Editor's Note: Rail labor has long understood that a pension should not come with a leash attached, yanking a retiree back into submission for the crime of continuing to work. The LPE penalty was never about fairness; it was about control, a quiet tax on independence that treated railroaders as property even after they gave their years to the industry. This legislation is a rare moment where both parties have stumbled onto a simple truth: dignity in retirement cannot be conditional. But bills are promises, and rail labor has been handed enough promises to fill a yard and still come up short at the other end. Until it is signed, sealed, and enforced, we would do well to remember that justice delayed has always been management’s favorite timetable.

Progressive Railroading / April 22

A bipartisan group of legislators yesterday introduced the Railroad Retirement Fairness Act (H.R. 8405), which would eliminate a federal provision that reduces retirement payments for certain retirees and spouses who continue working in non-railroad jobs after retirement.

Under the current Pre-Retirement Non-Railroad Employment (LPE) law, railroad retirees and their spouses may face a reduction in retirement benefits if they continue working for their last prior non-railroad employer before retirement, according to a press release from U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls' (R-Texas) office. Retirees who take a different job after retiring do not face the same penalty.

Nehls co-introduced the legislation with U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) and U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.). It was referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The legislation is endorsed by the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, Transportation Communications Union, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division.

Editor's Note: They will call it transformative, as they always do, dressing consolidation up as progress while the same hands tighten their grip on the throttle of competition and labor alike. The Surface Transportation Board may say its rejection was procedural, but the missing pieces were not clerical errors, they were the unanswered questions that follow every merger like a shadow.. who gains power, and who pays for it. Rail labor has lived through enough of these “generational” deals to know the pattern, promises made in filings rarely survive contact with operating reality. Market share charts and terminal plans are neat on paper, but they do not show the jobs thinned out, the agreements stretched, or the safety margins quietly negotiated downward. If this application returns polished and complete, it will still fall to those who work the rails to ask the only question that ever matters: what, exactly, are we being asked to give up this time?

Adam Burns / April 24

Union Pacific has announced it is targeting April 30, 2026 as the date to formally resubmit its revised merger application for the acquisition of Norfolk Southern, a critical step in advancing what would be the most transformative rail consolidation in a generation.

The planned resubmission follows the Surface Transportation Board’s decision in January to reject the railroads’ original filing as incomplete, citing missing data and insufficient detail on key competitive and operational impacts.

The revised filing is expected to address several deficiencies identified by the STB, including:

• Detailed projections of post-merger market share
  
• A complete merger agreement
  
• Expanded analysis of competitive impacts
  
• Clarification of Union Pacific’s plans regarding shared terminal operations, including its stake in the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis
  



The STB previously emphasized that its rejection was procedural rather than a judgment on the merits of the deal, leaving the door open for a resubmission.

Editor's Note: A yard does not empty itself by accident; it is drained by design. They call it efficiency, but rail labor knows the difference between improvement and erasure. The cars keep moving, the jobs do not. This is the old equation of consolidation, dressed up in new language. And it always balances on the backs of those who do the work.

Trains.com Staff / April 22

CSX has significantly reduced operations at Barr Yard in Riverdale, Ill., its major Chicago-area terminal, and has shifted most of its switching work to the Belt Railway of Chicago and Indiana Harbor Belt.

“CSX is reducing operations at Barr Yard as part of the company’s ongoing effort to improve how we operate across the network,” railroad spokesman Austin Staton tells Trains. “We’re shifting certain traffic flows to reduce redundant processing in Chicago and leveraging established partner switching capacity, like the BRC and IHB, to create a more direct network flow. The goal is to improve efficiency, reduce transit times, and provide more reliable service.”

Barr Yard, which has been one of CSX’s top 10 terminals by volume, typically had a daily inventory of between 1,400 and 1,800 cars this year, according to data reported by the Chicago Transportation Coordination Office.

As of last week an average of 1,113 cars were in the yard. Today only 228 cars were in the yard’s inventory, a figure that included 118 empty petcoke cars in storage, according to a CSX source.

Barr’s switching work is now being handled by BRC’s Clearing Yard and IHB’s Blue Island Yard. CSX also eliminated a daily transfer job between Barr Yard and Canadian National’s Kirk Yard in Gary, Ind. Road freights are now taking those cars to and from Kirk Yard and bypassing switching at Barr in the process.

In addition, CSX has dropped merchandise train pair M326/M327 that ran between Barr Yard and Grand Rapids, Mich. Traffic those trains handled is now being routed around the horn via Garrett, Ind.; Toledo, Ohio; and Detroit, according to union officials.

Editor's Note: A border has always been more than a line on a map; it is where standards are either enforced or quietly surrendered. This bill restores a basic principle rail labor has fought to keep.. the work performed on American rails should be governed by American rules and accountability. It is not about slogans, it is about who carries the responsibility when something goes wrong. Safety is not improved by ambiguity at the handoff point. If enacted and enforced, it draws a clear line where too many have preferred a convenient blur.

Railway Supply / April 24

Mexican rail crews would be barred from operating trains inside the United States. The limit would apply after trains cross the U.S.-Mexico border. It is part of a bipartisan House bill.

The Protecting American Railroad Workers’ Jobs Act was introduced on April 23. Its sponsors are U.S. Reps. Chris Pappas and Lance Gooden. Pappas is a New Hampshire Democrat, while Gooden is a Texas Republican. The measure would require trains entering from Mexico to stop at the border. They would undergo crew interchange and safety testing. In the United States, only U.S. citizens or permanent residents could operate those trains. Their reporting location would have to be in the U.S.

“Reestablishing these commonsense guidelines for rail crew changes and inspections will improve rail safety, protect American rail workers’ livelihoods, and help law enforcement safely interdict dangerous drugs,” Pappas said in a press release. “Our bipartisan legislation will ensure existing standards are and will continue to support efforts that combat drug trafficking and save lives.”

Gooden also presented the proposal as a jobs and safety measure, saying: “This America-First bill puts an end to Mexican exploitation of U.S. rail standards that threatens American railroad jobs and undermines rail safety. Freight moving through the United States should be operated by workers legally authorized to work here and held to American safety standards.”

Editor's Note: A nation that starves its passenger rail is not saving money, it is shrinking its own horizon. An 81% cut is not reform, it is abandonment.. Rail labor knows what follows, fewer trains, fewer jobs, and a system that cannot meet the moment when it is needed most. They will say the funds are temporary, that priorities shift, but mobility is not a luxury to be trimmed at convenience. If the rails are left to wither, the cost will not disappear, it will simply be paid later, with interest.

Editor's Note: A blocked crossing is not just an inconvenience, it is a signal that the system is stretched past the point of grace. When trains sit for hours, it is rarely a single failure, it is the result of longer trains, tighter crews, and less margin to recover when something goes wrong. Rail labor sees the chain behind the delay, where decisions made far from Helena show up at a crossing full of waiting families. The public bears the delay, the workers carry the strain, and the railroad calls it an exception. It is not an exception when it keeps happening.

Brady Talbert / April 17

Trains have blocked railroad tracks near the Helena Sports Complex twice in one week — canceling some Little League games and frustrating families trying to get their kids to the ballpark.

Helena Police say the tracks were blocked for an hour and a half on Wednesday and for about two and a half hours on Thursday before drivers could get through.

Both crossings are on Highway 261 — one of the main roads in and out of Helena.

Patrick Martin has two daughters who play softball and a son who plays baseball. After waiting in his car for an hour, his daughter’s game was canceled.

“They were pretty upset,” Martin said. “My youngest daughter was really looking forward to playing.”

Martin says the repeated blockages are more than an inconvenience.

“It’s a pain in the rear end,” Martin shared. “You’re interrupting lives, like people are trying to go do things. I don’t know, to me it just happens too often.”

Josh Price, whose 9-year-old son plays baseball, says his son’s game wasn’t cancelled, but it was delayed about an hour.

Train company CSX told Helena Police the most recent blockage was the result of “mechanical problems.” In a statement to WBRC, a CSX spokesperson said:

“CSX strives to be a good neighbor to communities where we operate, and we work hard to minimize the impact of railroad operations. We understand that it can be frustrating when trains block road crossings and we make every effort to prevent that from happening, whenever possible. Every crossing is different, and there are times when mechanical and operational issues could result in blocked crossings, as well as when trains stop for mandatory safety inspections, federally-regulated crew changes or to allow another train to safely pass.

Editor's Note: They will give you ten reasons, but rail labor has always needed only one: trains move people and goods better than anything we have ever built. The efficiency is real, but it does not run on physics alone, it runs on the people who operate, maintain, and dispatch it every day. A system this capable should not be treated as an afterthought or a line item to cut when budgets tighten. Investment in rail is not theory, it is a decision about what kind of country we intend to be. If we believe in it, we have to build it, staff it, and run it like it matters.

High Speed Rail Alliance

Here are just 10 reasons why trains will save us:



1. Trains are the most energy-efficient way to travel by land. High-speed rail consumes almost ten times less energy per passenger-kilometer than cars—and six times less energy than airliners. Even diesel trains use over three times less energy than cars.
   
2. Steel wheels on steel rails is unbeatable physics. The reason that trains take so long to come to a stop is also the reason they are so efficient. Steel wheels on steel rails reduces friction by up to 99% compared to rubber tires on asphalt roads.
   
3. Trains make the draft—literally. Because trains are linked in a caravan formation, the locomotive or leading unit creates draft, reducing drag and increasing energy efficiency for the rest of the trainset.
   
4. Trains are the true EV powerhouses. The most efficient modes of transportation do not carry their own power source, and electric trains have been around since 1879. The relatively light weight of electric trains reduces wear and tear on the tracks, allows for faster acceleration, and slashes energy use.
   
5. Manufacturing electric trains does not depend on rare minerals. Mining for lithium and cobalt for electric car batteries is so carbon intensive that producing one EV emits nearly twice as much carbon as building a conventional gas car. In contrast, the resources needed to make an electric train are relatively simple and widely available.
   
6. A train can outlive even the most resilient Toyota. The average service life of a train is around 30-35 years, or about double the average lifespan of the American car (just shy of 17 years).
   
7. “Humanity’s default mass mover” Borrowing a phrase from engineer, author, and podcast host Gareth Dennis, trains simply carry more people and use less space than cars. One railroad track can move as many people as 10 highway lanes.
   
8. Trains un-pave parking lots and put up a paradise . Now we're paraphrasing Joni Mitchell. Switching to EVs does not solve the problem of the amount of space that car infrastructure consumes, nor does it solve the issue of traffic congestion. Tightly knit cities and towns encourages human development to stay out of nature’s way.
   
9. Trains multiply the use of other sustainable transportation modes. When more people take the train, more people take local public transit, walk, or bike—and vice versa. Improving one system creates ripple effects and a virtuous cycle of increased ridership for all sustainable transportation modes.
   
10. Trains strengthen communities—and our sense of community. Passenger rail generates denser, more efficient land use than cars. Trains make it easier to access jobs, spend time with friends and family, and experience this incredible world of ours. Americans want to live in walkable communities. With loneliness now a public health epidemic, we need human connection—now more than ever.