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The collision of three Norfolk Southern trains in Pennsylvania early this month highlights the shortcomings of the automated braking system that was created to prevent such crashes. Not only was the system incapable of stopping the second train before it smashed into the back of a stopped train, but it also couldn't stop the third train. Congress required railroads to develop the positive train control system after a deadly 2008 collision between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, California. Norfolk Southern's safety practices have been in the spotlight since one of its trains derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023. The report also didn't say whether there were any curves or hills that made it hard for the crew to see the stopped train.

Persons: Chris Barkan, Keith Holloway Organizations: Norfolk Southern, National Transportation Safety, “ PTC, Union Pacific, Metrolink, NTSB, Rail Transportation, Engineering Center, University of Illinois Locations: Pennsylvania, Chatsworth , California, Lower Saucon Township, Lehigh, Atlanta, Norfolk, East Palestine , Ohio, Urbana, Champaign

☆ Russia's grand railway plan to get around Western sanctions is about to get even bigger
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

And it's now also linking south toward India and countries in the Persian Gulf, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. AdvertisementIn addition, Russia is also restoring another railway line that would allow it to access Turkey, the Times reported on Wednesday. Russia's push for rail freight follows two years of Western sanctions against the country over its war in Ukraine. The restrictions hit Russia's trade with Europe, traditionally its single largest market. AdvertisementAs Ram Ben Tzion, the CEO of freight vetting platform Publican, told the Times, Russia is creating "a trade route for the pariahs."

Persons: —, it's, Ram Ben Tzion, David Szakonyi, Szakonyi Organizations: Service, Bloomberg, New York Times, Times, Business, Reuters, West, George Washington University, Profit Locations: Russia, Moscow, China, India, Persian, Iran, Mumbai, Suez, Turkey, Ukraine, Europe, Policymaking, Russian, Crimea

☆ Bank of America's top stock ideas for the 4th quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Here's what stocks Bank of America is watching for the quarter ahead. Here's what stocks Bank of America is watching for the quarter ahead. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Boeing stock. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon CSX Corp stock. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Kraft Heinz stock has declined more than 17% so far in 2023.

Persons: Ronald Epstein, Dave Calhoun, Joseph Hinrichs, Ken Hoexter, Kraft Heinz, Carlos Abrams, Rivera, Bryan Spillane, — CNBC's Michael Bloom, Eduardo Munoz Organizations: of America, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Bank of America, BofA Securities, Aerospace, Boeing, CSX, Bank of America's, CSX Corp, 3Q, North, Kraft, View, Getty Images Bank of America, Bank of, Bank of America Securities Aerospace behemoth Boeing Locations: U.S, New York

The only other U.S. high-speed line is Amtrak's Acela service between Boston and Washington, D.C., which began in 2000. Brightline began planning in 2012. A 2018 partnership with Richard Branson's Virgin Group to rebrand Brightline as Virgin Trains USA quickly soured. According to the lawsuit, Brightline says Virgin “ceased to constitute a brand of international high repute, largely because of matters related to the pandemic." He said Brightline’s accommodations “compare really well to some of the best trains” he’s taken in Europe, where high-speed rail between cities is common.

Persons: Florida's Brightline, It's, Mike Reininger, John Renne, Brightline, ” Renne, Richard Branson's, Virgin “, hasn’t, Eric Flowers, ”, ” Brightline, Reininger, ” Reininger, Robert Barr, You’ve, Barr Organizations: MIAMI, Fortress Investment, West Palm Beach, D.C, Amtrak, Florida Atlantic University's Center for Urban, Environmental Solutions, Miami -, Richard Branson's Virgin Group, Virgin Trains USA, Virgin, Orlando Locations: United States, Miami, Orlando, West Palm, Southern California, Las Vegas, Boston, Washington, Florida, Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami - Orlando, London, U.S, West, County, We’re, Vero, Brightline’s Miami, South, Florida’s, Europe

Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi plan to announce the project as part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment. The rail and shipping corridor would enable greater trade among the countries, including energy products. He said first that the corridor would increase prosperity among the countries involved by increasing the flow of energy and digital communications. Second, the project would help to address the lack of infrastructure needed for growth in lower- and middle-income nations. And third, Finer said it could help “turn the temperature down” on “turbulence and insecurity” coming out of the Middle East.

Persons: Joe Biden, Jon, Biden, Narendra Modi, ” Biden, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin Organizations: DELHI, Group, United Arab Emirates, European Union, Indian, Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment, World Bank Locations: India, Europe, United States, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, China, Russia

The second-quarter reading was far lower than the Bank of Canada's (BoC's) forecast for a 1.5% annualized GDP growth as well as the 1.2% gain expected by analysts. The quarterly slowdown was largely due to declines in housing investment and smaller inventory accumulation as well as slower international exports and household spending, Statistics Canada said. The central bank hiked its benchmark overnight rate to a 22-year-high of 5.0% in July, the tenth increase since March of last year. The high interest rate environment has coincided with falling housing investment, which recorded its fifth consecutive quarterly decrease in the three months ended in June. The housing investment decline was led by a sharp drop in new construction as well as a fall in renovation activities, Statscan said.

Persons: Stephen Brown, Andrew Kelvin, Statscan, downwardly, Doug Porter, Ismail Shakil, Steve Scherer, Dale Smith, Fergal Smith, Nivedita Balu, Mark Porter Organizations: Bank of Canada's, North, Capital Economics, Bank of Canada, Statistics, BoC, Reuters, TD Securities, Money, Canadian, BMO Capital Markets, Thomson Locations: OTTAWA, North American, Statistics Canada, Canada

☆ Largest federal transportation grant ever awarded to critical NY-NJ tunnel project
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Gregory Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The replacement for a crumbling underwater tunnel connecting New York City and New Jersey that carries up to 200,000 people daily just received the largest-ever federal transportation grant, according to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer. In all, some 24 trains per hour and 200,000 people daily (at pre-pandemic levels) pass through the tunnel, according to Amtrak. Gardner said the rail line and others have applied for $10 billion in federal grants, including for the Gateway project. “A future of rail transportation for passengers really across the entire east coast, and our connections to the west.”The project has political complications. President Donald Trump opposed spending so much federal funding on the project – back when it was expected to cost only $13 billion – according to the then-Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao.

Persons: Chuck Schumer, Sandy, Stephen Gardner, ”, Gardner, “, Donald Trump, Elaine Chao Organizations: CNN, Amtrak, US Transportation Department, Development Commission, Transportation Locations: New York City, New Jersey, New York, America, ”

☆ Take a look at North America's first hydrogen-powered train, which emits only water and will start service this summer
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Bianca Giacobone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Running from June to October in Quebec, the Coradia iLint will be North America's first hydrogen train. It can be a greener alternative to diesel on non-electrified train tracks — over 90% of tracks in North America. North America will have its very first hydrogen-powered train this summer season. Alstom first started running two of its bright blue Coradia iLint trains in Europe in 2018, and it has delivered 41 more since then. Take a look at the Coradia iLint train:

☆ Ted Cruz accused JD Vance of empowering 'the radical Green Movement' by aligning with Democrats on a bill to prevent rail disasters like the East Palestine crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

JD Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, proposed the Rail Safety Act in March. "All of us were moved by the testimony of the witnesses" from East Palestine, Cruz said. "We cannot undo the psychological, economic, and physical toll of the derailment in East Palestine," Vance noted, but "there will be another East Palestine in this country if we do not pass the Railway Safety Act." "I earnestly hoped that we would reach a bipartisan consensus," Cruz said, but "this bill is overly and needlessly prescriptive." Nonetheless, Cruz doubted the bill would pass the Senate with 60 votes, let alone the House.

☆ FedEx is on the cusp of a seismic shift — and it will forever change the company as we know it
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"We will be consolidating our operating companies into one unified organization," FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam told investors Wednesday. The shift will make FedEx's operational strategies more like competitors UPS and DHL. Regulatory risk brings up an old questionThere may also be some risks coming to the new, integrated FedEx from outside the company. In a stark difference between UPS and FedEx, UPS falls under the National Labor Relations Act and FedEx Express under the Railway Labor Act. Betting the future on slower servicesThe third risk analysts raised was market share.

☆ FedEx is rolling out the biggest transformation in its 50-year history. The potential reward is huge, but so are the risks.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

☆ Airline, banking and rail oversight top U.S. progressives' wish list for Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Moira Warburton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Jim VondruskaWASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - Liberal Democrats in the U.S. Congress called on President Joe Biden on Thursday to take executive action to crack down on misconduct in the banking, airline and rail transportation industries. The caucus, made up of 101 U.S. House Democrats and independent Senator Bernie Sanders, has grown in influence in recent years under Representative Pramila Jayapal's leadership. "These are actions that we believe the White House and federal agencies have the authority and the ability to take now," Jayapal told reporters on Thursday. With the House of Representatives narrowly controlled by Republicans and the Senate narrowly controlled by Democrats, progress on legislation is increasingly rare, leading presidents to rely more heavily on executive action. Biden's Democratic administration has taken the caucus's advice on multiple occasions, most notably on canceling student debt through executive action.

☆ One chart shows how employment has changed throughout the US economy almost 3 years after the start of the pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The US labor market has been above its pre-pandemic February 2020 employment level for a while. Some sectors are still below pre-pandemic employment almost three years since the official start of the pandemic. While leisure and hospitality isn't back at its pre-pandemic employment level, it still has been experiencing large monthly job gains as workers are needed to meet demand. Air transportation was 11.7% above its February 2020 employment level in December. It continued to expand throughout the pandemic and was 30.8% above its pre-pandemic employment as of December.

☆ Freight railroad service is terrible, even without the threat of a strike
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But that doesn’t mean freight railroads are providing good service to their customers. Many of the problems tangling up the supply chain, driving up prices and slowing the economy can be traced to the steady decline in freight rail service in recent years. Some experts who represent rail customers who have complained about service in the past say service has gotten better since earlier this year. “The national freight rail network is broken, and the need for long-term rail reform is clear. Union Pacific (UNP), Norfolk Southern (NSC) and Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRKA) Burlington Northern Santa Fe all reported record earnings in 2021.

Freight rail has the specific job of moving heavy, bulky goods and commodities, such as crude oil and coal, chemicals, large machinery, fabricated metals and many foodstuffs on which every American depends. Yet rail unions have been threatening a strike in the coming days because they are dissatisfied with a proposed labor contract. That’s why nearly 450 business groups this week told Congress that action to avert a freight rail strike was a matter of “grave urgency.” Washington is right to listen to them. But rail companies provide sick leave benefits based on post-contract talks between each company and its unions. Today, that’s freight rail service.

☆ America may dodge a crippling rail strike. Here’s how we got here
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The House approved two pieces of legislation Wednesday, one to impose the tentative agreements that members of four of the unions have already rejected, keeping 115,000 rail workers on the job and averting a strike. More than just sick daysThe fact that this is still an issue more than two months after an 11th-hour tentative deal was reached goes beyond the issue of paid sick days. All 12 rail unions agreed to the tentative deals that generated so much opposition. But he said the issue of sick days will not be going away. Senator Bernie Sanders, a close ally of the labor movement, tweeted “At a time of record profits in the rail industry, it’s unacceptable that rail workers have ZERO guaranteed paid sick days.

☆ ‘Christmas is not canceled’ despite growing risk of rail strike
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN Business —Leading retailers are sounding the alarm about the danger of a national rail strike while simultaneously stressing that a potential work stoppage won’t ruin this holiday shopping season. “Christmas is not canceled,” Brian Dodge, president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, told CNN in a phone interview on Tuesday. Concerns about a rail strike have mounted after the largest rail union announced Monday its rank-and-file members have rejected the tentative agreement reached in September. A prolonged rail strike could cause product shortages and price spikes as nearly one-third of all freight in the United States moves by rail. “It would utterly upend the supply chain,” Dodge said, adding that concern among retail CEOs is “high” because the risk of a national rail strike is high.

New York CNN Buiness —With a crippling freight rail strike looming in two weeks, leaders of four railroad unions and management of the major US freight railroads are due back at the negotiating table Tuesday afternoon. It will be the first joint negotiating session for the four unions, whose rank-and-file members rejected the five-year labor agreements similar to deals accepted by the eight other rail unions in recent months. If any one of the unions goes on strike, it would be honored by all 12 unions, which would bring US freight rail service to a halt. Union members also would receive cash bonuses of $1,000 a year. All told, the backpay and bonuses would give union members an average payment of $11,000 per worker once the deal is ratified.

☆ Retailers warn of ‘self-inflicted economic disaster’ after largest rail union rejects labor deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

“Retailers urge policymakers to use every tool at their disposal to avoid a self-inflicted economic disaster,” the trade group said in a statement. The warning was issued shortly after America’s largest rail union rejected a tentative labor deal with freight railroads, raising the risk of a crippling national freight rail strike. The National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade group, similarly called on Congress to intervene “immediately” to avoid a “catastrophic shutdown” of the freight rail system. A rail strike would come at a difficult time as the US economy is still grappling with high inflation, surging borrowing costs and elevated recession risks. “This would be the worst possible time of year to have a disruption in rail freight and rail transportation,” Matthew Shay, CEO of the NRF, told CNN on Monday.

☆ Mississippi River water woes, retail overstock trailers: Latest supply chain stresses for economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The towboat Roberta Tabor pushes barges up the Mississippi River in Granite City, Illinois, US, on Friday, July 9, 2022. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAccording to the National Weather Service Memphis Office, the Mississippi River is projected to tie the all-time record of -10.70 feet, either later today or tonight. The Mississippi River is a vital waterway for trade and the lower water levels have impacted the amount of commodities that can be imported or exported out of New Orleans. "Our members depend upon adequate water levels in the Mississippi River system, to reach domestic and international export markets. The East Coast congestion has had a massive impact on vessel reliability.

Things will remain status quo with the union’s contract until then. The engineers and conductors union votes are cause for “apprehension on all sides,” said the source. Online chatter among the conductors union and engineers union members signal they want a strike before even seeing the contract, while some are calling for reason, the source said. Conductors union and engineers union members will be mailed ballots at the end of this month with a 21-day voting period. Although most union contracts are ratified, there have been some very high-profile examples of angry union members voting no.

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