How much would a railroad strike cost the US?

Without freight rail, many U.S. industries would shut down. A strike would cause $2 billion a day in lost economic output, according to the Association of American Railroads, which lobbies on behalf of rail companies. Rail transports about 40% of the nation's long-distance freight and one-third of exports.



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The railroads, which haul about 40% of the nation's freight each year, estimated that a rail strike would cost the economy $2bn a day in a report issued earlier this fall.

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You read that correctly: Biden decided the broader economy was a bigger priority than 100,000 freight rail workers having any paid sick leave in their next contract. After campaigning as the most pro-union presidential candidate in history, Biden signed into law a measure that makes a rail strike illegal.

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what if the rail workers went on strike anyway? They could. But it would be illegal. John Brennan III, a former senior counsel for Union Pacific Railroad, told FreightWaves Washington correspondent John Gallagher in September that the rail companies could exert enormous pressure on striking laborers to go back to work.

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President Wilson issued an order for nationalization on December 26, 1917.

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The railroads estimated that a rail strike would cost the economy $2 billion a day in a report issued earlier this fall.

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The nation's supply of food could take a hit if railroad workers go on strike, driving up prices at the grocery store and limiting U.S. grain exports to countries facing famine.

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It wouldn't take long for the effects of a rail strike to trickle through the economy. Many businesses only have a few days' worth of raw materials and space for finished goods. Makers of food, fuel, cars and chemicals would all feel the squeeze, as would their customers.

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Energy and gas supplies will be disrupted Another major shock to the energy industry caused by a railroad strike would increase already high gas prices, which have only just started to come down.

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By 1900, much of the nation's railroad system was in place. The railroad opened the way for the settlement of the West, provided new economic opportunities, stimulated the development of town and communities, and generally tied the country together.

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By one estimate, the project cost roughly $60 million, about $1.2 billion in today's money, though other sources put the amount even higher. While the railroad's construction was a mammoth undertaking, its effects on the country were equally profound.

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Implementing high-speed rail will keep billions of dollars in the U.S. economy by decreasing the amount of oil that the U.S. consumes. According to the International Association of Railways (UIC), high-speed rail is eight times more energy efficient than airplanes and four times more efficient than automobile use.

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