Recommendation

Congress should encourage freight rail operators to continue adopting advanced automation technologies that improve their productivity, not mandate two-person crews.

Details

As technologies such as positive train control systems have improved, and further advances in autonomous systems look promising, freight rail companies would like the flexibility of operating trains with less than two crew members—not so they can raise profits, but so they can reduce prices to better compete with the trucking sector. Lawmakers and regulators should encourage this, not give into pressure from rail workers’ unions that want to mandate two-person crews.

Keep reading:

▪ Robert D. Atkinson, “If Congress Wants to Help American Workers, It Should Not Require Two Person Train Crews,” ITIF, June 13, 2022, https://itif.org/publications/2022/06/13/if-congress-wants-to-help-american-workers-it-should-not-require-two-person-train-crews/.