Latest

• AAR CEO Ian Jefferies on Yahoo Finance Live
  “Forcing railroads to open up their tracks…to a competing railroad to serve a customer, all that does is undermine the fluidity of the network.” AAR CEO Ian Jefferies said about the Biden administration’s recent executive order on competition, which includes a misguided direction to interfere with functioning freight markets.
• NUTC Report: Through COVID & Beyond, Freight Rail is Resilient & Essential
  The Northwestern University Transportation Center finds that America’s freight railroads bolstered supply chain resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Despite the particularly volatile period, railroads met consumers’ and businesses’ unexpected surge of demands…highlighting the rail industry’s role as an essential component of the U.S. economy.”
  
• Freight Rail Central to Administration’s Climate, Economic & Infrastructure Goals
  Fueled by approximately $25 billion a year in private investments, rail received a B in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) 2021 Infrastructure Report Card. Learn how rail’s resilient infrastructure can help carry the nation forward.
  

Environmental Impact

• Protecting the Environment for Future Generations
  From technology that reduces idling to improved freight car design, railroads are investing in new equipment and pioneering fresh ways of efficiently running operations.
• Locomotive or Supercomputer?
  Discover how technology helps freight railroads preserve the environment while mitigating climate change.

Freight Railroads & COVID-19

• How the Auto Industry Revved Back to Life After Epic Decline Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
  Freight rail’s customer-first approach, operational expertise and past investments helped the auto industry rev back to life as auto plants came back online after being shuttered due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• From the Frontlines – 7 Railroaders Share What it Means to Keep Freight Moving
  Hear from a few of freight rail’s hard-working employees who are proud to help keep vital goods moving during COVID-19.
• Freight Railroads are Laying Tracks Today for Economic Recovery Tomorrow
  During the recovery phase, America’s freight railroads’ steadfast commitment will remain clear as they transport what the country needs to return to normal, including food, chemicals for clean water, consumer goods, construction materials and motor vehicles.
• Job #1 During the Pandemic is Keeping Railroad Employees Safe & Healthy
  The only way that railroads can do their job for America in this time of national crisis is to first ensure the health and safety of their unwavering and dedicated employees. From following CDC procedures to social distancing, railroads continue to safeguard the nation’s essential rail workers.

Investments

• Freight Rail’s Investments Generate Huge Returns for America
  America’s freight rail industry is one of the most efficient transportation networks in the world, fueled by approximately $25 billion annually in private investments to maintain and upgrade the nation’s nearly 140,000-mile rail network.
• Meeting the Demands of the Digital Age
  By spending billions of dollars in private capital on infrastructure, equipment and technology, freight railroads are helping to solve a national transportation capacity crisis while keeping the economy moving.
• Jobs, Output & Taxes: Freight Rail’s Economic Impact
  Towson University finds that Class I railroads’ operations and capital investment supported over 1.1 million jobs, $219.5 billion in economic output and $71.3 billion in wages in 2017 alone.

Safety & Technology

• Long Island Rail Road & Waze: Partnering to Make Grade Crossings Safer
  MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tackled the issue of grade crossing safety head on, developing a set of solutions to address the issue — including a trailblazing partnership with navigation app Waze.
• Making Safety Accessible: New Online SERTC Academy Puts Community Preparedness First
  The Security and Emergency Response Training Center (SERTC) launches an online training program to ensure the nation’s first responders have uninterrupted access to critical hazmat response training despite the ongoing challenges COVID-19.
• Prioritizing Safety Means Prioritizing Workforce for Rail Industry
  Freight rail is delivering on its commitment to safety and its workforce through cutting-edge technology to protect and empower employees — from drones to ultrasound, smart sensors and Positive Train Control.
• 6 Ways Freight Rail Gets Techie
  The nation’s freight railroads put technology to work every day to make the network safer and more efficient.
• The Eyes & Ears of Freight Rail
  See how technologies once found only in the pages of science fiction novels help make this possible.
• 360 Degrees: Freight Rail’s Holistic Approach to Safety
  Thanks in part to ongoing rail investments in infrastructure, operations, technology and community preparedness, recent years have been among the safest in the history of the rail industry.
• Today’s Railroads Can Predict the Future. Here’s How
  Using machine learning and Big Data, railroads identify patterns and predict what elements of their private, 140,000-mile network may soon need to be repaired or replaced.
• Every Week is Rail Safety Week
  From virtual reality videos to national safety campaigns, see how railroads aim to stop these preventable tragedies year round.

Hazmat Safety

• Why Freight Rail is the Safest Mode for Hazmat
  More than 99.99% of all hazmat moved by rail reaches its destination without a release caused by a train accident. Railroads will never rest until the industry is accident-free.
• AskRail App: Arming First Responders with Critical Rail Information
  In the event of a rail incident, timely and accurate information is critical. No one knows this better than former Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner.

Policy

• Why the USMCA Will Benefit Freight Railroads & Their Customers
  With USMCA entering into force, freight railroads continue their work to keep supply chains moving, fuel economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and execute a vision toward the future.
• The Real Cost of Heavier Trucks
  Increasing trucks from 80,000 pounds to 91,000 pounds would further subsidize commercial highway users at the expense of taxpayers, exacerbate deterioration of crumbling infrastructure and disadvantage a critical freight rail industry.
• Here’s to Another 40 Years: How Policymakers Can Help Rail Meet the Challenges of Today & Tomorrow
  To keep our nation moving forward, it’s imperative that federal policymakers and regulators — now and in the future — protect the smart regulatory framework borne of this groundbreaking bipartisan legislation.
• 1980: Movie Star Politicians, Star Wars & the Staggers Rail Act
  1980 may seem like eons ago, when CNN first launched and new wave pop played over the airwaves. But what happened that year for the freight rail industry left an indelible mark in history and is still surprisingly relevant today: Congress passed the Staggers Rail Act, which laid the foundation for our country’s modern freight rail network.
• 20/20 Vision: How the Staggers Act Prepared American Railroads for Today
  Learn how this historic legislation transformed the freight rail industry and how the Surface Transportation Board can help railroads keep America moving forward.
• A Day in the Shoes of a Freight Shipper: Where Shippers & Staggers Meet, Good Things Follow
  Staggers was not only monumental for railroads, it was transformational for rail shippers. Put yourself in their shoes to see how this legislation uniquely positioned the rail network to meet modern demands, as well as the demands of the past.

What We Haul

• Delivering a Holiday Season Like No Other

  With online shopping skyrocketing, freight rail worked overtime for ecommerce customers to meet the demands unusual 2020 holiday season.

• How Intermodal Reinvented Freight Rail
  Making a curbside pickup? Rail intermodal — the transportation of shipping containers and truck trailers by rail — helps make this possible by allowing railroads to provide their customers cost-effective, environmentally friendly service for almost anything that can be loaded into a truck or a container. See how intermodal helped launch the global economy we know today.
• 6 Milestones of Intermodal Growth
  Explore six changes within the last century that contributed to the safe, reliable and cost-effective intermodal rail network we have today.
  
• Trains & Trucks: An Intermodal Partnership
  The partnership of trucks, trains and cargo ships helps make America’s intermodal network the most efficient in the world.
• Freight Rail: Designed to Drive a Nation
  Freight railroads are part of every production stage of an automobile — from moving raw materials and auto parts to delivering a finished car or truck to dealerships across the nation. With a single train carrying hundreds of cars, freight rail transports nearly 75% of the new cars and light trucks purchased in the U.S.