(Source: Freight Waves, May 12, 2023)
Longer trains, employee morale and the role of technology in freight rail operations came under at times withering scrutiny at a U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing. During his testimony, AFL-CIO TTD President Greg Regan discussed the problem of long trains. “The long trains are increasingly a problem from our members’ perspective,” he said. “These trains have doubled or tripled in size over time. If there is a problem on board a train and you have two people working there, one engineer [and] one conductor to identify the problem on a 3-to-4-mile-long train, you have to have someone walk the entire length to identify what that problem is … . And currently, we do not have sidings that can accommodate most of these large trains, so if there is a problem, it is going to create a backlog on the system.”
Full story: Freight Waves