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For 18 years, regulators have been wrestling with a congressional mandate to issue a rule prohibiting trucks from proceeding into railroad crossings unless there is adequate space on the other side to avoid getting trapped on the tracks.

The trucking industry’s widely held concerns that recent changes to the federal safety-rating program are causing sudden, dramatic shifts in some carriers’ scores is justified, according to an analysis by several companies that help fleets manage their safety programs.

The president of the National Private Truck Council said the 2012 Education Management Conference & Exhibition will include a focus on corporations expanding the capacity and capabilities of their in-house fleets.

Officials from truck and engine maker Navistar Inc. have disputed fuel-efficiency claims made by its rivals and said that an independent testing agency has found its over-the-road International ProStar model has better “fluid economy” than three of its rivals.

Standard & Poor’s is warning that Congress’ failure to pass a long-term transportation funding bill could provoke a credit-rating crisis similar to the one last summer when Congress balked at raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

Driver turnover rates for truckload carriers unexpectedly dipped at the end of last year, but the American Trucking Associations economist who runs the survey characterized the shift as a temporary “reprieve” rather than a durable change in trend.

U.S. truck makers sold 17,308 Class 8 trucks in March, a 33% increase from the same month last year, but the news comes as several potentially troubling signs have appeared.

McLeod Software Corp. has released LoadMaster Enterprise and PowerBroker Version 11.0.

Prices paid to U.S. producers were little changed in March, but the core rate excluding food and fuel rose, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Initial jobless claims rose last week from a four-year low, the Labor Department said Thursday.