Anti-Automation Rail Policy Runs Counter to Environmental Commitment

As we all know, the U.S. transportation system is essential to moving people and goods. When it comes to lessening the environmental impact of this system, the discussion often focuses on the sector as a whole or solely on passenger vehicles. This is understandable, because transportation has been the largest source of U.S. emissions since 2016 and because automobiles and light trucks make up the predominant mode of travel. 

Yet one subsector of the overall transportation system - the freight networks that move cargo – deserves their own focus, particularly for those interested in economic growth, conserving natural resources, and protecting the environment. In 2018, the U.S. freight system moved more than 18.6 billion tons of goods valued at $18.9 trillion, or an average of 56.9 tons of freight per person in the United States, a 4 percent increase from 2016. Estimates also show that freight demand will rise by 50% over the next 30 years.

In the short term, even as the transportation industry decarbonizes, more freight transportation means more carbon emissions. In 2019, freight emitted 570 million metric tons of CO2, contributing to 30% of total U.S. transportation emissions. Freight’s contribution to CO2 emissions is projected to exceed growth in emissions from all other transportation activities, including passenger transportation. Therefore, increasing environmental efficiency in freight, while also continuing to innovate toward less-intensive energy sources, is essential to meeting our conservation and climate goals.

Available data confirms that freight railroads currently provide the most energy and carbon-efficient mode of cargo transportation on land. Much of this success can be attributed to the industry’s inherent efficiency in providing scale and distance to customers, but some of it is also attributable to new technologies that limit idling and better distribute power. Observers note that a system known as automated track inspection also increases efficiency while drastically improving safety.

From a policy standpoint, the oversight agency is the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Its leader, Amit Bose, will testify at a U.S. House hearing on June 14.

Lawmakers should press the Administrator on current policies, which appear to favor labor at the expense not just of safety, but of the environment.

Most glaring is a debate about “crew size,” or how many people are needed in a locomotive. Since 2016, organized labor unions have pressed policymakers to freeze the current operating practice of two workers – a conductor and engineer – into place. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is currently reviewing a new regulation in this area.

Yet since 2016, no sound safety data has been presented to justify government dictating labor policy, something that is traditionally handled through collective bargaining. To the contrary, stakeholders across the political spectrum note that international railroads already operate with a sole driver, while U.S. passenger trains like Amtrak do too. Moreover, the U.S. rail system has a system called Positive Train Control – basically autopilot – that makes a shift in operating practices even more reasonable.

“All too often legislative or regulatory changes that help one small group while hurting the rest of society pass because the former group is highly motivated to fight for the issue, while the rest of the public is not,” says the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. “That’s what’s happening with the case of mandatory train size. Rail unions fight against it; the consuming public is unaware of the issue.”

Even if inclined to give the FRA the benefit of the doubt, the agency’s efforts to stop the use of aforementioned track inspection technology undermines their credibility. In this case, data submitted by railroads under the monitoring of the FRA itself shows that technology can improve track defect identification by as much as 90 percent. The systems make the trains run faster and idle less too.

Automation and electrification in the trucking sector is underway but will take time. Given the environmental profile of railroads, policy should be tailored to maximize the benefit they provide – not make them less able to compete with trucks. Prescribing specific labor practices surely renders rail less competitive over time.