federal railroad administration

Twenty million people in America aged 55 and older have difficulty with one or more basic daily activities - we discuss.  Its winter time and we share tips for safe driving and survival on the road during this season.  Finally, new federal rules require railcar manufacturers to verify that the railcars they manufacture were not built in China.  We explain why that is important. 

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For this episode, the return of the Acura Integra is celebrated with a week behind the wheel; the FCC wanted more diverse voices on the radio, so it created low-power FM stations; and it seems the nation's Class I railroads failed to learn from their recent past - welcome to the mainline blues. 

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Our guest on this week's episode is  Chris Shimoda, vice president of government affairs for the California Trucking Association. He is here to discuss California's Assembly Bill #5, better known as AB5. Until just a couple of weeks ago, the law had been tied up in appeals since it was passed in 2019, but it could soon go into enforcement. Essentially, it redefines contract workers' status in California. The problem for supply chains is that it forces many independent drivers to be considered employees of the companies they service - whether they want to be or not. Most of the opposition in the industry has been from owner-operators who want to remain independent to run their own trucks. Shimoda also discusses the potential impacts of proposed environmental regulations in California that would force  trucks with  internal combustion engines off the state's roads as early as 2024.  He speaks with Senior Editor Victoria Kickham.

The Federal Railroad Administration has proposed a regulation to require a minimum of two operators in each railroad locomotive cab. It's a controversial regulation, as with today's safety systems many railroad operators feel it is redundant to have a second operator in the cab. The government says it is intended to further secure safety on the rails.

This past year was marked by supply chain disruptions. A new study now shows that those disruptions, year over year, may have actually been worse than we thought. The study examined 400 different types of disruptions across more than 100 million sources of information. It revealed a huge increase in disruptions during the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. We reveal what types of disruptions were most common.

DC Velocity's sister publication CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly  offers a podcast series called Supply Chain in the Fast Lane.  It is co-produced with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. The second season has now launched and focuses on supply chain digitalization.  Go to your favorite podcast platform to subscribe.


Articles and resources mentioned in this episode:

• California Trucking Association
• FRA revives crew redundancy requirement for train staffing
• Supply chain disruptions up 46% year over year
• Visit DCVelocity.com for the latest news. 
• Visit Supply Chain Quarterly
• Listen to CSCMP and Supply Chain Quarterly's Supply Chain in the Fast Lane podcast
• Listen to Supply Chain Quarterly's Top 10 Supply Chain Threats podcast
• Send feedback about this podcast to podcast@dcvelocity.com.

Podcast sponsored by: Honeywell Intelligrated

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