RAIL workers in the United States have blamed cost cutting for a massive freight train crash in Ohio’s East Palestine last week.
An inter-union alliance of rail workers said on Tuesday that the crash was a predictable consequence of Wall Street-backed policy decisions that have hollowed out the industry’s workforce, pushed remaining employees to chronic exhaustion and sacrificed safety for profits.
In an assessment of the Norfolk Southern train derailment, Railroad Workers United (RWU) wrote that “the root causes of this wreck are the same ones that have been singled out repeatedly and are associated with the hedge fund-initiated operating model known as ‘precision scheduled railroading (PSR)’.”
The crash in Ohio “has been years in the making,” the group said.
“What other such train wrecks await us remains to be seen. But given the modus operandi of the Class One rail carriers, we can no doubt expect future disasters of this nature.”
It said: “The PSR-driven carriers, driven to cut costs and crew time by any means necessary, cut corners and leave crews and the public at risk.”
Norfolk Southern, the product of a merger between Norfolk and Western Railway, announced a billion (£8.2bn) stock buyback programme last March and has consistently raised its dividend, rewarding shareholders while refusing to provide its workers with basic benefits such as paid sick leave.
The crash in Ohio last Friday forced many local residents to evacuate to escape a possible explosion and the release of toxic fumes from the train cars, several of which were carrying vinyl chloride.
RWU said on Tuesday that while many people in the area “were and remain evacuated, and property damage to both rail and non-railroad property will no doubt soar into the millions, we dodged a bullet as no rail workers and no track side residents were killed. This time.”