Association of American Railroads

As summer heats up with greater risk of wildfires, railroads prepare all-year round to protect communities and infrastructure. Union Pacific Railroad is stepping up with innovative solutions to safeguard against wildfires, including upgrading tanker cars and ramping up fire and weather-related response training.

Wildfire Prevention Is Union Pacific's Priority as Summer Heats Up As summer temperatures soar and dry, windy conditions increase, Union Pacific’s Engineering and Transportation team members are proactively preparing to protect the railroad’s infrastructure against wildfires.

📈 Did you see AAR released a new report called Rail Industry Overview (RIO)? The free resource provides expert insights on freight rail traffic and broader economic implications every month. Sign up to get it delivered automatically to your inbox at www.aar.org/RIO.

Rail Industry Overview - Association of American Railroads RIO is a brand new, free monthly publications that offers quick insights into what rail traffic tells us about today’s economy and where the data suggests it could be going. Download now.

🚂 WEEKLY RAIL TRAFFIC: AAR reports rail traffic for the week ending July 13, 2024. 👉 https://www.aar.org/news/weekly-rail-traffic-for-the-week-ending-in-july-13-2024/

📰 Get a deeper analysis of freight rail economic trends every month by signing up for RIO at http://aar.org/RIO

Railroads are laser-focused on their pursuit to make a safe network even safer. By investing in technology to better spot issues, railroads have doubled daily automated inspections since 2020.

AAR's Brenda Moscoso, AVP of Safety Policy & Analysis, details how railroads are driving innovation to get safer: https://www.aar.org/article/safety-in-motion-how-decades-of-technological-progress-makes-railroads-safer/

When temperatures soar, steel tracks adapt and potentially cause rails to pull apart or buckle, known as “sun kinks.” In a recent Grist.org article, experts at MxV Rail share the sophisticated technologies railroads use to keep trains safely moving.

Leveraging tech, including remote sensors and computer modeling, has helped reduce track buckling-related accidents on Class I mainlines by 52% from 2010 to 2021. Read more:

Taking a train during a heat wave? Watch out for 'sun kinks.' As tracks heat up, they expand and buckle. That's forcing rail operators to adapt as the climate warms.

Earlier this week, the T&I Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials held a hearing on California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) In-Use Locomotive regulation. America’s freight railroads have been fully on board with a safe and cleaner future. They are actively chugging ahead, investing billions back into their privately owned network to develop new technologies & partnerships to further reduce their 0.6% total GHG emission footprint.

We share the same goal as CARB - improve air quality and reduce emissions. However, CARB’s proposed rule for in-use locomotives will do more harm than good, namely:

🚫 disrupt the nation’s supply chain
🚫 force railroads to procure 100% zero-emission locomotives that do not exist
🚫 violate federal law.

We join members of Congress, nearly every industry sector and businesses nationwide in advocating for regulations that are lawful, reasonable & achieves our environmental goals without causing harm to get there. The team at Bloomberg made this point:

California May Break the Freight-Rail Network A well-meaning plan to reduce carbon emissions is likely to have the opposite effect — and could cripple the shipping industry.

It's here! In the new Signal, read about:

🔖 The new AAR Rail Industry Overview (RIO) with expert insights into what rail traffic tells us about the economy
🌡️ How railroads are beating the heat with new tech to keep trains moving safely
📰 Latest industry news

Read here: https://mailchi.mp/aar.org/rio-71124
Sign up for future editions: http://aar.org/the-signal

🚂 WEEKLY RAIL TRAFFIC: AAR reports rail traffic for the week ending July 6, 2024. 👉 https://www.aar.org/news/weekly-rail-traffic-for-the-week-ending-july-6-2024/

📰 Get a deeper analysis of freight rail economic trends every month by signing up for RIO at www.aar.org/RIO

OUT NOW: Today, AAR Policy and Economics launches a new monthly publication, Rail Industry Overview (or “RIO”). This complimentary resource offers concise insights into what rail traffic says about today’s economy and where the data suggest it could be headed.

AAR Chief Economist Rand Ghayad explains what recent freight traffic data shows and what the industry is seeing ahead. Explore the first edition of RIO and gain insights on today’s economic pulse based on certain freight traffic activity at www.aar.org/rail-industry-overview/

Building community resilience is an important part of railroads' holistic safety approach. Railroads work with local first responders to create emergency response plans. They also have dedicated police forces positioned along routes to monitor them 24/7. AAR.org/Safety

🇺🇸🎆 Whether you’re celebrating America’s birthday with fireworks or a road trip, stay safe and off railroad tracks. Always expect a train at any crossing. If you !

with Operation Lifesaver Inc.

🚂 AAR reports rail traffic for the week ending June 29, 2024. 👉 https://www.aar.org/news/weekly-rail-traffic-for-june-and-the-week-ending-june-29-2024/

📬Get a deeper analysis of freight rail economic trends by signing up for our free monthly Rail Industry Overview, delivered to your inbox 👉https://mailchi.mp/aar/rio-sign-up

Come rain or heat or tropical storm, America’s freight railroads are responding to today’s needs while strengthening infrastructure and operations to build an even more resilient network for the future.

Learn how freight railroads keep America moving during extreme weather events ↩️

Freight Rail & Climate Resiliency - AAR Freight railroads are strengthening their infrastructure and operations to build a network that can withstand climate-related hazards.

Rail is the safest way to move goods over land and railroads strive to get safer every day. By investing in technology to better spot issues, railroads have doubled daily automated inspections since 2020.

Read how railroads drive innovation to get safer➡️https://www.aar.org/article/safety-in-motion-how-decades-of-technological-progress-makes-railroads-safer/

Safety in Motion: How Decades of Technological Progress Makes Railroads Safer - Association of American Railroads Between 2020 and 2023 alone, U.S. railroads more than doubled the number of daily automated inspections. Today, railroads conduct over 3.5 million of these automated inspections daily.

Have you heard about SERTC? It's the industry’s leading hazmat response training facility where first responders receive immersive training. MxV Rail is expanding the center and developing real-world training grounds for first responders. https://sertc.org

DYK? U.S. railroads conduct over 3.5 million automated rail car inspections every day to identify equipment defects that the human eye can't. Learn about the detectors railroads use plus other advanced tech that's keeping a safe network even safer in our new Signal issue: https://ow.ly/q4lI50SrSM1

We are seeing positive trends in rail safety – and we owe much of this success to our dedicated and highly skilled railroad employees. Ensuring they return home safely at the end of every shift is our #1 priority. More in our safety white paper: https://ow.ly/iCV250QLcru

WEEKLY RAIL TRAFFIC: AAR reports rail traffic for the week ending June 22, 2024. 👉 https://www.aar.org/news/weekly-rail-traffic-for-the-week-ending-june-22-2024/

Railroads have made continued improvements to safeguard employees, the communities we serve, and the goods we move. Take a closer look in our white paper: https://ow.ly/iCV250QLcru

🔶Freight is among safest places to work
🔶Rail is safest way to move goods over land
🔶Mainline accident rate dropped 48% since 2000

☀️Beat the heat! As temperatures soar from NYC to Chicago, railroads are using advanced engineering to stay ahead. Discover their year-round efforts to modernize and strengthen infrastructure against extreme heat. More info here 👉 https://www.aar.org/issue/temperature-shifts/

A heatwave can put a kink in your plans. It can also impact train tracks. As climate change intensifies, railroads are updating infrastructure and equipment to handle hot temperatures and move goods safely without interruption. Learn more: https://www.aar.org/issue/temperature-shifts/

MUST READ: In Railway Age, AAR SVP of Safety & Operations shares how innovation and a strong culture is making a safe railroad industry even safer. He details tech, infrastructure improvements and training are part of an endless pursuit to get safer every day. Read it here: https://www.railwayage.com/freight/class-i/how-freight-rail-sets-the-benchmark-for-safety-standards-performance/