Category Archives: Rail industry

EPA begins to clean up black globs of asphalt from Yellowstone River train derailment

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Environmental agency officials said workers are cooling the gooey material with river water and putting it into garbage bags for recycling

Globs of asphalt binder that spilled into Montana’s Yellowstone River during a bridge collapse and train derailment could be seen on islands and riverbanks downstream from Yellowstone National Park a week after the spill occurred, witnesses report.

Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency said cleanup efforts began on Sunday, with workers cooling the gooey material with river water, rolling it up and putting the globs into garbage bags. It will probably be recycled, said Paul Peronard with the EPA.

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‘Times have changed’: New York’s veteran subway announcer on coming out as trans

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Bernie Wagenblast’s voice is known to millions of passengers on the AirTrain service. Now, at 66, she’s happy with a new life

One of the first voices millions of commuting New Yorkers hear each morning is the measured tone of former traffic reporter Bernie Wagenblast reminding them to stand away from the platform edge. Wagenblast, AKA “the voice of New York”, reminds AirTrain passengers at JFK or Newark that the doors are closing, and hosts a podcast about infrastructure, including episodes on Ohio’s bridges and wildlife crossings in Oregon. But that neutrally pan-American male voice, honed by years of practice to impart clarity and authority but not alarm, is changing.

Earlier this year, Wagenblast, 66, went on the radio to present herself publicly as a transgender woman, and has this month been participating in US Pride celebrations with gusto, including the march at Asbury Park on the Jersey shore. Wagenblast is still Bernie, but that’s now derived from Bernadette, not Bernard.

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Montana officials testing Yellowstone River water at site of rail bridge collapse

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The EPA, which is working with the state rail authority on the cleanup, has not detected any toxic gases downwind of the site

Authorities on Sunday were testing the water quality along a stretch of the Yellowstone River where mangled cars carrying hazardous materials remained after crashing into the waterway following a bridge collapse.

The seven mangled train cars that were carrying hot asphalt and molten sulfur when they fell Saturday morning remained in the rushing river on Sunday near the town of Columbus, about 40 miles (roughly 64km) west of Billings. The area is in a sparsely populated section of the Yellowstone River valley, surrounded by ranches and farmland.

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Train drivers’ 24-hour strike stops rail services in England

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About 40% of services expected to run on Saturday as 12,000 Aslef members hold second day of industrial action this week

Rail services across England have again come to a halt as 12,000 train drivers strike for the second time this week amid a long-running dispute with the operating companies over pay and conditions.

Members of the drivers’ union Aslef are walking out for 24 hours on the majority of lines in England and some cross-border routes into Scotland and Wales, leaving only 40% of services running.

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Rail strikes: Hopes of a resolution have been indefinitely delayed

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After a year of walkouts and failed talks, the unions, ministers and operators are as far apart as ever

Almost a year since the first national rail strike was called, another series of stoppages loom. Passengers who have been spared the usual round of disruptive bank holiday engineering works this weekend won’t be so lucky in the second half of the half-term break. Strikes by drivers and crew will more or less wipe out services on Wednesday and Saturday, shred schedules on Friday, and add a bit of scattergun disruption in between.

This time in 2022, the mere prospect of the biggest rail strike in decades was causing consternation. Now, though, the latest guaranteed upheaval has not even produced a round of talks between unions and industry – let alone ministers – to try to head off the disruption.

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Britons face another day of disruptions as train crews stage strike

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Most networks will have limited service as RMT members at 14 companies in England walk out

Passengers faced a second day of disruption on Britain’s railways on Saturday as the union leader Mick Lynch insisted the 24-hour strike had not targeted the Eurovision song contest.

Train crews are staging another 24-hour strike, immediately after Friday’s action by drivers, disrupting people travelling to Liverpool for the Eurovision final, as well as National League football fans heading to Wembley in London.

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State to take control of TransPennine Express after ongoing poor service

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Northern rail network to be run by state-owned operator of last resort when contract expires on 28 May

TransPennine Express (TPE) is to be run by the state after ministers announced that the failing rail company would not have its contract renewed.

The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said the northern rail network would be run by the state-owned operator of last resort after passengers experienced disruption, cancellations and a significant decline in the extent and reliability of the service.

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US rail companies grant paid sick days after public pressure in win for unions

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Leading railroads give four paid sick days after years in which workers weren’t allowed to call in sick the morning of their shift

US freight rail companies nearly spurred a nationwide railroad strike last fall by refusing to grant paid sick days, but in a surprise move welcomed by workers, those railroads have recently granted paid sick days to almost half their workforce.

After being roundly criticized for not offering paid sick days, the leading rail companies – BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific – have granted many of their 93,000 workers four paid sick days a year through labor negotiations, with an option of taking three more paid sick days from personal days.

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Eurostar urged to carry adrenaline injectors in first-aid kit after medical alert

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A doctor was shocked to find no anti-allergy pens on board the train, though operator says law forbids it at present

A junior doctor is calling for lifesaving adrenaline auto-injectors to be carried on Eurostar after caring for a young child who suffered an allergic reaction on the service.

Dr Raphaelle Debray, 26, who is French and works for the NHS, was en route to Paris when she responded to an appeal for a doctor. She requested the onboard medical kit and found it contained only some plasters and a defibrillator. In contrast, international guidelines state that commercial airlines should carry emergency medical kits, with equipment and medication including adrenaline. British Airways and easyJet said they carried adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) on all flights.

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Inland rail review supports concerns raised by regional communities

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Wagga Wagga and other towns on the inland rail route have been asking for a bypass and say that is supported by Dr Kerry Schott’s review

Communities along the inland rail have welcomed Dr Kerry Schott’s damning review into the National party’s key infrastructure project, saying they have felt dismissed for years over concerns around the route selection, traffic disruption and noise.

Schott’s long-awaited report found “astonishing” cost blowouts in the 1,700km line, now estimated to cost more than $31bn.

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Orient Express to axe UK section after 41 years due to Brexit

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Luxury train operator cuts service ahead of biometric passport checks so passengers will have to join train in Paris

When the Orient Express began operating in the 19th century, passports were optional – the only paperwork required by British travellers was a copy of the Thomas Cook Continental Timetable.

But Brexit and 21st-century biometric checks are killing off the romance of crossing borders for modern passengers looking for the nostalgia of the luxury train journey that inspired Agatha Christie and Hollywood.

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Majority-Black town fights to stop land being seized for gravel quarry rail link

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Residents of Sparta, Georgia, are trying to stop the Sandersville railroad and its influential owners from building a spur to a quarry

A majority-Black rural community in Georgia is battling to stop a railroad company from seizing private land for a new train line they say will cause environmental and economic harms.

Residents of Sparta, a poor community of 1,300 people located a hundred miles south-east of Atlanta, are opposing the construction of a rail spur that would connect a local quarry to the main train line, enabling the gravel company to vastly expand mining that already causes dust, debris and noise pollution.

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Rail strikes: RMT votes to accept Network Rail pay offer

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Members voted overwhelmingly in favour of the offer, worth 9% over two years, in deal that should bring worst of disruption to end

Members of the RMT union have voted to accept a pay offer from Network Rail.

Thousands of rail workers including signalling staff voted by three to one in favour to accept the offer, a 9% pay increase over two years, in a referendum that closed on Monday.

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Rail strikes to severely disrupt travel in Great Britain this weekend

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RMT staff at 14 operators to take action, affecting LNER, Avanti, LNER and Southern among others

Rail travel around Great Britain will be severely disrupted again this weekend after the second 24-hour strike in three days started on Saturday morning.

Thousands of members of the RMT union working as train staff at 14 operators are on strike in the long-running dispute over pay and jobs.

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Boris Johnson ‘Partygate’ evidence to be heard next Wednesday afternoon – UK politics live

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Former prime minister’s session with inquiry will be televised

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary who is seen by many as the frontrunner in the SNP leadership contest, claimed this morning that his support has “dramatically increased” among SNP voters.

Speaking on a visit in Dundee, he acknowledged that he and his opponents’ approval ratings were a long way behind Nicola Sturgeon’s. “What we’re trying to do is build upon that legacy,” he said.

In three weeks I’ve also quadrupled my support among the Scottish public.

If I’ve been able to do that in three weeks, I believe that bodes well for the next three months and even the next three years.

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UK rail strikes: what would a deal mean for passengers, unions and operators?

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We look at who might be the winners in the industry’s biggest industrial dispute in decades

After 23 days of national strikes, two years of talking and hundreds of thousands of cancelled trains, rail workers are contemplating a pay rise that barely catches the coat tails of inflation. The rail industry’s biggest industrial dispute in decades may be approaching its final chapter – but with little chance of a happy ending for anyone involved.

The pain for passengers is not yet over – four more 24-hour strikes across 14 operators by train and station staff in the biggest rail union, the RMT, start next Thursday, 16 March.

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NSW government slams brakes on high-speed rail plans after spending $100m on studies

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Exclusive: Perrottet government backs away from building Sydney-Newcastle fast rail link by itself

The Perrottet government has quietly abandoned its vision to build its own dedicated fast rail line between Sydney and Newcastle despite four years and roughly $100m spent on feasibility studies, abruptly halting work on a final business case just as geotechnical drilling was being planned.

Confidential documents seen by Guardian Australia reveal that the New South Wales transport department now considers further planning and construction of a dedicated fast rail line to Newcastle to be a task for the commonwealth and its yet-to-be-operational High Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) – which will itself re-start feasibility studies when it is formed.

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Ohio senators introduce safety rules after toxic train derailment disaster

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Railroads would be subject to new federal regulations and financial consequences under legislation

Railroads like the one involved in last month’s crash and toxic chemical release in East Palestine, Ohio, would be subject to new federal regulations and financial consequences under legislation introduced on Wednesday by the state’s two US senators.

The Railway Safety Act of 2023 is cosponsored by Sherrod Brown and JD Vance, a Democrat and Republican, and others of both parties.

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TransPennine Express cancellations almost three times higher than reported

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Office of Rail and Road figures expose how train companies use legal loophole to under-report cancellations

One of the north of England’s main railway companies has a cancellation rate almost three times higher than officially recorded, figures show.

A government body that collates information about train reliability released the stats on Friday after it wrote to train companies over concerns that they were taking advantage of a legal loophole to vastly under-report cancellations.

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‘Trust the government’: EPA seeks to reassure Ohio residents near toxic spill

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People in East Palestine demand answers from Norfolk Southern railroad, which skipped meeting due to staff safety concerns

The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got a first-hand look on Thursday at the toll left by a freight train derailment in Ohio, where toxic chemicals spilled or were burned off, leaving the stench of fresh paint nearly two weeks later.

The EPA’s administrator, Michael Regan, walked along a creek that still reeks of chemicals and sought to reassure skeptical residents that the water was fit for drinking and the air safe to breathe around East Palestine, where just less than 5,000 people live near the Pennsylvania state line.

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