteran transit executive Thomas F. Prendergast as the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Chairman and Executive Director.
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