Safety

In the “Letters & Comments” section of your Jan. 4 issue, BNSF Railway Group Vice President Stephen Branscum sought to clarify a comment from a recent conference, published in a story in Transport Topics. In his letter, he cited as accurate “BNSF’s willingness to work with shippers and American Trucking Associations to develop progressive.

FedEx Corp. is expanding its air fleet in China because that country will lead a global rebound in air cargo traffic, Bloomberg reported.

The U.S. economy continued to improve modestly from mid-November to early January and conditions have improved for transportation, but economic activity remained low, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced Tuesday the creation of FocusDriven, an organization dedicated to fighting distracted driving.

WASHINGTON — Anne Ferro, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, told Transport Topics she hoped the agency will get a variety of points of view during its upcoming public hearings on hours-of-service.

A powerful earthquake off the shore of Northern California over the weekend caused no significant damage to the state’s transportation infrastructure, the Associated Press reported.

We all have to hope that officials of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration really have their ears open when they hold their three public “listening sessions” later this month over their embattled hours-of-service rule for the nation’s truck drivers.

Orders for new commercial trailers jumped 73% in November from the depressed level of a year ago, even as they fell 27% when compared with the unexpectedly strong order surge in October, according to ACT Research Co.

U.S. truck tonnage declined 3.5% in November from the corresponding month of 2008, but it still was the best year-over-year showing in 12 months, according to American Trucking Associations. Total tonnage grew 2.7% from October’s levels.