OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has become the second major freight railroad in the past week to back away from the industry’s long-standing push to cut train crews down to one person.

The U.S. Supreme Court has invited the federal government to weigh in on whether state and local governments can regulate how long trains can block railroad crossings.

Trinity Industries has acquired RSI Logistics for $70 million, the company announced March 9.

Transportation committees on Capitol Hill are planning in-depth examinations of the circumstances surrounding the derailment this month of a freight train in Ohio.

Railroad workers are continuing their demand for paid sick days. The Sheet Metal, Air, Rail Transportation Union, or SMART, held an informational picket near the rail yard on Rice’s Point on the afternoon of Dec. 13.

Transportation stakeholders are applauding the action by Congress to avert a nationwide freight rail strike, just weeks before Christmas.

Moving quickly to help avert a rail workers strike that would have cost the national economy an estimated $2 billion per day, the U.S. Senate on Dec. 1 advanced a tentative labor agreement between railroads and their employees.

To avert a railroad strike projected to cost the economy $2 billion daily, the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 30 passed a bill outlining a labor agreement between rail carriers and workers.

The possibility of a nationwide freight rail strike beginning as early as Dec. 9 moved one step closer when the union SMART-TD, one of the largest in contract talks with the six Class I freight carriers, turned down a tentative agreement negotiated in mid-September by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and other officials.

The possibility of a nationwide freight railroad strike is increasing after another union turned down a tentative agreement that was negotiated in mid-September among the major Class I carriers, a management council and the Biden administration.