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    2018 Rail PTC Extension rolls through Congress

    - October 29, 2015 -

    Congress acted to avert confusion and delay on the nation’s rail infrastructure on Wednesday October 28th, 2015 by passing an extension to what had been a looming December 31st, 2015 deadline for railroads to fully implement Positive Train Control, or PTC, control systems on their networks. PTC is a control system that uses Global Positioning…

    FAA to develop task force addressing drone registrations

    - October 28, 2015 -

    Drone operators in the U.S. are going to be impacted by some big regulatory changes in the near future. Drones, referred to as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), currently are not to be operated within 5 miles of an airport without notifying the airport operator/control tower, and are limited to an altitude of 400 feet.  The…

    D.O.T. moves to ban e-Cigs in checked bags

    - October 27, 2015 - ,

    On October 26, 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued an interim final rule banning passengers and crew from storing electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and other battery-powered electronic smoking devices in checked bags on passenger airlines.  This final ruling will be effective seven days after the upcoming posting…

    Infographic 2015 Regulations in Review

    Infographic | 2015 Regulations in Review

    - October 27, 2015 -

    Emergency orders and advisories? Check. Airlines making their own rules? Check. Congress playing politics with key deadlines? No surprise to anyone who’s worked in the world of DG shipping regulations for more than 15 minutes. We know there’s only one constant—change.     Download a printable PDF of the Infographic | 2015 Regulations in Review…

    Congressional politics threaten PTC extension bill

    - October 8, 2015 -

    Just when American railroads were perhaps starting to breathe a bit easier about the December 31st, 2015 Positive Train Control (PTC) deadline account the seeming agreement in the House of Representatives about extending the deadline to 2018 under a pending bill HR 3651,  new political roadblocks to passage appear to be arising.  On Wednesday October…

    IATA Lithium Battery workshop concludes; undeclared and non-compliant shipments pose biggest risks

    - October 8, 2015 - , ,

    Last week, I was part of the Labelmaster team that attended the Lithium Battery workshop hosted by IATA in Montreal. For those of us who’ve been following the twists and turns of the regulations governing the air transport of lithium batteries, we might be forgiven for thinking there would be nothing new to see and…

    Congress advances bill to delay Railroad PTC Mandate

    - October 6, 2015 -

    The US House of Representatives has introduced legislation to delay until 2018 the current deadline for US railroads to implement Positive Train Control (PTC) systems on their tracks.  As discussed in a previous blog on the subject,  the nation’s railroads have jointly stated the physical impossibility of completing such an inter-operative system by the end…

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