30 May 2024
The Monopoly Jeopardizing Your Safety…
Work-Bites - Latter-day railroad Barons in the U.S. are using “Precision Scheduled Railroading” to cut costs—and cut corners. The results? Predictable and deadly.
28 May 2024
An Industry on the Brink of Disaster
Work-Bites - The profit-driven railroad industry continues to fight safety measures in the aftermath of the East Palestine train derailment disaster.
7 January 2024
Public Ownership of Rail Is on the Agenda. Here’s What It Could Look Like
Jacobin - Last year’s catastrophic East Palestine train derailment has spurred calls from a rank-and-file labor group for public ownership of rail infrastructure. We spoke to an expert about what that could look like in the US, which is dominated by for-profit rail.
6 May 2023
Why We Need Public Ownership of the Railroads
Independent Socialists Group - In 2023, the East Palestine, OH derailment demonstrated the scale of the crisis of railroad safety. It made the public ownership campaign even more urgent in the eyes of workers around the country who are getting a crash course education in for-profit railroading and its consequences.
1 May 2023
What if We Owned the Tracks?
Clean Technica - When it comes to energy efficient transportation in America, no transportation option is better than the railroads. They have been the freight transportation backbone of America for nearly 200 years, which is why all the recent news about train derailments and union strikes deserves our attention.
25 March 2023
Railroad Nationalization Must Be Part of the Green New Deal
Sewer Socialists - Public transit is fundamentally a political loser for elected officials. When it works well, it is invisible. When it fails, or when the fare goes up, it only creates bad headlines. The main way to build ridership is by providing frequent and reliable service in high-demand areas. That means investing heavily in service...
23 March 2023
Railroad Workers United organizer explains the push to nationalize railroads after Atlanta demonstration against Norfolk Southern
Atlantic Civic Circle - Students and activists rallied at Norfolk Southern headquarters to push for the nationalization of the railroads in the wake of February's East Palestine train derailment. Railroad Workers United organizer and Amtrak engineer Ron Kraminkow tells us why public ownership of the railroads is necessary.
20 March 2023
Nationalize the railroads
The Daily Campus - “The fallout from this highly preventable incident may continue for years to come, and there’s still so much we don’t know about the long-term effects on our air, water and soil.” And while Norfolk Southern has seemingly agreed to compensate property damage and relocation costs, these derailments have only demonstrated that private ownership of railroads in America is failing.
17 March 2023
Canadian National is too important for Canada to remain a private company
Toronto Star - If railways are so strategically vital to the economy that the federal government is encouraged to use “every tool at their disposal” to prevent a strike, then the time has come to renationalize Canadian National.
16 March 2023
Workers say it’s time to nationalize the railroad
Prism - “As locomotive engineers, conductors, signal maintainers, car inspectors, track workers, dispatchers, machinists, and electricians, we experience the reality that our jobs are becoming increasingly dangerous due to insufficient staffing, inadequate maintenance, and a lack of oversight and inspection. We recognize that limits on train lengths and weights are necessary to prevent catastrophic derailments.”