IWLA Government Affairs Council

Ohio Senators Introduce Bipartisan Railway Safety Act in Wake of Derailment Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), along with four other co-sponsors, introduced the bipartisan Railway Safety Act last Wednesday in response to the recent Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, OH. The bill would enhance safety procedures for trains carrying hazardous materials …

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NS Freight Train Derailment ‘a Wake-Up Call’ for Tougher Safety Rules Labor unions have described the derailment of a Norfolk Southern (NS) train near Pittsburgh last month as a wake-up call for stronger safety measures and increased regulatory oversight. The NS train, with three locomotives and 150 rail cars, derailed on 3 February, with 38 …

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Ohio Train Derailment Spurs Rail Safety Advisory on Hot Box Detectors The Federal Railroad Administration has put out a safety advisory urging the railroads to look at their policies and procedures for using and maintaining hot bearing wayside detectors, also known as hot box detectors. Hot box detectors (HBDs) gauge the temperature of the wheel …

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Biden Nominates Julie Su as US Labor Secretary President Joe Biden said Tuesday he would nominate Julie Su to succeed Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, who was closely involved in negotiations with rail and West Coast ports’ workers over the past two years. Su has been the department’s deputy secretary since July 2021, and was the former …

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Labor Secretary Marty Walsh Is Leaving the Biden Administration U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh is leaving the Biden administration, according to people familiar with the matter. He has been offered the job as executive director of the NHL Players’ Association, which represents professional hockey players in Canada and the U.S. Walsh is the first …

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Another Legal Challenge Filed Against California’s AB5 Independent Contractor Rule Earlier this month, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) refiled a preliminary injunction request against the controversial worker classification law. California’s AB5 makes it more difficult for a worker to be considered an independent contractor and has disrupted key portions of the supply chain like …

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Transport Canada Announces Requirement to Provide More Freight Rail Data The government of Canada announced amendments to the Transportation Information Regulations to increase supply chain transparency and “create a better understanding of the performance of Canada’s freight rail sector for the benefit of all rail users,” Transport Canada reported Jan. 9. These amendments, which will …

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Biden Administration Releases Transportation Climate Blueprint A formal strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector prioritizes maritime and rail over trucking to more quickly get to net-zero emissions by 2050. The U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, released Tuesday by the Biden administration, is billed as a “first-of-its-kind” plan to cut GHG …

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GAO Studies Impact of PSR on US Freight Rail A newly released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report lays out how precision scheduled railroading (PSR) has affected freight rail operations but doesn’t offer recommendations on what steps the industry should take next. The report essentially summarizes the various views of stakeholders on PSR, which GAO defined …

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Rail Regulators Streamline Process for Shippers to Challenge Unreasonable Rates Federal regulators in December finalized the process for determining unreasonable freight rail rates, giving shippers with smaller disputes a more streamlined pathway to challenge carriers. The Surface Transportation Board adopted two rules establishing a voluntary arbitration program in addition to a new procedure to challenge …

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