Longer trains, worker morale and the role of technology in freight rail operations got here under at times withering scrutiny at a U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing.
The hearing, convened to debate supply chain challenges within the freight rail industry, became a forum for discussion of hot-button topics. Five witnesses on the Thursday hearing spelled out ongoing concerns of stakeholders.
Asked what problems a bipartisan House supply chain caucus should concentrate on, witnesses made a variety of suggestions:
- Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ian Jefferies mentioned permitting reform, including streamlining the method for obtaining Clean Water Act permits.
- Chuck Baker, president and CEO of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, suggested providing mechanisms to assist railroads hire and retain staff, including the power to rent back retirees while allowing them to retain their railroad retirement advantages.
- American Chemistry Council President and CEO Chris Jahn also called for allowing reform and said that as well as he would support the Surface Transportation Board’s moving forward with reciprocal switching. That involves an incumbent carrier transporting a shipper’s traffic to an interchange point where it switches the rail cars over to the competing carrier, based on the Federal Register. Jahn also supported ensuring minimum service delivery standards.
- Marc Scribner, senior transportation policy analyst for the Reason Foundation, called for letting the freight rail industry pursue technological advances and innovation, similar to greater deployment of autonomous track inspection. This is very essential since other modes, similar to trucking, have been capable of achieve this.
- Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, said along with specializing in improving freight rail service, Congress should promote higher quality of life for railroad staff and advocate for enhancing workforce levels and recruitment.
Rail stakeholders are also pushing for Congress to stop COVID-19 pandemic-related railroad employee insurance advantages from being cut because of this of President Joe Biden declaring an end to the pandemic. The 5.7% reduction in advantages through 2030 went into effect on Tuesday. The Railroad Worker Equity and Fairness Act (REEF Act) seeks to stop that reduction.
Train lengths, rail service and quality of life draw scrutiny
Witnesses offered opinions on plenty of other issues facing the industry as well, including:
“The long trains are increasingly an issue from our members’ perspective. These trains have doubled or tripled in size over time. If there’s an issue on board a train and you might have two people working there, one engineer [and] one conductor to discover the issue on a 3-to-4-mile-long train, you might have to have someone walk the whole length to discover what that problem is … . And currently, we wouldn’t have sidings that may accommodate most of those large trains, so if there’s an issue, it will create a backlog on the system.” — Regan
“I can’t say if there’s a right length and what that’s, but I can say we’re wide open to following the information. And that’s something [the National Academy of Sciences] is taking a look at, if there’s some form of safety conduit to a certain length. [But] we’ve got not seen it in our operations.” — Jefferies
“Any person mentioned the Staggers Act had passed in 1980. So much has modified since then. Back within the day, the railroads owned all of the rail cars. Now, three-quarters of the rail cars are owned by the shippers. And so it is a situation where it must go each ways. If the railroad is late, we must always have the power to act in kind. And we predict that might clean up loads of the issues that we’re having straight away.” — Jahn
“In California, for instance, we’ve got an organization that is simply getting about two-thirds of its shipments, or lower than two-thirds of its shipments. It’s competing against corporations in China that herald product to a port that has multiple railroads … . It’s hard for our members to compete globally against competition, and China doesn’t, frankly, face the identical transportation challenges that we’ve got here domestically.” — Jahn
“There’s absolute confidence that it’s been 4 or five years of struggling service. [But] I’m hearing from my short lines that they’re seeing green shoots of improvements. I definitely wouldn’t dispute what Mr. Jahn is saying that some customers remain frustrated, but short lines view the rail network largely from a shipper’s perspective also, and I feel we’re seeing improvements. I even have little question that our Class I friends would do the previous couple of years in another way if they might, but I feel it’s beginning to recuperate.” — Baker
“It’s different abroad because [in the U.S.] we’ve got vertically integrated railroads that own the infrastructure and operate over those lines. It’s not separate. And that form of [hearkens to] the truck comparison that I made in my opening statements: Trucks are usually not [responsible for] infrastructure whereas within the U.S., the freight railroads are … . So I feel you may see advantages on the infrastructure side, with automated train and track inspection, and in addition further in the long run, with the automation of train operations as well … . Using emerging aviation technologies, drones in bridge inspections and things like that, are keeping people out of harm’s way and reducing costs. These are the advantages of automation that we see in other domains and other industries.” — Scribner
“The reason behind all of the morale issues boils all the way down to the reduction of workforce levels. I thanks to your introduction of the sick leave laws this morning. But that also I consider is a symptom … [of] drastic reductions in workforce. We’ve got people who find themselves required to be on call continuously that will not have access to their granted leave that was agreed to within the contract. We removed over boards, that are principally redundancy inside the system that allow the railroads to proceed to operate when people do have to take time without work for whatever reason it might be. So then, the attendance policies that were put in place essentially discouraged anyone from actually taking the leave that is out there to them. These are all issues that contributed to the fight that we had last yr where, let’s be honest, despite the most important wage increase in 45 years [as included in the labor contracts] … so lots of the staff voted against that despite the economic advantages of that agreement.” — Regan
“I feel all of us recognize that railroading is a really difficult job. That’s why it’s compensated at the extent it’s. But … it’s not all concerning the money, and that’s why it’s essential that we’ve made progress on making a more scheduled work environment for a few of our employees. And people agreements are beginning to occur on the sick leave front. Each Class I railroad now has a sick leave agreement in place with the vast majority of the unions that it operates. Not all of them. I’m counting 37 different agreements up to now. And so there’s progress being made on that front . … I feel, quite frankly, that Greg and I may be working together loads more to advertise the advantages of this industry. … I feel we are able to do it in certain areas. For instance, the REEF Act. We each worked together. … And that’s a very good, good opportunity for expanded joint work.” — Jefferies
“We’re seeing an alarming number of individuals leave the industry. And that is an industry where loads of persons are third-, fourth-, fifth-generation railroad staff … . We wish to see this industry grow, but at a certain point, that cost good thing about a very good wage and advantages was outweighed by the demands on their quality of life, their work-life balance, and persons are saying, ‘It’s not price it anymore. I’m gonna go work in one other industry.’” — Regan
“The present state will not be really much improved than it was last yr when there was the specter of a piece stoppage. I feel there are some improvements being made. I feel that we’ll begin to see some quality-of-life improvements within the railroads. But I do think that at its core, we’d like to begin hiring with a much greater frequency. And never only that, but retain staff. The web gain of staff on the railroads has really not increased much because we’re seeing so many individuals leave the industry, and lots of of them are midcareer.” — Regan
Subscribe to FreightWaves’ e-newsletters and get the newest insights on freight right in your inbox.
.
Related links:
Way forward for Supply Chain
JUNE 21-22, 2023 • CLEVELAND, OH • IN-PERSON EVENT
The best minds within the transportation, logistics and provide chain industries will share insights, predict future trends and showcase emerging technology the FreightWaves way–with engaging discussions, rapid-fire demos, interactive sponsor kiosks and more.