Opinion

Commentary

Rob Troup at LRT 2018: “Create an environment of innovation”

Editor’s Note: The following is MARTA Deputy General Manager A.R. “Rob” Troup’s April 26, 2018 complete luncheon address at the annual Railway Age/Railway Track & Structures Light Rail Conference in Baltimore. The text is interspersed with photos from the Transit Tour provided by Maryland MTA of its LRT system and shops.

Commentary

The only way to be sure

The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a Draft Safety Advisory, 2018-01, Related to Temporary Signal Suspensions. For the first time I can recall, FRA is soliciting public comment “on all aspects of the Draft Safety Advisory.”

Commentary

Want airline food? Take Amtrak

Ex-Florida Congressman John Luigi Mica, a foodie who spent a considerable amount of time when he was Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee questioning Amtrak’s food service costs, must be very pleased with Amtrak’s announcement that it’s getting rid of dining cars on two long-distance trains.

Commentary

House Dems grill somnolent STB

Were there any doubt that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has been on siesta since the departure of former Chairman Dan Elliott in September, a House Rail Subcommittee oversight hearing April 17 confirmed the languor.

Commentary

Rapid confirmation seen for STB nominees

Senior Senate legislative aide Patrick J. Fuchs and commuter railroad attorney Michelle A. Schultz, both Republicans, appeared April 11 before the Senate Commerce Committee as a first crucial step toward Senate confirmation to become members of the Surface Transportation Board (STB), which administers remnants of what until 1980 was almost a century of pervasive railroad economic regulation.

Commentary

Labor lawyer Clint Miller: Requisat in pace

Clint Miller studied, recited and practiced railroad labor law with such determination, devotion and precision that his management adversaries often were converted to fans. Had cancer instead picked its fight with him in a courtroom, few would have expected his death last week at age 70.

Commentary

Safety won’t improve with incomplete, inaccurate data

What a world. FRA is on Twitter and Facebook and YouTube. NTSB is on Twitter and YouTube, and might be on Facebook, but I don’t know since the NTSB website doesn’t say one way or another, and I’m not on Facebook or Twitter, and not, to my knowledge on YouTube, or if I am, it’s not my doing, I promise.

Commentary

Stop the hand wringing. Things aren’t that bad.

So far, 2018 has left freight railroaders in a funk. Many, if not all, of the Class I’s face real service challenges; potentially disruptive trade policies threaten near-term traffic volumes; and, ever-increasing vehicle automation is pictured on the horizon like a serpent, ready to gobble up the railroads once and for always.

Commentary

Rail grievance backlog haunts NMB

An essential task of the National Mediation Board (NMB), which administers the Railway Labor Act (RLA), is to resolve grievances of union-represented railroad employees relating to contract interpretation and workplace discipline.

LOAD MORE