(Source: National Public Radio, March 23, 2023)
It’s one of the biggest trends to shape the railroad industry in more than a century – precision scheduled railroading, or PSR. It’s a business model that’s propelled railroad companies to record-breaking profits, but some rail workers say PSR has made accidents like last month’s derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, more likely. Adrian Ma and Darian Woods from our daily economics podcast The Indicator explain.
One more thing that’s happened with PSR is that it’s put more pressure on employees to keep the trains moving. BLET National President Eddie Hall says the terminal managers, who direct traffic in and out of the rail yards, they’re now judged by various metrics like dwell time, which is basically how quickly can they take incoming cars and get them back on the rails.
Full story: www.npr.org