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Amtrak train: Call for Congress
Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
The US rail operator Amtrak has suspended its passenger services because of the impending strike by freight railroads.
The company announced that all long-distance trains would be stopped from Thursday.
Amtrak is not directly involved in the industrial action.
However, the group operates almost all of its 33,800 kilometers of line outside the Northeast on track owned and maintained by rail freight operators.
The connections from the capital Washington to Sanford (Florida) and Pittsburgh as well as Chicago are affected by the failure.
Before the corona pandemic, Amtrak had around 4.4 million passengers on its long-distance trains every year.
Major rail freight providers such as Union Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern and BNSF, owned by investor legend Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, have until midnight on Friday to reach an agreement with three unions.
They represent around 60,000 employees and are demanding higher wages and better working conditions.
A shutdown could bring nearly 30 percent of US freight transportation to a halt.
Experts estimate the economic damage caused by a strike at around two billion dollars a day.
The impending strike could also be expensive for Amtrak.
The decision to suspend long-distance trains was "negative for the credit rating," according to the rating agency Moody's.
This affects “customer loyalty and sales, which will lead to higher operating losses”.
The consequences for Amtrak's creditworthiness are limited for the time being, however, since the company receives government subsidies.
Food, energy, auto and retail companies have called on Congress to intervene.
A blockade of rail traffic threatens many areas - from the supply of grain to the delivery of goods for the upcoming Christmas business.
Farm groups like the National Corn Growers Association said a walkout would cripple farm production and supply chains and exacerbate food price inflation.
Almost a quarter of US grain shipments are made by rail.
The first transports that were planned for this Thursday have already been cancelled.
"A key issue is ensuring the continued distribution of essential hazardous materials that depend on rail transportation, such as chlorine for water treatment plants," a US Presidential official told Reuters.
Rail operators stopped accepting consignments containing hazardous substances such as chlorine and fertilizer chemicals on Monday, lest they be stranded in unsafe locations should freight services be halted.
The energy industry, in turn, relies on rail to transport coal, crude oil, ethanol and other products.
mike/Reuters
