Opinion

Commentary

Pandemic Recovery: A Few “Long-COVID” Effects

When the COVID-19 virus struck in March 2020, ridership on passenger trains and rail transit in the United States and Canada fell precipitously. Railway Age, RT&S and International Railway Journal joined to cover that and other events in on the rail scene: passenger, transit, and freight, here in North America and around the world. Then, as events unfolded, we continued to follow ridership and service recovery on Amtrak, VIA Rail, and rail transit. Now, at the 2½-year mark, it is time to report again.

Commentary

Who Spilled the Beans on Binding Arbitration?

Railway Age’s Frank N. Wilner seems to have been hiding in the HVAC ducts above Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s office Sept. 15, observing what really transpired between rail labor and carrier management

Commentary

Coincidence—Or Not?

The Federal Railroad Administration released on Sept. 22—six years after it was completed—a commissioned study, “Human Error Analyses Associated With Locomotive Cab Automation,” which “addressed the potential for errors that may occur during human-automation interaction with automated systems.”

Commentary
  • News

TTC’s Second Half-Century: An Expanded Role

A short drive east of Pueblo, Colo., north of the Arkansas River, flanked by the Sangre de Christo Mountains, and surrounded by shortgrass prairie, lies the Transportation Technology Center, the Federal Railroad

Commentary

NEARS 2022 Conference: Day One Takeaways

At the NEARS (North East Association of Rail Shippers) Fall 2022 Conference, participants say they are still waiting to see consistency in rail service. Technical metrics are gradually improving, but in our view, fluidity will not show significant improvement until first-half 2023. On the first day of sessions (Sept. 21), many attendees expressed surprise that CSX reached outside the rail network for its new CEO. Also, Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin Oberman foreshadowed a more proactive STB. Our key takeaways follow.

Commentary

Might Union Chiefs Override Member Vote?

If tentative wages, benefits and work rules agreements reached between rail labor unions and most Class I railroads (and many smaller ones) fail to be ratified by union members in coming weeks, might leadership of those unions override a majority “no” vote and unilaterally impose the tentative agreement or, alternatively, submit it to binding arbitration rather than pursue further collective bargaining or authorize a strike?

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