See how the railroad industry has changed, in six charts
Railroads used to be an inescapable part of American life: They employed lots of people and were the nation's largest industry by revenue. But that was more than 100 years ago.
If they have faded in visibility, they still send trains rumbling across the country, a distant horn in the night. We rely on them more than any other mode of transportation to carry the nation's heavy freight over long distances.
Now, the derailment in Ohio has thrown railroads back into the national spotlight, raising questions about regulation, safety and toxic cargo.
Anthony Hatch, an independent railroad analyst, calls the incident an "aberration."
"It is an accident . . . but it is not to me a sign that they are running wild, unregulated and dangerously," Hatch said. The focus of the railroads in the next several years is to increase resiliency, reliability and consistency, he noted. "And to do that, you have to stay on the tracks."
The industry has experienced a renaissance over the past 40 years, spurred by deregulation that allowed railroads to rebuild their networks and gain pricing power. Globalization has changed the mix of freight; you can see this in long trains carrying containers and trailers, stuffed with consumer goods.
The data shows that the number of derailments has fallen as expenditures on maintenance have increased. But that has happened amid a consistent decline in the number of railroad jobs.
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Here's a look at how the freight railroad industry has changed.
1. Drop in derailments
For the past 40 years, train derailments have stayed steady or even dropped. Railroads average more than 1,000 derailments a year, which range from mishaps to something serious like the Ohio incident. Derailments that cause more than $12,000 in damage get reported, becoming a government statistic - a threshold easily reached with pricey rail equipment. Most derailments happen at low speeds in rail yards.
The railroad industry has also made big leaps in how it operates, from improved tracks to better axles and wheels on rail cars. Railroads are also in better financial shape than in the 1970s, when lines went bankrupt and tracks deteriorated.
Derailments have declined because of money and technology, said Allan Zarembski, who directs the railway engineering and safety program at the University of Delaware.
"Railroads don't seem to defer their maintenance anymore. They've learned that hard lesson," Zarembski said.
The technology can be limited, however, by how railroads decide to use it, as the Ohio derailment shows.
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2. Increased spending
Railroads maintain their own networks, from rails to signals to bridges, and they spend billions of dollars a year doing it. A new diesel locomotive can cost almost $3 million. BNSF, the nation's largest railroad (owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway), has about 7,500 locomotives on its roster.
Bridges are costly, too. Norfolk Southern has 9,706 bridges in its network. In 2017, the company invested $59.5 million on a new steel arch bridge in western New York. It ultimately cost $75 million, with state and federal funds making up the rest.
The industry hit peak expenditures in 2015, as the big railroads upgraded their lines to haul more freight. They also invested in new technology systems mandated by the government to prevent collisions.
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3. More freight
While derailments may be down, railroads are hauling more than ever.
U.S. railroads were deregulated by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, which let them set their own rates and gave them more pricing power. The big railroads pruned their networks of lightly-used lines and went after big customers with lots to ship.
Freight volume has climbed since the 1980s in part due to the introduction of shipping containers and the movement of coal from new mines, mostly in Wyoming. In more recent years, the railroads have hauled less coal because of a switch to natural gas and other energy sources - leading to a decline in freight volume.
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4. Varied freight
Recent data shows that trains carry more "intermodal" freight - anything in a box, carried by a bigger box, namely containers stacked high on trains leaving ports, heading inland hauling everything from grills to flat-screen TVs. Containers get lifted off trains, change modes and get put on trucks heading to warehouses or stores.
Railroads also move automobiles, forest products and even sections of commercial jetliners. Since deregulation, the financial shape of railroads has brightened and business is profitable.
The government classifies railroads as "common carriers," which means they have an obligation to accept freight like chemicals. There are more incidents hauling hazardous materials by highway than over rail, government data shows.
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5. A leaner network
In 1869, the completion of the transcontinental railroad knitted the country together. The national network grew as the nation did, becoming dense in the industrial Midwest and Northeast. In the Great Plains, a spiderweb of lines let farmers get grains to market. But later, railroads cut back as the national economy changed. They endured hard times with too much track and not enough industry. The railroads lost market share to trucks, and lost most passengers to cars and airlines.
Today, there are four mega systems left: BNSF and Union Pacific in the West, and CSX and Norfolk Southern in the East. Two big Canadian railroads also dip into the United States, and about 600 smaller railroads help link local shippers with the major railroads.
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6. Shrinking workforce
Railroads have been called the nation's first big business. At "peak railroad" in 1920, this industry employed more than 2 million people. It's how the population and the goods they bought moved around, before airports, interstate highways and the mass adoption of the automobile. The railroads ran steam locomotives, which took an enormous workforce to operate and maintain. A changeover to diesel power by the 1950s, along with other technological advances, let railroads eliminate jobs. Before the formation of Amtrak in 1971, freight railroads also staffed their own passenger trains. A more recent change in how railroads operate - called PSR, or "precision scheduled railroading," has consolidated trains and cut crews.
Railroads employ fewer people than ever before - but they're running longer and heavier trains. That has some employees saying safety margins have narrowed - with pressure to keep trains moving by hurrying through inspections. A typical freight train has two people onboard, compared to five in decades past. Adding to the strain are irregular hours and schedules that don't allow for paid sick leave like other jobs - something that almost caused a railroad strike near the end of 2022.
The rail trade group put the cost of a strike at $2 billion a day, endangering travel, critical supplies and commerce during the busy holiday season. Ultimately the Biden administration intervened in the labor strife between unions and companies, siding with the railroads to force a deal. And some of the big railroads will now offer paid sick leave.
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