(The following appeared on the Progressive Railroading website on June 17, 2011.)
The U.S. Class I workforce continued to enlarge last month. As of mid-May, the large roads employed 157,522 people, up 0.5 percent from April’s level and 4.4 percent from May 2010’s count, according to Surface Transportation Board (STB) data.
The maintenance of way and structures workforce increased 1.3 percent to 36,026; maintenance of equipment and stores ranks rose 0.4 percent to 28,963; transportation (train and engine) workforce expanded 0.3 percent to 63,078; and transportation (other than T&E) ranks inched up 0.2 percent to 6,678.
Full story: Progressive Railroading