Latest Transportation Headlines

All the headlines from our Transportation Topic Page, ordered by recency.

NTSB: Pilot Error in Fatal Plane Crash in Louisiana

Oct 13 2014 // A National Transportation Safety Board report cites pilot inexperience with the aircraft as the likely cause of a fatal crash in Baker last year.The Advocate reports John Cary Fowler had plenty of experience as a pilot,...

Oil, Railroad Industries Oppose New Federal Oil Train Safety Rules

Oct 2 2014 // Proposed federal rules to make hauling crude oil by rail safer and avoid fiery wrecks would drive up costs and put the U.S. energy revival at risk, the head of an oil industry trade group said today.The American Petroleum...

Alabama Gas Explosion Heightens Concern Over Cast-Iron Pipe Corrosion

Sep 29 2014 // When Darryle Brown woke up in the dark hours of an early December morning, he heard an explosion.Suddenly, Brown was on fire and trapped underneath an eight-inch-thick concrete slab – the floor of his...

More Pilots in Crashes Testing Positive for Prescription, Other Drugs

Sep 10 2014 // Four times as many pilots killed in airplane crashes tested positive for drugs over the past two decades, tracking a broader societal trend in the use of antihistamines, painkillers and marijuana.While most of the...

NTSB Releases Its Final Report on 2012 N.J. Freight Train Derailment

Aug 28 2014 // The National Transportation Safety Board has released its final report on systemic flaws leading up to a 2012 train derailment that leaked a dangerous gas in southern New Jersey.The report issued Tuesday was approved by...

Oil, Rail Firms Propose Phasing Out Old Tank Cars

Jul 15 2014 // The oil industry and the railroads that haul its crude have offered U.S. regulators a joint plan to phase out a type of older tank car tied to a spate of fiery accidents, according to two people familiar with the...

Horgan, Pace Join Transportation Insurer Canal Insurance in South Carolina

Jun 24 2014 // Canal Insurance Co. in Greenville, South Carolina, has named Tim Horgan as vice president, Transportation, and chief marketing officer, and Bob Pace, vice president and chief claims officer, to the executive leadership...

U.S. Agencies Join Probe of Fatal California FedEx/Bus Crash

Apr 14 2014 // FedEx Corp. will be in the spotlight of U.S. safety investigations operating alongside local law enforcement inquiries after a fiery truck-bus collision killed 10 people in California.Two federal agencies said that they...

Malaysia Plane Loss Spurs Calls to Upload ‘Black Box’ Data to the ‘Cloud’

Mar 20 2014 // The disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has prompted calls for in-flight streaming of black box data over remote areas, but industry executives say implementing changes may be complex and costly.Mark Rosenker,...

U.S., Canada Officials Say Tougher Oil Train Safety Rules Needed

Jan 27 2014 // Warning that a “major loss of life” could result from an accident involving the increasing use of trains to transport large amounts of crude oil, U.S. and Canadian accident investigators urged their governments...

Canada, U.S. Safety Agencies Urge Fast Action on Oil-by-Rail Cars

Jan 24 2014 // North American regulators should phase out the type of rail car involved in last July’s deadly Lac-Megantic crash “sooner rather than later,” Canadian investigators said on Thursday, urging the United...

Commuter Train Crashes Prompt Call for Safety Improvements

Jan 17 2014 // Commuter rail accidents including a New York derailment last month that killed four prompted a U.S. investigative agency to name improving transit safety as its top priority for 2014.The National Transportation Safety...

NTSB: Technology Upgrade Likely Could Have Prevented N.Y. Train Derailment

Dec 12 2013 // Federal safety officials say a technology upgrade they’ve been recommending for years would probably have prevented the Dec. 1 train derailment that killed four people in New York.Metro-North derailment scene in...

Rescheduled Asiana Crash Hearing to Probe Pilot Reliance on Automation

Dec 10 2013 // A U.S. safety regulator’s hearing on the July 6 crash of an Asiana Airlines Inc. plane in San Francisco was postponed today due to the federal government’s weather-related closing.The day hearing will be...

New York Metro-North Becomes Inquiry Magnet After Held Up as Rail Model

Dec 3 2013 // Two years after being singled out for international honors, Metro-North Railroad finds itself facing a wave of retirements, under three federal safety investigations, and explaining to officials and riders why a locomotive...

New York Metro-North Derailment Puts Spotlight on Rail Safety

Dec 2 2013 // A deadly derailment on a curve in Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson Line rekindled safety concerns and promised to snarl today’s commute for thousands of riders on one of New York’s major mass-transit...

NTSB Faults Parade Plans in Fatal Texas Train Collision

Nov 11 2013 // The lack of safety planning by parade organizers and the city of Midland, Texas, has been faulted by federal investigators in an accident in November 2012 in which a freight train rammed a tractor-trailer truck towing a...

Federal Safety Regulators Criticized for Missing Bus Safety Hazards

Nov 8 2013 // U.S. bus regulators are overlooking or not catching serious safety hazards before fatal crashes and need to change their auditing practices, the National Transportation Safety Board said.The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier...

NTSB: 2 Dead BART Workers in California Charge of Own Safety

Nov 4 2013 // National Transportation Safety Board investigators say under Bay Area Rapid Transit rules, the two track workers who were killed in a recent accident were responsible for their own safety. James Southworth, the...

NTSB: 2 Dead BART Workers In California Charge Of Own Safety

Oct 24 2013 // National Transportation Safety Board investigators say under Bay Area Rapid Transit rules, the two track workers who were killed in an accident Saturday were responsible for their own safety. James Southworth, the...