US braces for national railroad strike costing up to $2b-a-day and threaten supply chain chaos

Amtrak is canceling trips on several of its routes in preparation for a unprecedented strike by 60,000 railroad workers – a dispute that could lead to the first railroad strike in decades and likely hamper the country’s already entangled supply chain.

Starting Tuesday, the passenger rail agency is suspending service on three cross-country routes out of Chicago, going to San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest, and Los Angeles, respectively, Amtrak said in a statement Monday evening.

Service will also be disrupted for a route along a portion of one of those routes, the company said – between Los Angeles and San Antonio.

Calling the changes ‘initial adjustments’ made ‘in preparation for a possible freight rail service interruption’ later the week, the move from the passenger rail comes as many of America’s railroads have already stopped accepting shipments of hazardous and other security-sensitive materials due to the looming threat of a strike Friday.

The cancellations are intended to avoid potential disruptions should tens of thousands of freight railroad workers walk out while the lengthy trips are underway. 

The two railroad unions involved in the prospective strike currently in talks with railroad carriers are demanding more quality-of-life provisions be put into a contract for the coming year, covering attendance policies, vacation, and sick days.

A deadline by the unions has been set for Friday for the carriers to meet their demand – or they will strike.  

Amtrak workers were not among those in those contract negotiations – however, nearly all of the passenger service’s routes outside the Northeast run on tracks owned by freight railroads, meaning that a walkout could disrupt passenger service.

Compounding the crisis are burgeoning protests from tens of thousands of workers at America’s ports and hospitals, as they strike over low pay and staffing shortages amid a period of rampant post pandemic inflation.

The stakes, meanwhile, are high economically – with a full shutdown of the nation’s rail system set to cost $2 billion a day, industry experts estimate, and another blow to the already backed up ports spelling trouble for the country’s supply chain, which has yet to recover from backlogs sustained during the pandemic. 

‘These adjustments are necessary to ensure trains can reach their terminals prior to freight railroad service interruption if a resolution in negotiations is not reached,’ Amtrak officials said in their statement. 

The passenger railroad added that it is pulling trains on the three long-distance routes ‘to avoid possible passenger disruptions.’