TTD in the news

Reported by Josh Funk for AP.

BNSF railroad is tweaking its strict new attendance policy that upset workers, but the unions that challenged the rules since they took effect in February say the changes don’t go far enough.

The railroad has told employees that starting next month it will make several small changes in the formula it uses to determine whether workers are missing too many shifts.

The unions say the rules still do too much to encourage workers to show up when they are sick or fatigued. They also argue the rules have contributed to more than 700 employees leaving the railroad at a time when BNSF is struggling to hire.

Reported by David Sparkman for Material Handling and Logistics.

The service deterioration on the nation’s Class 1 railroads is approaching the point of becoming a national security issue, shippers informed the Surface Transportation Board (STB) at hearings held April 26-27, where they described how it already has added to the supply chain crisis, inflation and damaged the nation’s ability to recover economically from COVID-19.

In March, rail shippers also presented similar information at an STB hearing on reciprocal switching, and now the crisis has even seized the attention of the highest levels of the federal government. On April 26 White House press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned the STB hearing at her daily press briefing and on that day Pete Buttigieg became the first secretary of transportation to testify in person before the STB.

Reported by Justin Franz for the Montana Free Press.

Brady Wassam knew what to expect when he took a job on the railroad. Wassam, 30, of Columbia Falls, came from a family of railroaders who have spent years moving freight over the mountains of northwest Montana. 

“It’s a family affair [and] I knew what I was getting into,” he said. “I knew I would get called to work in the middle of the night. I knew I’d have no regular schedule. I knew that because that’s how my family lived.”

Reported by Joanna Marsh for Freightwaves.

Service disruptions at the Class I railroads have come to a head in recent weeks, and shippers and the unions representing rail workers are clamoring for changes to the freight rail industry of a magnitude to match the disruptions.

Some examples of subpar rail service: Excessive dwell times at the origin, resulting in the doubling of transit times between the Midwest and West Coast for grain shippers and tardy arrivals that pressure flour and feed mills and ethanol plants to temporarily cease operations or curtail production. 

Reported by Katabella Roberts for Epoch Times.

Food supply shortages hit a record high in April, as the ongoing Russia–Ukraine conflict continues to impact worldwide food exports, data from S&P Global published on Monday suggested.

According to the survey, manufacturers worldwide reported sustained price and supply pressures during the last month, while the Global Supply Shortages Index signaled that shortages were just under seven times higher than the normal level, unchanged from March’s four-month high.

Reported by Lillianna Byington for Bloomberg Law.

Workers say a proposed change from the Transportation Department to drug testing rules could unfairly violate their privacy.

The administration is weighing whether to allow a licensed professional of any gender to observe a urine test for drugs. The proposal was included in a broader rule that’s mainly seeking to add saliva sampling to the transportation industry’s drug testing. The comments, pitting employers against employees, were due on the proposal by April 29.

Reported by Mary Kennedy for Progressive Farmer.

Over 25 rail-shipper groups, representing all industries using rail cars to ship products, and all rail-worker unions gave the Surface Transportation Board (STB) no-holds-barred testimonies during the Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service hearings April 26 and 27 at the STB’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The four Class I railroads in the hot seat were the BNSF Railway Company, CSX Transportation, Inc., Norfolk Southern Railway Company and Union Pacific Railroad Company. They also presented testimonies during the hearings.

Video Posted by ABC News. Watch Video here.

Reported by Katabella Roberts for Epoch Times.

Rail backlogs in the United States are delaying the shipment of grains, and further exacerbating inflation, industry experts said at a hearing this week addressing urgent freight rail service issues.

“In recent weeks the board has received communications from a broad range of stakeholders of serious problems affecting the freight rail network, namely inconsistent and unreliable service which has had serious impacts on rail users, particularly those shipping agriculture and energy products,” said Martin J. Oberman, chairman of the Surface Transportation Board (STB), which oversees Class I rail carriers and which held a hearing this week.

Reported by Bill Stephens for Trains.

There were more questions than answers on Tuesday as federal regulators sought ways to remedy railroad service problems that defy a quick fix because they are rooted in a shortage of train crews.

Shippers told the Surface Transportation Board that rail service has deteriorated, with delays mounting as transit times have in some cases doubled from normal levels. The slowdown in rail network velocity has forced shippers to curtail or suspend production due to late empty or loaded freight cars, and even prompted farmers to consider culling their herds and flocks for lack of feed.