Passenger Ground & Sea Transportation

U.S. Transportation Department threatened on Tuesday to withhold funding for Chicago 'trains and buses' and demanded increased police protection citing an attack and burning of a woman, 26 years old, last month. In letters sent to Illinois Governor JB Prattker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, the?Federal Transit Agency warned that if they did not develop a plan for reducing assaults against transit workers and passengers as well as addressing unsafe conditions, federal funding could be lost. Similar letters were sent by the department to 'New York' and 'Boston, expressing concerns over transit issues. Chicago is also heavily Democratic, as are...

Waymo announced Friday that it would recall its self-driving cars after Texas officials reported that the Alphabet Unit's vehicles illegally passed at least 19 school buses in recorded incidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which opened its first investigation in October of Waymo's vehicles near school busses, asked the self driving car company to answer questions on Wednesday about the Texas incidents. "Holding to the highest safety standards requires that we recognize when our behavior needs improvement. We have decided to file a voluntary recall of software with NHTSA in order to ensure that vehicles are appropriately slowing...

The U.S. government said Thursday that it had asked Waymo for more information after Texas officials claimed that Alphabet's self-driving cars had passed school buses illegally 19 times since the beginning of the school year. In October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation after an incident that occurred in Georgia. A Waymo was not stationary as it approached a school bus while its red lights were flashing and its stop arm was deployed. The Austin Independent School District posted a letter on November 20, 2018 by the NHTSA. In the letter, they stated that five incidents had...

The U.S. government said on Thursday that it had asked Waymo for more information after Texas officials claimed that Alphabet's self-driving cars had passed school buses illegally 19 times since the beginning of the school year. In October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation after a Georgia incident where a Waymo failed to remain stationary as it approached a school bus that had its red lights flashing with a stop arm deployed. In a letter published by NHTSA on Nov. 20, the Austin Independent Schools District stated that five incidents had occurred in November, after Waymo claimed...

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration announced on Monday that it would begin charging air passengers $45 if their identification documents do not meet the stricter federal standards on February 1. This move is intended to encourage travelers to obtain enhanced identity documents. The TSA will begin enforcing "REAL ID' standards in May 2025. Passengers without these IDs are given warnings and subjected to enhanced screening. TSA officials have said that they will urge passengers who do not possess REAL IDs to get them before arriving at an airport or pay a fee. The $45 will cover travel within a 10...

VTB CEO Andrei Kostin said in an interview that Russian banks were willing to restructure some Russian Railways' debt, as long as their central bank did not increase the reserve requirements on these loans. The Russian government is examining different options to support Russian Railways. This company, the largest commercial employer in Russia, has accumulated a debt of 4 trillion roubles ($50.8 billion), according to a report on Nov. 25, VTB is the second largest Russian bank and Russian Railways' largest creditor. The bank's top managers participate in weekly government discussions on how to handle the debt. These meetings are...

A state regulator announced on Tuesday that Tesla had received a permit for it to operate in Arizona as a transportation company. This is a major step in expanding its robotaxi service. Tesla will be able to operate a ride-hailing business similar to Uber and charge its passengers with the TNC permit, but it won't be able drive driverless cars. Tesla received a state permit in September for testing its autonomous vehicles using a safety driver. The process was a self certification. The company also applied for the right to conduct tests without a driver. The robotaxi industry is on...

Amtrak, the U.S. passenger rail company, said Tuesday that it had set records for revenue and ridership in a single year. It also cut its losses by 15 percent to $598 millions and is aiming for profitability by 2028. Amtrak is a major effort in rehabilitating the infrastructure of the Northeast corridor between Boston, Massachusetts and Washington. It is expanding service throughout the United States by purchasing new Acela trains with higher speeds and replacing regional trains from next year. Amtrak reported that in the twelve months ending September 30, it had 34,5 million trips made by customers, an increase...

Alphabet Waymo announced on Wednesday that it would begin offering robotaxi rides using freeways in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix as it expands amid competition within the self-driving sector. Waymo is expanding its operations in San Jose to include the Mineta San Jose International Airport. This airport will be the second in the service area, after Phoenix Sky Harbor. Zoox, backed by Amazon, offers free robotaxi rides around and on the Las Vegas Strip. Tesla is expanding its robotaxi service to include safety monitors and driver. Waymo, the company behind the robotaxi service that is offered in the U.S....

The administration of President Donald Trump, which had threatened to remove aging railcars in Pennsylvania from service, announced on Tuesday that it would extend the deadline for an inspection by a state transit agency. The Federal Railroad Administration issued a special order on October 1 requiring that the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority address the fire risk from its 225 Silverliner IV Railcars within 30 days. The order was issued in response to a safety recommendation made by the National Transportation Safety Board after five fires. FRA gave the agency until November 14 to finish inspections, and until early in December...

Hertz Global reported a profit for the third quarter after almost two years, thanks to used car sales and an updated fleet of rental vehicles. The company's shares rose by 42% on Tuesday. In order to combat a decline in rental activity, the company has tried to diversify its operations by overhauling its vehicle fleet. It also offers a marketplace for online car purchases. In recent years, a slump in demand led it to sell off a large portion of its electric vehicle fleet and replace them with gas-powered vehicles. Hertz sold off a majority its Teslas in the past...

Waymo announced on Monday that it will launch its robotaxi services in Las Vegas, San Diego, and Detroit, Michigan, next year. This is its largest geographic expansion to date. It added that Alphabet will begin driving its new Zeekr-built cars this week alongside its Jaguar I-PACE Fleet. The new Zeekr models, developed in conjunction with Chinese automaker Geely are specifically designed for robotaxi applications and will be gradually rolled out as the service expands. Waymo and Tesla, as well as Amazon's Zoox, are investing billions in self-driving technologies. Tesla launched its robotaxi service, which was long overdue, earlier this year....

The powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.6 that struck Japan's northeast late Monday prompted tsunami warnings and evacuation orders. The Japan Meteorological Agency said that a tsunami of up to three metres (10 feet), could strike Japan's northeastern coastline after an earthquake estimated at 7.6 magnitude occurred offshore, at 11:15 pm (1415 GMT), according to the JMA. JMA reported that tsunami warnings had been issued for Hokkaido and Aomori prefectures, as well as Iwate. A 40cm tsunami was observed in Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara port and Hokkaido’s Urakawa port before midnight. The agency said that the epicentre was located 80 km (50...

The coast guard reported that a South Korean passenger ship carrying 267 passengers, crew and cargo got stuck on Wednesday when it ran aground near the southwest tip of the Korean Peninsula. A rescue operation is underway to get them back to land. The Yonhap News Agency reported that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is currently traveling in the Middle East and has ordered the swift rescue of everyone on board. This will prevent any casualties. Details of the operation will be released as soon as possible. The coast guard stated in a press release that authorities were using...

Hinako, 22, moved to Tokyo in 2011 and chose to work at Don Quijote a discount retailer because it didn't really care about the colour of her hair. Mori, who was wearing ash blonde hair with dark and light blue streaks at the time of her interview, likes to change the colour of her hair every six weeks. She had a very different experience when she worked for a Japanese convenience store chain which required black or dark brown locks. "One day, I dyed my hair blonde. Mori said that the next morning, she was told either to wear a...

A review of public documents and interviews with executives revealed that critical mineral companies have increased their lobbying efforts to Washington in order to benefit from the ambitious investments made by U.S. president Donald Trump to firms considered essential to national safety. The review revealed that at least 12 companies, including those in the lithium, copper and rare earths industries, as well as geothermal, have signed agreements with Washington lobbying firms. Influence campaigns have increased dramatically in recent years to secure federal investment, permit support and long-term guarantees for procurement. The White House is shifting its focus from the historical...

These are the most popular stories from the New York Times' business pages. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports. Tesla unveiled on Tuesday new versions of two of its most popular models: Model Y, and Model 3. These will be sold for $40,000 each and $37,000 separately. A Los Angeles jury on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $966 Million to the family a California woman, who died of a rare cancer. The company had been found liable after a lawsuit claiming that its baby powder products caused cancer....

China's National Railway recorded 23,13 million trips during the first day the eight-day National Day Holiday on Wednesday. This is up almost 8% over a year ago and a record for a single day, according to state media CCTV. CCTV reported that more than 19 million trips would be made Thursday on the rail network. According to CCTV, the Yangtze River Delta Railway was expected to handle 4 million passengers. This is a 10% increase over last year. After the official end of the holiday on October 8, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will release total travel data. On...

Two Chinese firms announced on Saturday that they would partner with local companies to launch robotaxi service in Singapore as the city-state expands its autonomous driving. Grab, a ride-hailing service operator in China, announced that it will partner with WeRide next year to launch services. Pony.ai, ComfortDelGro and others said they would be partnering for similar services. They were waiting on regulatory approval. Grab announced in a press release that it had been chosen by the local authorities to run two autonomous shuttle services in the Punggol region. WeRide will start taking passengers in five- and eight seater vehicles from...

A Manhattan federal judge is expected to approve the $740 million settlement DiDi Global reached with a lawsuit alleging it defrauded its investors in connection with their initial public offering in mid-October. The class action lawsuit accused DiDi, of hiding and disobeying a Chinese Government order to delay its June 2021 IPO. This raised more than $4 billion and valued DiDi around $67.5 billion. In July 2021, shares of DiDi fell as China's Cyberspace Administration of China banned the company from accepting new customers. They also ordered the removal of DiDi Travel from app stores for smartphones. In July, the...

Saudi Arabia's nearly $1 trillion sovereign wealth funds sold their stakes in several U.S. listed companies, including Meta, Shopify, and PayPal, in the second quarter. Securities filings published on Thursday confirm this. The 13F filings also show that the Public Investment Fund sold its stakes at Nu Holdings, FedEx and Alibaba Group during a period when U.S. stocks recovered from a drop in April tied to U.S. Tariff policies. The filings revealed that PIF had no shares remaining in Meta, Shopify PayPal, Alibaba Nu Holdings, FedEx, or Nu Holdings. The fund's last filing revealed that at the end March it...

Six people including a former Minister were arrested Friday for their involvement in the reconstruction of a train station whose roof collapsed in November, killing 16 people and triggering Serbia’s largest anti-government demonstrations in decades. Tomislav Mojii, the former minister of infrastructure, was arrested by the office of prosecutor for organized crime. The six men are suspected of inflating the invoices of a consortium consisting of two Chinese companies, China Railway International Co. and China Communications Construction Co. who were tasked with reconstructing the Novi Sad railway station and its tracks. The statement stated that the Chinese consortium was able...

After years of discussions and complaints by licensed taxi drivers in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government has presented proposals to regulate ride-hailing services, such as Uber. Uber, the first ride-hailing service in Hong Kong to operate without regulation, was launched in 2014. Uber drivers were arrested for driving without a licence after police raided the office of Uber in 2015. Ride-hailing services have an unfair advantage over taxis, according to the city's taxi sector, which is struggling with a decline in income. The Transport and Logistics Bureau stated in a document submitted to the Legislature that all platforms offering...

The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Nvidia all closed at record highs Thursday. Nvidia's value was also above $4 trillion, while the Brazilian Real recovered some of its losses after U.S. president Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff against the country's products. Delta Air Lines' shares also soared 12%, after the company forecasted profits for both the third quarter and full year above analyst estimates. United Airlines ended the day 14.3% higher and Hertz Global was up 11.8%. Shares Nvidia ended up 0.75% at $164.10, giving the chipmaker a market value of $4.004 trillion, thanks to surging demand for artificial-intelligence. This...