I'm not sure where this belongs, but this white paper was just released today by publicrailnow.org and I thought others might be interested.
Today, on July 1, one week after the National Transportation Safety Board's damning hearing on Norfolk Southern's disastrous handling of the derailment in East Palestine, the 102nd anniversary of the Railway Shopmen's Strike, and 68 years after the Act creating the Interstate Highway System went into effect--
My report, "Putting America Back on Track: The Case for a 21st Century Public Rail System," offers a vision of the public alternative to the failures of the private short-term-profit-focused rail system dominated by four duopolistic Class I railroads.
The failures of the private rail system are plain to see:
-Layoffs and understaffing are rampant, impacting workers' quality of life
-Disrespect and retaliation against employees, especially those raising safety concerns
-An accident rate that has risen 30% in the past 10 years
-A failure to grow traffic, and "the worst service ever" that has driven customers away from rail
-And many other issues, impacting every part of our society (I don't want to drone on in this post on the manifold issues, so if you are the least bit interested, please give the executive summary a glance for a fuller introduction)
These issues are outlined in the report below, as well as how the system of private ownership and management has led us here.
Public ownership—as with our highway system, inland waterways, and most rail systems around the world—offers an alternative vision. That of a sustainable, publicly accountable, worker-friendly, service-focused rail system capable of triggering a modal shift to rail.
In the report, I discuss:
-the "Why" of public ownership/the problem with the private Class Is
-the history of public rail in the United States
-present-day public rail in the United States
-international rail systems, both public and private
-and various models for public ownership
I am incredibly proud of this work, and thankful to all the folks who have helped me get it done. Now the hard work begins of restarting the long-dormant discussion about public rail ownership and building the coalition for Public Rail Now (publicrailnow.org). If you would like to get involved with, or organizationally endorse, the campaign please visit our website and fill out one of the linked forms:
https://lnkd.in/e3TPpueF
If you have questions about the report or would like to have me present to your organization about public rail, feel free to reach out to me personally at [email protected]
America deserves a rail system that works for all of us.
hashtag#rail hashtag#railroad hashtag#raillabor hashtag#labor hashtag#climate hashtag#publicrailnow hashtag#supplychain
Today, on July 1, one week after the National Transportation Safety Board's damning hearing on Norfolk Southern's disastrous handling of the derailment in East Palestine, the 102nd anniversary of the Railway Shopmen's Strike, and 68 years after the Act creating the Interstate Highway System went into effect--
My report, "Putting America Back on Track: The Case for a 21st Century Public Rail System," offers a vision of the public alternative to the failures of the private short-term-profit-focused rail system dominated by four duopolistic Class I railroads.
The failures of the private rail system are plain to see:
-Layoffs and understaffing are rampant, impacting workers' quality of life
-Disrespect and retaliation against employees, especially those raising safety concerns
-An accident rate that has risen 30% in the past 10 years
-A failure to grow traffic, and "the worst service ever" that has driven customers away from rail
-And many other issues, impacting every part of our society (I don't want to drone on in this post on the manifold issues, so if you are the least bit interested, please give the executive summary a glance for a fuller introduction)
These issues are outlined in the report below, as well as how the system of private ownership and management has led us here.
Public ownership—as with our highway system, inland waterways, and most rail systems around the world—offers an alternative vision. That of a sustainable, publicly accountable, worker-friendly, service-focused rail system capable of triggering a modal shift to rail.
In the report, I discuss:
-the "Why" of public ownership/the problem with the private Class Is
-the history of public rail in the United States
-present-day public rail in the United States
-international rail systems, both public and private
-and various models for public ownership
I am incredibly proud of this work, and thankful to all the folks who have helped me get it done. Now the hard work begins of restarting the long-dormant discussion about public rail ownership and building the coalition for Public Rail Now (publicrailnow.org). If you would like to get involved with, or organizationally endorse, the campaign please visit our website and fill out one of the linked forms:
https://lnkd.in/e3TPpueF
If you have questions about the report or would like to have me present to your organization about public rail, feel free to reach out to me personally at [email protected]
America deserves a rail system that works for all of us.
hashtag#rail hashtag#railroad hashtag#raillabor hashtag#labor hashtag#climate hashtag#publicrailnow hashtag#supplychain