Class I Rails Cut Jobs to Decade Low

Class I railroad operations in the U.S. shed an additional 2,727 employees from mid-April to mid-May, putting rail employment at the major lines down to the lowest level in this decade.

The May cuts amount to the sharpest monthly reduction in rail employment so far this year, according to a report carriers file with the Surface Transportation Board. It is also the most severe monthly cut in rail payrolls since the recession got under way.

Click here to view the full report.

Although there may have been some springtime “green shoots” to suggest the freight downturn was nearing a bottom, job cuts were still gaining force in the industry as Memorial Day approached.

The STB report said the seven Class I carriers kept 151,536 U.S. workers, down from 154,263 at the same point in April and down by 7,875 from the 159,511 that railroads employed mid-January.

In mid-May 2008, those carriers employed 165,299, the largest number of that year.

BNSF Railway made the largest cuts in the latest reporting period, slicing over 1,000 jobs from its payroll to 37,203 at mid-May from mid-April’s 38,265.

Union Pacific Railroad went to 47,731 from 48,221. Norfolk Southern Railway ended with 28,318, down from 28,876. CSX Transportation had 27,507 at mid-May, a drop from 28,098 a month earlier.

Past filings with the STB show the previous low in Class I rail jobs for this decade was in January 2003, when they employed 152,442, but were ramping up hiring as they came out of a recession and slow-growth period.

The STB also compares rail employment through an index based on 1967 Class I rail payrolls. Under that system, the May job is down to 24.9 percent of the 1967 average, the lowest of the past decade and possibly the lowest on record.

The report has the largest railroads report their employment as of mid-month, because that captures the first full bimonthly payroll under a reporting system set up in the 1960s, an STB spokesperson said. Carriers must each file a physical report by mail before the end of the month, and the STB assembles the filings.

The agency does not verify the information, but the spokesperson said the carriers must attest to their accuracy. The numbers for an individual railroad may change not only based on layoffs or new hires but also depending on when they add or shed some properties such as short line spinoffs or acquisitions.