Rail & Labor News from RWU
| | Weekly Digest Number 17 - April 22nd, 2025 | | Welcome to the RWU Rail & Labor News! This news bulletin is produced and emailed out each Tuesday morning. We hope you find each week's news and information useful. If so, please share with co-workers, friends, and colleagues. If you like, you can sign them up to get all the news from RWU HERE. Or forward them the link. Got a hot tip? Please forward the article and a link to raillabornews@gmail.com. Note: If you read over this news bulletin each week, you will be sure to never miss the important news of what is going on in the railroad world from a worker's perspective! | | THIS WEEK'S RAIL AND LABOR NEWS | | Editor's Note: Eighty-seven percent of locomotive engineers at NJ Transit have spoken—and not in whispers, but in thunder. What they rejected wasn’t just a contract. It was a blueprint for stagnation, asking workers to mortgage their future for eight years of crumbs. They call this a “cooling-off period.” But the only thing cooling is the patience of a workforce that’s tired of being handed scraps while executives feast. If this is what “negotiation” looks like, then it’s time to stop playing polite and start making them sweat. | |
Progressive Railroading / April 17th
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen members have rejected a tentative eight-year contract with New Jersey Transit.
The failed ratification vote, announced April 15, sets off a month-long countdown to a potential strike or lockout at the commuter rail agency. 87% of voters opposed ratification of the tentative agreement reached on March 6.
When the tentative pact was announced, the two sides agreed that if the contract failed or New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy failed to approve the agreement, a "self-help" strike or lockout would not occur for 30 days to allow negotiations.
| | Editor's Note: In Maryland, rail and transit workers made it clear: safety isn’t a perk—it’s a right. This bill is a product of what happens when labor stands its ground and forces a seat at the table. No more lip service. No more looking the other way. When assaults rise, so must our collective voice. The real work begins now—building protections by and for the workers on the front lines. | |
SMART-TD / April 15th
A Maryland bill designed to protect bus and passenger rail workers from violent assaults has passed both chambers of the legislature and is headed to the governor’s desk for signature.
The bill was championed by SMART-TD Maryland State Safety and Legislative Director David Pendleton.
The legislation requires the Maryland Transit Administration to form a workgroup in consultation with SMART-TD, the ATU, AFSME, and WMATA. Together, they will create a passenger code of conduct and roll out a variety of internal safety improvements.
| | Editor's Note: While American billionaires scheme to carve up public rail for profit, the UK is admitting what we’ve always known—privatization is a slow-motion wreck. After thirty years of delay, decay, and disaster, they’re putting the rails back in public hands. Meanwhile, Amtrak just had its best year ever. Funny how public rail works—when it’s funded like it matters. The question isn’t whether privatization fails. It’s how many more detours through corporate greed we’ll take before we get back on track. | |
BLET / April 14th
While the Trump Administration and billionaire advisor Elon Musk are talking about privatizing passenger rail here in the USA, in the UK, they’re going in the opposite direction.
On May 25, the United Kingdom will begin nationalizing passenger rail after decades of failed privatization, which began in 1994.
Amtrak referenced the UK’s experiment with privatization in a March 2025 analysis explaining why privatization is a bad idea. Amtrak had its best year ever for ridership and revenue in 2024. Some of its ridership growth is from an increasing number of long-haul commuters.
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| Editor's Note: The private sector promised a high-speed rail line across Texas—then turned its pockets inside out and asked taxpayers to fill the gap. Now the feds are walking away, calling it a “waste.” But let’s not kid ourselves: the waste isn’t in the dream of high-speed rail, it’s in handing it over to speculators who treat public infrastructure like a poker game. Real progress comes when we invest in public transportation for public good—not when we leave it up to whoever’s got the slickest pitch deck and the fewest union contracts. | |
Texas Tribune / April 14th
U.S. DOT nixed a $63.9 million planning grant for the proposed Texas Central route under an agreement between the FRA and Amtrak. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the two agencies “are in agreement that this project is a waste of taxpayer funds."
“The Texas Central Railway project was proposed as a private venture,” Duffy said. “If the private sector believes this project is feasible, they should carry the pre-construction work forward, rather than relying on Amtrak and the American taxpayer to bail them out.”
| | Editor's Note: Nearly 600 lives lost. Hundreds more injured. And behind every statistic, an engineer left to carry the weight of a tragedy they couldn’t prevent. These “strikes” aren’t numbers—they’re a brutal reminder of how little this industry invests in prevention until after the fact. If one in five passenger engineers is involved in an incident like this, it’s not random—it’s systemic. The solution isn’t another report. It’s building a rail system that values life over the bottom line, and workers over whitepapers. | |
Progressive Railroading / April 17th
Amtrak trains were involved in about 800 train strikes from fiscal year 2020 through 2023, resulting in 594 deaths and 279 injuries, according to a new report from the Amtrak Office of Inspector General.
About one in five of the railroad's passenger engineers may have been involved in such a strike in FY23, OIG officials said in a press release.
The OIG recommended that Amtrak develop a comprehensive process for proactively identifying & managing risks of train strikes; consider expanding implementation of key practices; and regularly review and reconcile train strike data to ensure accuracy.
| | Editor's Note: They tried to shutter the doors on railroaders’ access to the very system their labor built—but rail labor pushed back. These field offices don’t run on taxpayer charity—they’re funded by the sweat of the working class. Closing them wouldn’t have saved a dime, but it would’ve cost dignity and service to those who earned it. This small victory proves a simple truth: when we speak with one voice, they have to listen. Now let’s keep the pressure on—because they’ll try again. | |
BLET / April 17th
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) was recently informed that the decision to close upwards of 40 field offices has been reversed, and nine RRB field offices whose leases were to be terminated will stay open.
The nine RRB field offices slated for closure that are now confirmed to stay open are: Mesa, Ariz.; Joliet, Ill.; Wichita, Kan.; Covina, Calif.; Scranton, Pa.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Cincinnati, Ohio; St. Paul, Minn.; and Altoona, Pa.
The decision comes after a coordinated Rail Labor campaign with support from other rail unions and employers. Meetings were held with key members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to explain that eliminating RRB field offices will not save taxpayers or the federal government any money, because RRB is self-funded.
| | Editor's Note: Seven billion dollars, one of the busiest stations in the country, and now a political tug-of-war dressed up as policy. The FRA has stripped the MTA of control, handed the reins to Amtrak, and started slashing funding like it’s a budget line, not a lifeline. Let’s be honest—this isn’t about efficiency or oversight. It’s about power. And whenever power plays out behind closed doors, it’s workers and riders who end up footing the bill. | |
Progressive Railroading / April 17th
The Trump administration announced that it is taking over the $7 billion New York Penn Station reconstruction project and that Amtrak, not the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will lead the effort.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Federal Railroad Administration has removed MTA as the head of the project and is putting Amtrak in the lead. The FRA is also "rescoping and slashing" Amtrak's federal grant, awarded under the Biden administration, for the project.
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Progressive Railroading / April 21st
3 out of 4 unions representing employees of the VTA have ratified labor contracts, with just the ATU Local 265 negotiation remaining unresolved.
SEIU Local 521, AFSCME Local 1101, and Transportation Authority Engineers and Architects Local 21 have each signed four-year agreements.
Agreements include wage increases of 4%, 3.5%, 5%, and 4% per year, enhanced dental and vision benefits, and improved workplace policies.
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Trains Magazine / April 18th
Probable cause of a yard collision that fatally injured a Norfolk Southern engineer in January 2024 was a conductor’s failure to ensure that hand brakes were set on a cut of cars, which allowed them to roll away and strike the engineer’s locomotive, the NTSB says.
The incident occurred in the NS yard in Decatur, Alabama, on January 31.
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Progressive Railroading / April 16th
Virginia's Department of Rail and Public Transportation released a draft of a six-year plan calling for $7 billion in proposed investments in public transport and rail.
The plan covers fiscal years 2026 through 2031. In 2026 alone, the plan would allocate $332 million to local and regional public transportation providers, $442 million to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's Metrorail and Metrobus services, and $17 million to Virginia Railway Express.
The program also calls for $20 million in freight-rail investments and $232 million for the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority to expand passenger-rail service in the state.
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AJOT.com / April 21st
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear CSX's bid to revive its antitrust lawsuit accusing rival NS of illegally restricting access to a key East Coast terminal in Virginia, costing CSX hundreds of millions of dollars.
Justices turned away an appeal by CSX of a lower court's ruling last year stating that CSX sued too late, missing a four-year window to bring claims for U.S. antitrust law violations. CSX had argued the statute of limitations should not be applied in its lawsuit.
| | Editor's Note: Railroads should be focused on grade crossing elimination, ECP brakes, Scheffel bogies, and stringing catenary. Parallel Systems - started by ex-SpaceX employees - will have wasted at least $100MM proving once again that railroading needs humans in locomotives. See the video below for a quick review of the Parallel proposal. | |
Trains Staff / April 15
Parallel Systems, the company developing battery-electric railcars that operate autonomously, will launch testing this month on two Georgia railroads, Parallel said on Monday (April 14, 2025).
The company also announced it had raised an additional $38 million in funding, bringing its total to date to about $100 million.
“Federal Railroad Administration approval and closing our Series B funding round are two critical milestones for Parallel Systems,” Matt Soule, Parallel founder and CEO, said in a press release. “Together with our strategic partnerships within the rail industry, Parallel Systems is now poised to fully commercialize our battery-electric rail system, starting with the FRA-approved project in Georgia.”
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Railroad Workers United / April 20th
RWU has participated in the annual Socialism Conference, sponsored by Haymarket Books, in Chicago, for the last several years.
This is an opportunity to interact with hundreds of social justice fighters and activists from around the country and even internationally.
RWU will be hosting a session titled: Eugene Debs: From Rail Labor Organizer to Socialist Agitator – Lessons for Today, which will include Allison Duerk, Director of the Eugene V. Debs Museum in Terre Haute, IN. The conference will be held over the July 4th weekend, and the deadline for early-bird registration is April 25, 2025.
| | NEWS FROM AROUND THE LABOR MOVEMENT | | Each week, RWU includes a few articles about advances and developments in the larger labor movement that are of interest to railroad workers. Got an artcile to submit for possible inclusion next week? Email it along to raillabornews@gmail.com. Thank you! | |
Portside Labor / April 20th
There’s a lot of uncertainty about what this moment holds for the working class. We’re in the middle of two massive transformations.
One is our economic system, where the rules of global trade are being upended, with huge implications for workers. The other major transformation is our political system, where fundamental rights are being eroded, with huge implications for workers everywhere.
The UAW’s mission remains the same as it’s ever been — no matter what president is in the White House, is to take our power back and raise the standard for the working class.
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CUPE & Unifor / April 7th
Canada's largest public and private sector unions stand united against attacks on Canadian workers initiated by the United States Administration’s escalating trade and investment war.
Unifor and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) stand in solidarity and are committed to building a stronger, more resilient economy. We believe in the power of collective action, and we will ensure that workers emerge from this crisis stronger and more prosperous.
We are united in our calls to protect and create Canadian jobs as we build a strong, sustainable, and resilient economy built by and for workers. We call on the government to stand up for Canadian workers in these extremely challenging economic times.
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Portside Labor / April 19th
Too many unions in the United States are not run by their members and structured to keep them passive. Members are told that their local president or business agent will “take care of them", without them having to do anything but pay dues.
Membership involvement takes time and can be messy with hard-fought disagreements. Instead of taking time to democratically work through differences, business unions prefer simply having staff and top leaders make most decisions.
This goes hand-in-hand with bloated salaries for union officials, substandard contracts, or a lifeless union. When power in a union flows from the top, members aren’t in charge.
| | WEEKLY DERAILMENT DEPARTMENT | | Each Tuesday in this news bulletin, RWU does our best to present a picture of what has been happening over the course of the previous week in terms of derailments in North America, and investigation determinations of previous accidents. NOTE: This list is by no means comprehensive. Smaller and less consequential mishaps are generally not reported here. If the wreck results in injury or fatality, or is especially damaging/extreme, a full article will appear as a feature in the dozen or so rail articles above. Know of a train wreck? Please feel free to forward a link to raillabornews@gmail.com for possible inclusion next week. Thanks! |
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