Report: Railroads cut costs, prioritize speed and efficiency over safety

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/10/ [login to see] /propublica-analysis-train-derailment-long-trains
A ProPublica report on a railroad cost-cutting approach called Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) concludes that a strategy that employs longer trains with fewer employees puts profits ahead of safety in the freight rail industry.

"In the past, about a 1.4 mile-long train was considered huge. Now trains are two, even three miles long. Long trains are just one tenet of PSR," said Dan Schwartz, one of the ProPublica reporters who investigated the strategy that has helped rail corporations turn record profits.

Longer trains with fewer employees can transport the same amount of cargo in a single trip as a shorter train would in up to four trips. To achieve this, the rail industry constructs longer trains by using existing cars and positioning engines at intervals throughout the train to move and stop additional weight.

"Other things they're doing to reduce cost is they've dramatically laid off a lot of their workforce," Schwartz told NPR's Morning Edition. "Since 2015, they've laid off about a fifth. And a lot of those cuts have been in maintenance workers. There's fewer people to catch trains in disrepair."