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On September 9, President Obama announced the US Department of Labor's projects for the American Apprenticeship Initiative. Among the programs selected is a national transit apprenticeship program proposed by the Transportation Learning Center in partnership with more than twenty transit and commuter rail locations and with national organizations including the Amalgamated Transit Union, the Brotherhood or Railroad Signalmen, the American Public Transportation Association, the Community Transportation Association of America and the National Center for Women's Employment Equity. Partners also include career and technical educational institutions such as Los Angeles Trade Tech Community College and Mountwest Community and Technical College.
The DOL apprenticeship project will allow the industry to develop new apprenticeship programs in occupations such as coach operator and signals maintenance technician while expanding and improving apprenticeships for bus maintenance technicians, rail car maintenance technicians and transit elevator-escalator technicians.
Apprenticeship represents an opportunity for disadvantaged populations to qualify for good middle class jobs. With these grant resources, the transit industry and its educational partners will also develop and deliver pre-apprenticeship programs to prepare people to enter into technically demanding transit jobs.
For more information:
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Photo caption: US Labor Secretary Tom Perez, Jennifer Lanholm of Campbell Soup and Al Crook of Zurich Insurance listen to presentation by Sonia Ramirez of North America's Building Trades Unions at September 8 White House Summit on Apprenticeship
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"We may be at an Eisenhower moment," said US Labor Secretary Tom Perez in his opening remarks to the White House Apprenticeship Summit on September 8. "In the 1950s, Eisenhower committed to the building of the US interstate highway system. We're at the edge of a commitment that could build the superhighway for developing America's skills."
Center Executive Director Jack Clark and Founding Director Brian Turner, who serves on the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, represented the Center at the gathering which brought together employer, labor and workforce development representatives.
In addition to Secretary Perez, conferees heard from Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Vice President Joe Biden as well as Senator Al Franken. All stressed that apprenticeship is a system of training with bipartisan support that works for employers and for workers seeking to access middle class jobs. The White House released figures showing that there is a worldwide return of $1.47 for every $1 invested in apprenticeship. The Summit also announced that the federal government will work with several major foundations on a return on investment study to look at the experience of US employers.
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CSX Corporation yesterday announced several senior management changes following the resignation of President and Chief Operating Officer Oscar Munoz, who has been appointed president and CEO of United Continental Holdings Inc. "I look forward to leading this dynamic team, and have every confidence in our ability to deliver a compelling future for CSX," said Chairman and CEO Michael Ward in a press release. "I plan to leverage this team's leadership and tremendous skills in safety, customer service and efficiency as CSX executes its strategies to achieve ever-better levels of financial performance."
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Amtrak passenger service that runs on tracks owned by freight rail companies may be curtailed unless Congress extends a Dec. 31 deadline to implement a safety system that was mandated seven years ago. December 2018 would be "more realistic" for implementing the technology, which automatically stops trains to prevent a collision or unsafe speeds, the Association of American Railroads said Tuesday in a statement. The system, known as positive train control, is to be installed on all lines that carry chemicals and passengers, a goal that the five major freight rail companies say can't be done by the end of this year. The current target "is arbitrary, unworkable and unrealistic," said the group, which raised the possibility that the industry may curtail service on lines in January to prevent being in violation of the law.
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International Transportation News
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has called for faster construction of mass transportation in Jakarta to immediately ease the daily traffic gridlock. "Don't cause any delays. We have to immediately address the acute traffic congestion in the capital city," said President Jokowi at a ceremony for the turning of the sod on the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project in Jakarta on Wednesday. With the launch of the LRT construction, the city currently has two major public transportation projects on the go. The other project is the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) from Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta.
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The transportation sector gained 7,300 jobs in August as the national unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent, according to statistics released by the Department of Labor on Friday. The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said there were 4,795,000 jobs in transportation in August, compared to 4,787,700 in July. The jump was part of a 173,000 increase in overall jobs in August that brought the nation's unemployment rate down from 5.3 percent in July, the BLS said.
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Making cities greener could save a lot of, well, green, according to a new report. The report, published Tuesday by the New Climate Economy, found that if cities around the world implemented certain carbon-reducing strategies - including making buildings more efficient and investing in public transportation - they could save a combined total of $17 trillion by 2050. The report looked at actions such as "aggressively" deploying high-efficiency lighting, "ambitiously" installing solar on buildings, increasing the fraction of methane captured from landfills, and expanding public transit.
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Building Transportation Infrastructure
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Federal Transit Administration ("FTA") grants fund billions of transit-related projects throughout the United States. In an effort to improve the project delivery process for those projects, the FTA on September 3, 2015, announced the establishment of the Expedited Public Transportation Improvement Initiative ("XPEDITE") in the Federal Register. The FTA is soliciting participation in an online dialogue regarding XPEDITE, the goals of which are to facilitate the transit industry's implementation of the following: Proven technologies to improve service delivery and maintenance for the public transit industry; Proven methods to speed up planning, development, approval, and delivery of FTA supported capital investments; and Innovative financing methods and opportunities for public-private partnerships that support capital investments.
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The question is just what, exactly, that change will look like.
Consultants from Vanasse Hansen Brustlin briefed the City Council during a Monday work session about potential routes and stations for a Bus Rapid Transit system along MD-355, the main north-south roadway through Gaithersburg. In order to function properly, BRT needs its own dedicated lane, one without cars, trucks, bicycles or other buses during operational hours, so the buses move relatively rapidly. The debate within the city and county is how much property along the roadway needs to be bought and repurposed to provide that lane. Council members found out Monday they would have trade-offs to make for speed and property: the more right-of-way acquired, the faster the buses can move.
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