MoveAmerica Blog
Rail
Watch Vice President Joe Biden Give Mad Props to Amtrak Employees
During last week’s announcement that Amtrak would be purchasing 28 new high-speed train sets, Vice President Joe Biden called out Amtrak’s dedicated employees for their incredible contributions to our national passenger rail system. Praising them for regularly going above and beyond, he noted that “management is fine, but employees are better.” This isn’t just lip service. […]
Join our Twitter Takeover to Demand #2CrewTrains
Common sense tells us that operating a 19,000-ton freight train with a single crewmember – like the railroads want to do – is a dangerous idea. But what do the men and women who actually operate these trains think? Now is your chance to find out! This Thursday, SMART-TD member and BNSF conductor Mike Rankin […]
Ed Wytkind Discusses High Speed Rail on The Rick Smith Show
Ed Wytkind, president of TTD, discusses high speed rail and its impact on national infrastructure, individual communities and the economy on The Rick Smith Show. Wytkind commented on California’s ambitious high-speed rail plan, which would bring 225 mile-per-hour service to the state, and a proposed project to connect Chicago to several major metropolitan areas, which […]
Huffington Post — Moving Forward: Faster Trains Propel the Economy, and our Middle Class, Forward
Note: This is the second piece in a series that explores the connection between a robust transportation system and a stronger middle class. Read the first piece which sets the tone for a much needed national conversation. Around the globe, the race is on to bring the world’s fastest trains — which top speeds nearing […]
Inward-Facing Cameras a Distraction from Serious Rail Safety Debate
The Amtrak crash in Philadelphia has reopened the debate about what can done to make passenger and freight rail safer for both passengers and workers. At recent Senate Commerce Committee and House Transportation and Infrastructure hearings, a number of solutions were proposed, including immediately installing inward-facing cameras in locomotive rail cabs. Proponents of cameras argue […]
Time for Senate to Complete Multi-Year Amtrak Bill
The start of summer vacation season begins soon and many families will rely on Amtrak to get them there. Almost 31 million passengers took an Amtrak train last year – that’s up 4 percent. This increased popularity in our U.S. passenger rail system comes at a time when Amtrak continues to be short-changed by those […]
Ed Wytkind on the Huffington Post: So Now Replacing 100-Year Old Tunnels Is a Liberal Boondoggle?
On October 2nd, Amtrak reported that four of its century-old underwater rail tunnels in and out of New York City are in need of extensive repairs and that service will be “badly curtailed” — terrible news for both daily commuters and passengers who take 260 million trips a year along the vital Northeast Corridor. While some may […]
Launching a New Era in Job Creation
Did you miss TTD’s president, Ed Wytkind, on the Rick Smith Show last week? If so, never fear: we’ve got the interview here on our blog. Tune in to hear Ed discuss where the billions of dollars we spend replacing our aging railcars and buses ends up, and how TTD, along with the Jobs to […]
Congress Puts Rail Safety on the Agenda
TTD’s rail safety agenda got a boost last week when Senator Richard Blumenthal, along with three other Senators, included several reforms that rail labor has long championed in their Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2014. Some 130,000 miles of freight rail tracks crisscross the United States, driving the economy, supporting more than 175,000 employees, and […]