The railways of the United States were preparing for a strike last year. Unions had raised concerns about staffing, wages, and safety — concerns that went unheard as the Biden administration forced a deal that benefitted the railway owners. Since then, railways have kept lobbying for fewer safety measures and trains have continued to dump toxic chemicals across the country. Within the railways, though, things seem even worse.
A report from ProPublica looked inside the railways themselves, and discovered a culture of intimidation that prioritizes speed and profit over safety — even when lives hang in the balance. From ProPublica:
“We’re a transportation company, right? We get paid to move freight. We don’t get paid to work on cars,” [Union Pacific maintenance director Andrew Letcher] said. “The first thing that I’m getting questioned about right now, every day, is why we’re over 200 bad orders and what we’re doing to get them down. … If I was an inspector on a train,” he continued, “I would probably let some of that nitpicky shit go.”
[Inspector Bradley] Haynes knew that the yard’s productivity metrics were hurting and that the repairs he ordered had a direct impact on his job security. Just that day, he’d flagged a 40-pound GPS box that was hanging by a cable off the side of a car. He worried it could snap off and fall on a colleague’s head or go hurling into a driver’s windshield. His boss greenlighted the car to leave anyway.
Haynes had started carrying a digital recorder in case he ever needed to defend himself. It captured him asking Letcher what would happen if a defect they let go wound up killing someone. The question went unaddressed as Letcher issued a warning: If they continued to hurt productivity by finding defects he deemed unnecessary, he would begin doling out punishment. He might even have to close the yard’s car shop.
The full piece from ProPublica is a harrowing read, one that shows just how much railways like Union Pacific value expediency — and how little they value safety when it stands in the way. Next time you see a cargo train rolling by, just think about that in the back of your head.