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Your weekly articles about rail-car loadings and truck traffic tend to make the same year-over-year comparisons.

Politicians’ fixations on issues such as health care are deflecting attention from crucial restoration of the transportation infrastructure and impairing the ability of American businesses to cope with the recession and revive the freight industry, three industry leaders said during a recent roundtable discussion.

The trucking industry shed 7,500 more jobs in October, more than double the 3,600 lost in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week formally approved selective catalytic reduction to meet its 2010 emissions standard.

American Trucking Associations has requested a meeting with Department of Transportation officials to discuss the agency’s intention to revise federal driver work rules issued during the Bush administration.

Gainey Corp.’s future owner is expected to be decided this week, following a three-way contest for the bankrupt carrier, CEO Harvey Gainey said.

A House subcommittee was scheduled to hear testimony at a Nov. 16 field hearing in Baltimore on a controversial House bill that would prohibit the transportation of flammable liquids in unprotected product piping both on existing and on newly manufactured cargo tank trucks.

U.S. retail diesel and gasoline price averages reversed a monthlong string of increases last week, as diesel dipped 0.7 cent to $2.801 a gallon and gas declined 2.8 cents to $2.666, the Department of Energy reported.

The Senate has unanimously confirmed Anne Ferro, the former head of the Maryland Motor Truck Association, to direct the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.