February 22, 2019
Federal transportation officials are requiring railroads to establish regional response teams along oil train routes following a series of fiery derailments. The new rule is aimed at having crews and equipment ready in the event of an accident. It applies …
October 25, 2018
A railroad crossing sign and the blasting horn of an approaching train weren’t enough to stop a motorist who narrowly escaped getting hit on East Market Street in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Pa., one recent morning. Video of the incident shows the …
May 1, 2018
Five months ago, in a scathing report on a 2016 accident in which two track workers were killed, U.S. safety investigators urged Amtrak to slow its trains when they pass work crews. The nation’s passenger rail service didn’t follow the …
March 2, 2018
U.S. regulators should crack down on railroads which fail to meet a looming deadline to activate systems that safety officials have said could have prevented two recent deadly Amtrak accidents, said top senators on an oversight panel. By year end, …
August 9, 2017
U.S. officials are abandoning plans to require sleep apnea screening for truck drivers and train engineers, a decision that safety experts say puts millions of lives at risk. The Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said late …
May 10, 2017
Indiana’s most dangerous rail crossings could soon receive safety upgrades thanks to a new law which provides $10 million to improve crash-prone rail intersections. The (Northwest) Indiana Times reports the infrastructure funding legislation enacted last week by Gov. Eric Holcomb …
February 1, 2017
Both maintenance workers killed by an Amtrak train near Philadelphia, Pa., last year were on drugs when the crash happened, test results show, but that doesn’t appear to have factored into safety lapses and miscommunications being blamed for their deaths. …
November 30, 2016
The nation’s three busiest commuter railroads – which together serve nearly 1 million riders in the New York City area each day – continue to lag behind their smaller West Coast counterparts in installing sophisticated train-control technology that’s seen as …
August 18, 2016
Many commuter and freight railroads have made little progress installing safety technology designed to prevent deadly collisions and derailments despite a mandate from Congress, according to a government report released Wednesday. The technology, called positive train control or PTC, uses …
September 14, 2015
Major U.S. and Canadian railroads stepped up pressure on Congress to extend a Dec. 31 deadline for new safety technology on Wednesday, warning that failure to act would lead to crippling disruptions across the national freight and passenger rail system. …