Why Chicago’s Rail Hub Is So Vital to the National Economy | WSJ
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- Опубликовано: 18 дек 2022
- In recent years, the city’s railyards have seen severe bottlenecks as the supply chain choked up nationally.
With $3 trillion in goods traveling through Chicago every year, the city is the busiest rail hub in the U.S. WSJ breaks down how important rail is to the region, and how vulnerable the system is to a work stoppage like a strike. Illustration: Adele Morgan
#WSJ #Rail #freight
Every American economy news story:
“This is the most critical part of this network. Pretty much the whole country relies on it running at all times. Also the workers are paid five cents per day and get one day off per decade. For some reason, the workers are unhappy.”
😂 so true
@@rustydawgt Bugatti
GIVE THE RAIL WORKERS THEIR SICK DAYS AND A PAY RAISE
5 whole minutes of rail discussion and not a single voice from an actual rail worker. This video is trash.
They got a VERY nice raise and a bonus.
@@johniii8147 What? $12 an hour?
@@johniii8147 They make $24 an hour which is only 45k a year. You want to live on 45k a year and try to raise kids?
@@Fellowtellurian The average wage in the industry is $30.00 an hour. Like any profession will vary by position. And the then their is the pension that virtually no other industry still offers. Any job entails it's sacrifices.
Here’s a great idea just pay and treat workers, as they should be treated with value!
That is the logical and sensible way to go. Keep your workers happy by treating them as valuable assests. But that's not how they think. Their only focus is PROFIT!
And cut train sizes. Since they have made them longer. More derailments have happen
Agreed
And then when that's not enough, then what ? Give them more ?
@@corcaightowner8881 You don't understand how economics work. Pursuing profit also benefits workers.
As a long-time Chicago resident, I can personally attest to how frequently our lives are disrupted by trains passing through. It’s almost comical how often we’ll be trying to get to school or home but are held back by the trains. Attending a school where the sports fields were literally right next to the tracks was also an experience. 😂 But I never realized how lucky we are to have so many railway lines running through our suburbs and so many options for Amtrak travel!
Ya'll need grade separation in your neighborhoods.
That’s why I always say Chicago is the place to be if you are a railfanner! There are trains everywhere!
@@jackchen7003When I first moved to Chicago. As a railfan, I told all my friends back east “This place is the Mecca of railroads”
Another type of ‘track and field’
@@UnReal31337 That would cost billions
The Chicago railroad expert guy with the glasses is exactly what I would expect a Chicago railroad expert to look and sounds like, and he is awesome.
You should have paid your rail workers there should be a wildcat strike.
The nation shouldn’t go through a recession because of a few unions not getting what they want.
No one’s jobs should be lost because someone else’s job isn’t paying enough.
It’s not just black and white
Wow, I had no idea how important these people are to the economy... sounds like they should be paid more and have as many paid days off when their sick as they want. They deserve it and the system would run better that way.
Chicago’s rail yard is unmatched, but people sleep on KC as well, which is the second largest.
The Midwest really runs this country and the quality of life for people on either coast would not exist without the agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics that exist in the heartland.
Don't tell the coastal elitists that. They'll call you stupid and call the Midwest "flyover territory".
I don't know about that California has pretty direct access to cheap goods from Asia and the most agriculturally productive state in the union I mean the thing we need most is oil really
@@jnieto490 Comparing one state to a region is pretty different.
As a state, California is quite superior. There is a reason it could have the 5th highest GDP of any nation in the world.
However, it’s access to Asia is only as good as how globalized of a society are and how good our logistics network is in the middle of the country to get those goods to the 60% of the population that lives on the other side.
What my comment brought up is that the backbone and foundation of the economy in the US, with manufacturing, agriculture, and logistics, comes from the Midwest. This allows for the larger innovation, urban living, etc. to exist on the coasts.
@@emersonB28 Exactly. That’s why I said people don’t realize it.
Chicago and KC? Nah, try North Platte, NE. You city folk (Midwestern or otherwise) are sleeping on what even you would call fly over areas.
Chicago seems to have been a city that rose to prominence *BECASUE* of the railroads. Interesting to see that hasn't changed.
Not just the train, it was the Chicago river is how Chicago rose. Where goods could came through New York up the Erie Canal, through the Great Lakes to Chicago then down the Mississippi River to the golf of Mexico. Rail came after, being it was already a midway hub between the east and west it only made sense that rail pass through here.
Very true. It was briefly mentioned in the video but Chicago's economy is incredibly diverse. The city just keeps chugging along no matter what.
If you want to avoid a strike, give your workers sufficient wages and appropriate time off! Congress needs to legislate bans on 2-mile-long trains so that these things can actually happen
Why ban 2mile long trains? Its better for the environment and saves money. Do you want to pay more for shipping ? This would affect offline retail prices as well
Its not the extra long trains that are an issue, it's that an industry that is extremely profitable has been reducing their staff per cargo so aggressively that the workers can't live normal lives.
@@letsburn00 yes , freight rail is quite profitable, suprised that they are intentionally understaffed
@@johnsamuel1999 When you look a the rail workers demands, pay is fairly minor. The way they are treated is basically massively worse. They want to get back to the 90s or early 2000s basically in terms of staffing. Or even basic stuff like paid sick leave, which isn't exactly mad. Especially in an industry where you're working shifts and dealing with random team changes constantly.
@@letsburn00 exactly
I recently learned that commercial railway in america is thriving it is one of the best, which surprising when you look at the public transit side of things.
Commercial railway is actually the biggest reason why companies like Amtrak, the private yet government-funded railway company, are not able to have reliable service in most parts of the country. The reason being is that these railways are owned by freight railway companies, not Amtrak, so Amtrak trains don't have priority on these tracks, the freight trains do. This causes delays due to having to wait for the freight trains. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only place Amtrak owns its own track is in the Northeastern United States, which also happens to be the United States only major commuter railway network with its only operational high-speed line (the Acela), and the Northeastern lines are literally the only lines that are actually profitable for Amtrak (I guess part of it can be attributed to the Northeast corridor being comparable in population density to Europe which may make it even more profitable, but it definitely helps that Amtrak owns their own track there).
Luckily there are more companies popping up in states like Texas and Florida that are building public transit-oriented rail between their cities which is nice, and California uh... is taking a lil time with theirs but hopefully, they get it done soon LOL
@@osamabinladenssecondgirlfr4241 LOL the username i made video about him in fact 3.
@@TheLongIslanderYT That is true this was some what a shocker when i learned that the tracks are owned by the companies. Back in india the government owns the track and you can operate on it. Which would make things so much better out here.
The companies themselves are thriving. There is still a lot of unused potential, but the shareholders are more important.
No it's completely overrated. We have a big rail network, we don't have a good one. The only thing our rail infrastructure is good for is making their owners rich. It's terrible at providing quality service.
Lived in Chicago and the suburbs my whole life, and haven't ever lived any more than a few minutes at most from a railroad. Really shows how widespread the railway system is here.
Containers landed here in Halifax, NS from Europe a lot of them are headed to Chicago.
It really is the inland destination for freight. Chicago IS the center of the continent.
Sounds like it's pretty critical to give those rail workers their sick days and pay raise.
Just give them paid sick leave for dear's sake
If it’s so vital, hire more staff and pay the workers better
They'd rather avoid paying more crews. If they really wanted to improve service, they would simply hire a 24yo like me, with no qualms. Instead they'd rather hire more +40yo's and work their upcoming retirees to death.
Im at the exact halfway point between NY City and Chicago, I see many of those trains every day where I am at (35 miles south of Buffalo)
Workers deserve actual decent pay, sick days and the respect they deserve for keeping the country humming. Also if we had high speed rail things would be so much more efficient…
As a German I am fascinated by the US railway system. It's completely different from our system over here. But when it comes to strikes it's the same 🙈
US railway accidents happen more frequently than plane accidents(aviation incidents). RISKY!
american urban metros are cool and some of the oldest in the world but suffer from poor funding as most of it ends up in useless public-private partnerships
As an American many others and I wish we could have a passenger rail network like yours. Instead we are left with Amtrak.
Our freight network is one of the most extensive and impressive in the world, but I wish we had a passenger train system like Europe does.
Only 0,92% relway electrification in usa. In Jerman is 55,38%. In Russia is 51,17% relway electrification
Jesus christ, how many times are we going to see reports like this where a huge crucially important part of our supply chain is at risk because some companies are mistreating their staff, only for us to forget about it in a week??
Sad that there is no mention of the rail workers and their companies treatment of them when discussing this issue.
Don't want more strikes? Pay a decent wage then. Typical WSJ.
you'd think this is common sense
It's not even about wages at this point. It's about rail companies wanting to keep labor costs low by not hiring more workers. Workers just want more days off and sick days. Unpaid sick days is what this all about and the companies can't even provide that.
Its was not the job the Congress to stop a railroad strike. This should have been left to private market forces. This was a gross overreach of government power.
I was, and your right,my navy buddy works for bnsf and hates them.
pay yours workers then.
my mom worked in the late 90s in the loop and when that big storm hit,
she bought Chinese foods, movies, and the three of us (my mom, sister and I) had a wonderful weekend :)
Here in New Haven Indiana... they go to St. Louis, Chicago....we get ALOT of trains...ALOT.
Passenger train, if not then airlines will lobby, even when they're being offered to buy controlling national carrier monopolies essentially. Just greed can't see the future but looking at it.
It's a shame some developing countries have faster commuter trains than we do.
Chicago has had 'plans' to eliminate rial bottlenecks for decades. They never do it. It's just glossy brochures and marketing.
Bottlenecks create shortages and monopolies, which are opportunities for kickbacks and economic rents.
The CREATE series of projects is absolutely vital for boosting the speed and capacity of national freight traffic and regional passenger travel (and to a lesser extent, national Amtrak network).
I feel like the proximity to the Mississippi River, the fertile midwestern agricultural states and being right on the Great Lakes were many of the reasons that Chicago grew into such an important logistics hub. That and it's geographic location in relation to the huge population of the north east states was a perfect recipe for Chicago to grow into one of the largest metropolitan cities in the country as well as it's biggest transportation hub.
lol we need more unions so people can get what they deserve instead of corporations suppressing unions....the only way anything gets done is by a real threat of a strike which would take money out of the riches pockets. Otherwise they'll just hire a replacement worker...
I used to work at the CP bensenville yard. Lot of freight through there.
Chi-raq is a major hub for many railroads, I used to work for u.p at proviso!!
As a Chicago train spotter, I’ll tell you rn that recently railroads have been slowly getting back up but then they do something that just pisses us off.
There was NO worry in Illinois over the trains stopping operations ... No way that will ever come to a stop.
Congress sold out the railroad workers. I thought democrats were for the working class? I guess not. US pilots support the railroad workers of the United States and we stand with you in a strike. Go get what you deserve.
democrats own the media of the working class, thats pretty much it, just branding
Demonratz 4 *ILLEGALZ*
Yeah, not cool 3 paid sick days to not only take care of yourself but your wife & children as well. Worse is that these rail companies have regional monopolies so it's not like you can get a rail job in a neighboring town if you get fired for having too many sick days. Maybe the rail companies should have been broken up.
Amtrak needs it's own private train routes that doesn't share track space with slow cargo since it's not like the trains can go down alternative road routes or fly through the air to avoid other trains. Rail built America so it would be nice if we could gain half-way decent passenger train service.
@@jmd1743 Better yet just nationalize the infrastructure....like we did for every other mode of transportation.
@@travisbeagle5691 It's quite the opposite. Other modes are not "nationalized" to nearly the degree of railroads. The entire reason congress could step in on the contract is they have ultimate control of the railroads established back in the 1930s
Support the rail workers !
I love how it goes into the fact that strikes happen but doesn't go into why the strikes happened. Things workers you talk about do have justified reasons.
500 freight trains and 800 passenger trains a day, and yet passenger trains are the ones that have to stop to let freight trains go by. This is why we need to nationalize our rail system. We need to look to other countries with nationalized system and see how they are able to prioritize passenger rail with minimal effect on freight.
Wait till you hear about how bad it is in Canada
Seriously dude you don’t want government running railroads. See Amtrack
@@kaseyc5078 Amtrak is better than everything privat rail companies provide. Amtrak was created to bail them out. Governments are the most efficient and basically the only once capable to run things like Highways, railroads, the military, fire departments and healthcare. Private businesses are useless for these basic needs because they are only out to make profit and discard everything and everyone else. Nobody would vote to privatise the Interstate Highway system either but here we are with fractured 3rd world railroad infrastructure
You're right but I think that ship has sailed. Feels like we'll never a solid passenger train system like EU or Japan here in USA. Cars and airplanes for us I guess
Freight train lengths can be 5,000 to 14,000 feet long and 100 cars or more. Passenger trains are maybe 6-12 cars long. To use number of trains distorts the true scale of freight moving by rail through Chicago.
Thank god we stopped the rail strike, people were almost paid a good wage
I wonder if politics was a factor in killing the proposed railroad bypass around Chicago a few years ago?
America needs more rail
passenger maybe. Freight just needs changing
@@romanrat5613 nationalize!
it certainly does. cars dont make sense in cities especially
Chicago's Metra is bad even by American standards. Horrible off peak frequency, outdated cars and stations that hamper average speeds, poor integration with CTA.
Even the CTA, which is pointed to as one of the few good urban rail systems in the US, has so much work to do. A crosstown line or outer half loop line away from downtown that connects all the radial rail lines would unlock tons of new trips and promote polycentric development in the WFH era. Ideally, this outer half loop would be designed like Line 15 of Paris with full automation and high off peak frequency, seamless transfers, wider stop spacing for a high average speed.
The leverage of a strike should NOT have been infringed upon. Totally disagree with your point of view, given the profitability of the railways and the meager sick time and reduced staffing levels of railway workers. A crisis was “a terrible thing to waste”.
Nationalize the railroads! pay workers right! Give them at least a week of sick time, and home time! and update everything! to work in all weather! (and electrify the network)
Solidarity with rail road workers :)
The ghost of Stobe the Hobo directed me here
IT'S A CITY THAT'S EXCITING IT'S A CITY THAT'S INVITING IT'S A CITY FOR A WOMAN JUST LIKE MEEEE
God, I love trains!
This is exactly why the rail workers' strike should have proceeded.
3 trillion dollars? Dang
Yuuhhp
I really hate how all of the media output on the rail issues in the US focus on the economy and not the people that are being ground to nubs to make that economy work. The issue isn't even the sick time, it's that the 4 companies that run basically all of the major rail freight movements in the US decided to eliminate so many employees from their payroll that they literally do not have enough people to fill in for when someone calls in sick. That's why it happened. THAT'S WHY. But lets just focus on the money, as usual, because we have no culture and we barely have any humanity left.
Very interesting! And we still think that 🇺🇸 is all about 🚛✈️, and here we are 🇩🇰😄
cities are very different environments compared to suburban/rural america. still - even chicago's metro is in dire need of expansion.
America is so rural even NYC has only 8 million people, that ain’t bad but can we add a extra 2 millon with expansion and can we actually finish WTC
@@MrRobertRue 8M is not "only" thats a crapton of ppl, and 83% of ppl in the US live in Metro Areas
@@MrRobertRue yes the rest of the nation is sparely populated. South Korea is small and densely populated like many European and Asian countries/cities
@@Racko.
Moscow has 10 million people and St. Petersburg which historically used to be a port has 2-5 million people. My main complaint is most rural areas don’t have much development, and most rural areas want to enact laws on the majority because of course representative areas which some just have around 100,000 people, Just look around indiana. the reason I bring up Russia is because they have a couple major cities, St. Peter’s burg and moscow and nova grad, plus you can include novobrisk. The pinnacle of development has stopped for some major cities, and minor cities and you can truly see the comparison I just have a fanasty where it was the same.
"We made the strike illegal, what are you gonna do about it?"
*Everyone puts in their two weeks and cash out*
*Everyone now knows how brutal are the rail road conditions*
*Nobody is willing to work for those wages*
CEO Hivemind: "NObOdY WaNtS TO wOrK ANyMorE!!1!1!1!"
This was, of course, before the railway was shutdown by derailment
turn it up
That is exactly why the rail workers deserve better benefits and conditions. If congress aren't working in the interest of these workers. The rail workers should strike anyway
Whole lotta yards to tag!
on the express economy!
I wonder how the rails and economy are doing right now given the current Blizzard in Chicago and much of the Midwest.
HIRE employees!
METRA!!!!
Southside representing
Hitting Illinois with a Nuke, would be the equivalent of a US Heart Attack. The rails, The Aviation, the Financial hub, the Nuke plants. One thing about being Ground Central, I won't feel a thing. It would over in a flash.
Executive summary:
Chicago used to matter, but the railroads are physically stuck where they are.
If only we had more passenger rail
It’s Chicargo not Chicago
Maybe dont have two separate rail yards that require trucks to load and off load between them
the trains come from Compton, California or San Bernardino. Before that, the containers come from Long Beach or San Pedro. Before that, they come from China predominantly.
Addendum: AS far as that southern hub location goes; it should NOT be in an area that could be disrupted by hurricanes. It should inland far enough to at worst have an occasional Tropic Low or Tropical Storm to contend with. It should also not be in a seismic zone ( sorry MEMTN and St.LoMO, but New Madrid rules you out.). If I had to pick a spot, I would have to say , somewhere in the NE quadrant of Texas, or DFWTX itself. Prime location as it is the midway point east and west, far enough inland to not be effected by tropical weather, and solid ground from seismic activity. There is the possibility of tornadoes , but those are rare, and more pin point rather than wide spread such as hurricanes , and earthquakes. I am sure that Chicago won't be in the mood for sharing this logistical volume, but the overall Common Good of the US Logistical system DEMANDS that TWO mid point hubs be in service should the one fail.
This video didn’t mention much on the rail to air connections vital in Chicago and other nearly cities which are an easy drive away. The manufacturing, agriculture and other transit connections in or near Chicagoland is enormous, no city in the South is even close.
As Chicago is the continental rail hub of the US, may I suggest that Chicago is the ideal place to start having a high speed network linking the windy city with the near cities in the US Midwest and Canada? Chicago-Milwaukee, Chicago-Mineapolis, Chicago-St Louis, Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati, Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland, Chicago-Toledo-Detroit then onto Canada, Chicago-Des Moines-Omaha, etc.
Yea those ideas were floating under the Obama administration but was hard to get everyone on board.
That wouldn’t be possible because it would cost a lot of money. And all the tracks are owned by Freight railroads which obviously would not approve high speed rail on their tracks
@@jackchen7003 @Jack Chen High speed rail is incompatible with freight. New dedicated lines had to be built. High speed tracks need to be straightened with wide curves only. Curves are not a major problem for long and heavy freight trains. On the other hand, high speed tracks can have a steeper gradient as high speed trains are more capable of coping with terrain slopes than freight trains. Anyways, what is the issue for the richest country in the world to start building high speed railways around Chicago?
Trolls always appear when there's a single crossing. Best to build another bridge.
You’re welcome
Why is Chicago a single point of failure? Why can't St. Louis be an alternate hub?
Because St Louis isn't a transfer hub between Los Angeles and New York City like Chicago is.
Wait, you mean to tell me it’s the rail workers that keep America & our economy running! It turns out it’s not the truck drivers, warehouse workers, or consumers! Whaaaat! Before you get your panties in a bunch , let’s have a grown up and civil conversation.
The rail workers' efforts depend on the truck drivers for last mile connections. It's called a transportation system.
@@eriklakeland3857 I completely agree, it’s a transportation system. But why make one more important than the other? I often hear and see comments of one being more important than the other. For example. Why is the warehouse worker that loads all of the merchandise onto the truck not as important as the driver? What folks fail to realize is that we are all interdependent. I drive trucks for a living, if cold storage has no one to load the trucks, what merchandise will I carry? If consumers don’t purchase, what will the warehouse worker load? Something to think about.
@@ramonnunez915 ah, I see what you are getting at with the big picture thinking and agree.
@@eriklakeland3857 exactly and I appreciate the civil short conversation.
Respectfully, it's journalistic malpractice to discuss the effects of a strike and what congress' action averted without even giving lip service to the arguments of the union.
They settled
Veiw from kentucky with felix.
Chicago rail glowplugged not so vital.
Line would go down so we cannot give people fair working condtions.
TODOS LOS QUE NO DENUNCIARON ESTE GENOCIDIO SON CULPABLES TODOS ES TODOS.
Me who’s seen the maps: YOU DON’T SAY-
Chicago does logistics
Well, those passenger trains are like still half empty.
We don’t run good service what do you expect?
@@qjtvaddict commuting downtown is way down in volume compared to pre-covid days. Downtown shops and restaurants are dying. So are the office buildings.
Here's an idea - make working in railroad operations a good job. Employees are run ragged and have no life. Who would want that job?
any electrified lines over there?
there are plenty of lines, manly southside that are electrified
In the Chicago area, there are only two electrified commuter railroads. The Metra Electric, which goes to South Chicago, and the South Shore Line which goes to Indiana
@@jackchen7003 Metra Electric should be brought up to rapid transit standards. It is embarrassingly underutilized.
@@eriklakeland3857 The stations are extremely close to each other and the schedules are really inconvenient, it should really be converted to a light rail
why? it is railways
Low paying jobs in shipping ! 3pl
Im from chicago south side, and I hoped the rail workers could strike. They deserve their rights too
American media genuises discover that there is a real world, and there are these things called trains, and that they are important to the economy. Wow, what will the media learn next?
JB Hunt
Local economy, more like national/international. Democrats went against unions when they realized they might get blamed for holiday disaster if freight went on strike.
No wonder snowpiercer departs from Chicago
Wow.
And here i thought trains were made just to toot those awesome train horns
We need to upgrade our train systems in the United States they are still using 1940s technology
Not necessarily upgrades(we’ve already been doing that), but more regulations and better tax policies are necessary
This is very accurate
Near I blovk
They just wanted sick days.
If we wanted to avoid a rail strike Biden should have given them the sick days they asked for. Or the rail bosses. I'm ready to donate to the strike fund should they go for a wildcat strike.
🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠
Outsiders better stop playing with Chicago, because we shut everything down if we want 😂
Because it's the only city where all the Class I meet together
Sounds like things are entirely TOO centralized to ONE place- ONE point of failure.
Maybe spreading things out and NOT having a single point of failure would be better.
here comes a recession
I pray not.