SMART will have new president May 1

One of the largest rail labor unions—the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART)—will have a new president May 1 upon the unexpected retirement April 30 of SMART General President Joseph J. Nigro.

SMART CFO: Project fiscally sound

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) service “is two years away from the start of passenger service between the Sonoma County Airport and downtown San Rafael” in northern California, and the project “is on solid financial footing,” according to SMART Chief Financial Officer Erin McGrath.

Commentary

BLET in catbird seat over crew consist

News item: Vouchsafed to work jointly in gaining legislation or regulation mandating two crew members on every freight train are the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Union (SMART) and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET).

Commentary

When you get a good deal, take it

Arbitrator Robert O. Harris told the United Transportation Union (UTU) and railroads in 1991, then unable to agree at the bargaining table, “Welcome to the oldest established craps game in Washington. Like the suckers in ‘Guys and Dolls,’ you are risking your futures on the roll of the dice [when you fail to make a voluntary agreement].”

Bay Area short line: We’re OK with SMART project

The general counsel for Northwestern Pacific Railroad Co. (NWP) has moved to defuse complaints from NWP’s Vice President Jacob Park related to implementing passenger rail service in Sonoma and Marin counties in northern California.

Thompson to SMART reps: “You have hit a grand slam”

In a July 20, 2014 letter to SMART-Transportation Division International Representative John W. Babler and General Chairperson Randall S. Knutson, former United Transportation Union International President Paul C. Thompson expresses his support for the tentative agreement on one-person train crews reached by BNSF Railway and SMART General Committee 001:
Commentary

BNSF, SMART seek historic crew consist revision

A gutsy, proactive, and far-sighted collaboration between BNSF and a general committee of its largest labor union has produced a tentative agreement to allow freight trains equipped with Positive Train Control (PTC) to operate as early as next year with a lone engineer in the cab and no conventional on-board conductor between specific territories in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest.

Toronto, SMART DMUs will get Cummins Tier 4-compliant power

Cummins Inc. is now producing its Tier 4 Final-compliant QSK19-R diesel engine, which will power the new Nippon Sharyo diesel multiple-unit (DMU) trainsets designed for transit and regional/commuter services in North America.

MPO backs SMART Larkspur funding plan

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) has maintained that success of its passenger rail startup in its California namesake counties was ultimately linked to ferry service to and from San Francisco. That vision now has been endorsed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the Bay Area’s metropolitan planning organization (MPO).

SMART gets more funds, adds station to line

Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) said Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has approved $16.7 million in funds to extend passenger rail service to the site of SMART’s Operations & Maintenance Facility (OMF) near the Sonoma County Airport in California.

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