TTD in the news

Reported by James Baratta for The American Prospect. Like many federal agencies, the Department of Transportation (DOT) uses advisory committees, primarily to help draft safety regulations for the freight rail, passenger rail, and trucking industries. The panels are composed of experts in the field and key stakeholders for both industry and its workers. And now…

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Reported by Cathy Bussewitz for AP News. A federal judge on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Department of Labor from shutting down Job Corps, a residential program for low-income youth, until a lawsuit against the move is resolved. The injunction bolsters a temporary restraining order U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter issued earlier…

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Reported by James Baratta for The American Prospect. Hours after federal agents arrested New York City Comptroller Brad Lander for attempting to escort a defendant out of immigration court, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held a hearing across the street to consider extending a temporary restraining order to delay…

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Reported by John Gallagher for Freight Waves. Rail unions are raising concerns about the Trump administration’s plan to roll back protections for federal inspectors and investigators put in place in 2021 that they say could increase safety risks in the rail industry. In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) issued in May, the U.S. Department…

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Reported by Marybeth Luczak for Railway Age. U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kans.) on June 18 reintroduced the Reliable Rail Service Act to clarify the railroads’ common carrier obligation and to establish specific criteria for the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to consider when evaluating whether that obligation is being met. They said…

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Reported by John Gallagher for Freight Waves. The Federal Railroad Administration has approved a Buy America waiver for a planned intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF) in Montgomery, Alabama despite concerns that such a waiver could lead to lost jobs through automation. The Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA), which will oversee the ICTF, told the Federal Railroad…

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Reported by Rebecca Rainey for Bloomberg Law. The Trump administration is temporarily barred from shutting down the Job Corps training program, preventing as many as 25,000 young adult students from being displaced, a federal judge ruled. Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a…

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Reported by James Baratta for American Prospect In railroading, danger is omnipresent. Freight train crews, typically consisting of a conductor and an engineer, bear the awesome responsibility of keeping a critical piece of the supply chain moving. They regularly handle the complex decision-making required to transport goods across some of the most unforgiving regions in…

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Reported by Tiana May for Railway News. The 2024 U.S. presidential election marked a sharp political shift, with Donald Trump returning to the White House and Republicans strengthening their presence in Congress. For the rail industry, this transition has raised pressing questions: What will happen to the momentum built under the Biden administration? Will federally…

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Reported by Bill Stephens for Trains Magazine. The Association of American Railroads has asked the Federal Railroad Administration to allow less frequent visual track inspections in territory where automated track inspection systems are used. “The primary benefit of using automated inspection technologies is earlier detection of track defects enabling railroads to switch from reactive to…

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