If labor unions and railroads don’t reach a deal by the end of Thursday, freight trains will come to a stop across the country, posing a major threat to the nation’s economy.
The first railroad worker strike in three decades looms as union and railroad leaders work out a new labor agreement, with a key sticking point over sick time.
According to the Association of American Railroads, 7,000 trains per day would be stopped across the country at a cost of more than $2 billion per day.
A massive disruption in rail transportation is likely to occur in less than 2 days’ time,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said Wednesday. “It’s tough to overstate the negative impact this will have.”
Cornyn said consumers will continue to see empty shelves at the grocery store, along with higher prices due to inflation and short supply.
The potential interruption to the nation’s supply chain comes as inflation is already at a near 40-year high.
“The rail strike, if it does happen, starting Friday morning at 12:01 a.m., it’s only going to escalate the problem,” Peter LeCody, president of Texas Rail Advocates, said. “If it can’t be shipped by rail, there aren’t enough trucks in the world that could get that product to market.”
LeCody said Texas has more rail miles and crossings than any other state in the country and most shipments that cross the country go through the Lone Star State.
A freight rail shutdown could lead to product shortages, he said.
“If shippers can’t ship the grain, you know, your cereal boxes may not be on the shelf. If chlorine can’t get to a water treatment facility for your city, you might have to boil water,” LeCody said.
Consumers could also end up paying more for gas and electricity, the Associated Press reported.
In Texas, refineries could be forced to stop production if they can’t receive deliveries. Petrochemical shipments going in and out of the Gulf Region could be halted and coal on its way to power plants could be stopped, according to Texas Rail Advocates.
Amtrak, which isn’t part of the labor discussions, is adjusting passenger service across the country, because many of its trains operate on freight rail tracks. Long-distance Amtrak service, which includes the three-times weekly route that connects Los Angeles and New Orleans through Houston, is suspended for Thursday. Amtrak said it would share service updates for Friday on Thursday.
Farmers and ranchers across the Lone Star State would also be impacted by a rail strike.
“An extended rail strike would make a very difficult year for Texas farmers and ranchers even more challenging. Supply chain improvements in recent months would be reversed. Fertilizer would be taken off the rails. Grain deliveries would come to a halt. There is no real substitute for transporting agricultural goods. We hope an agreement is reached to keep the trains moving,” a spokesperson for the Texas Farm Bureau wrote in a statement to KPRC 2.
The Texas Panhandle could be more drastically affected, where cattle feeding operations utilizing grain deliveries by rail would scramble for alternative deliveries, the Farm Bureau said.
Contract negotiations continued Wednesday but at least one union already rejected the deal, the Associated Press reported.
According to CNN, the Biden Administration is preparing contingency plans in case the strike moves forward.