News and Media

Reported by Elliot Robinson for Global Railway Review.

Amtrak have received a grant from the FRA which will allow the company to train over 600 employees in its new apprenticeship programme.

It has been announced that Amtrak have received a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) $8 million grant which will enable Amtrak to advance its new apprenticeship programme. The programme, launched in March 2020, will be rolled out and implemented nationally, offering a three-year career track for personal and professional advancement. With training hubs in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Wilmington, and Beech Grove, the grant will enable the programme to train over 600 employees in the next three to five years.

Reported by Gabrielle Gurley for The American Prospect.

The transportation workforce instability and a worker-friendly job market both brought on by COVID show no signs of letting up. Flight attendants flee regional carriers for higher pay, better routes, and other perks with legacy airlines. Bus drivers quit in droves, forcing transit systems to offer signing bonuses, while merchant marine crews grapple with endless weeks working on ships waiting to get into clogged ports. What could make this work more unsettling? A proposed Department of Health and Human Services pre-employment drug testing regime that could render millions of employees in safety-sensitive positions—pilots, flight attendants, railway engineers, mariners, and truckers and others—ineligible for work or send them out of the industry altogether.

Reported by T.A. DeFeo for Trains.

The Federal Railroad Administration could soon rule on a petition that would allow a pair of freight railroads to use wayside wheel temperature detectors for inspections currently performed by workers. But a union representing railroad employees says granting such a request would be dangerous.

Canadian Pacific and Union Pacific jointly petitioned the FRA to allow them to use the Automated Brake Effectiveness test process using wheel temperature detectors as an alternative to Class I brake tests performed by certified car inspectors. The railroads say the test is more accurate and will allow them to proactively identify and repair defects, which will lead to safer operations.

According to documents filed with the FRA, the railroads asked for a waiver for a potash unit train operating between Saskatchewan, Canada, and Portland, Ore. The tests would take place on the trains, which typically operate with between 130 and 190 cars, in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Reported by Lori Ann LaRocco for CNBC.

The drop in Shanghai’s port productivity, which is driven by to the lack of people working due to Covid lockdowns, can be seen in the container wait time at the port, according to CNBC’s new Supply Chain Heat Map.

“In Shanghai, ocean terminals, warehouses, and trucking services are operating as normal but with lower efficiency due to staff shortages and lack of drivers,” said Brian Bourke, Chief Growth Officer of SEKO Logistics.

CNBC’s Supply Chain Heat Map is a new data tool CNBC created along with 10 of the world’s top maritime and logistics data providers. it shows the scores of challenges facing the global supply chain in real time, so investors can understand the inventory problems facing companies.

America’s Workforce Union Podcast.

AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department President Greg Regan joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed an oppressive attendance policy implemented by BNSF Railway and its impact on workers and the supply chain crisis.

Called Hi-Viz, the policy is point-based and docks workers for absences, including family emergencies and sickness. Due to this strict policy, many workers fear they will be laid off in the next eight months, which could further disrupt the supply chain.

Reported by Dan Zukowski for SmartCitiesDive.

Even with advanced automated driving technology, transit vehicles including public transit buses and vans are “highly likely” to require the presence of a qualified human operator, according to a report issued Thursday by Traffic21, a transportation research institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Human operators will likely be required in part because transit buses operate in a complex, ever-changing urban environment alongside pedestrians, bicyclists and other road users, the report says. Transit operators also interact with passengers and are responsible for their safety on board the vehicle.

While advanced driver assistance systems such as lane-centering and pedestrian warnings can improve safety, higher levels of automation can create their own safety issues, the report said.

Reported by Joanna Marsh for Freightwaves.

Two unions are still critical of BNSF’s controversial attendance policy, saying recent adjustments aren’t enough to overcome its shortcomings.

“BNSF’s proposed changes to its HiViz attendance policy are unimpressive. These changes do nothing to address the policy’s fundamental flaws,” said Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. 

BNSF implemented the “HiViz” policy, which stands for high visibility, on Feb. 1. The railroad has said the policy aims to provide more transparency on absences as well as more predictability for crews around when they will go to work. But union members contend that the policy shortchanges rest time and penalizes employees for time off.

Reported by Justin Franz for Montana Free Press.

Montana’s largest railroad company is making changes to a controversial new employee attendance policy after receiving pushback from railroaders and unions. But even with the changes, labor officials remain unimpressed and said BNSF Railway’s new policies could lead to unsafe working conditions on the railroad.

Railroaders already lead chaotic work lives — one day they might go to work at 9 a.m. and the next at 5 p.m. — but BNSF employees alleged that the company’s new “Hi-Viz” attendance policy made it even worse by penalizing them for taking time off for a family emergency, illness or fatigue. Union officials say more than 700 railroaders have quit since the policy was implemented in February. Among those who walked was Brady Wassam, a Columbia Falls man who came from a family of railroaders and worked for BNSF for eight years.

Reported by Marybeth Luczak for Railway Age.

BNSF now plans changes to Hi-Viz. In a recent video on the BNSF YouTube channel, VP Transportation Matt Garland discussed them. He first thanked employees by saying, “I know we’ve had a tough start to the year, and I know we’re all feeling that. We all have a lot on our minds, and I appreciate all that you’re working through, and so do our customers.” He explained that over the past three months, “many employees raised concerns” about Hi-Viz details. “We heard you,” Garland said. “We’ve especially heard your concerns about the initial conjunction penalty associated with vacation and personal days. We’ve also heard a lot of thoughtful suggestions about ‘good performers’ having the ability to earn bonus points and the possibility of being able to bank more than 30 points.

WASHINGTON – Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, the President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, issued this statement in response to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway’s adjustments to its “Hi Viz” attendance policy, which has increased employee turnover since taking effect on February 1st: “BNSF’s proposed changes to its Hi […]