Is it time to nationalize the railroads? Freight workers say yes

22 thoughts on “Is it time to nationalize the railroads? Freight workers say yes”

1. bring back Conrail

2. Mexico has revamped the rail and it is nationalized

3. The best argument for public ownership of RRs was put forth by Eugene Debs, as president of the America Railway Union, in the aftermath of the Pullman strike & boycott of 1894:
   "It is greatly preferable for the government to own the railroads than for the railroads to own the government."

4. Only an idiot thinks government bureaucrats can run a profitable, cost effective, railroad. The predictable government mismanagement would fall on the backs of taxpayers. Nationalization is a pathway to the failures of socialism.

5. They can't run the post office effectively. It's been at a loss for decades ! Nationalize the trains ? Hahahaha 😂

6. It’s been time..these narcissist never have the peoples best interest at heart when making decisions.we need to wake up and realize that!

7. "Is it time to Nationalize the US Railroad Network"

   The US Railroad Network has already been Nationalized once before. From 1887 to 1980 the United States Railroad Network was a fully nationalized entity under an organization known as the Interstate Commerce Commission, better known as the ICC. Under the ICC Railroad Infrastructure from cars, locomotives, and tracks was basically leased out to private operators in the same way the US Highway Network is to the states today. Under this era these organizations were barred from making a profit and were forced to operate under circumstances that hindered their ability to adapt with the changing times of the transportation world. These combined events ultimately lead us to the events of the June 1st, 1970, with the bankruptcy of Penn Central Transportation Company. It was because of the Bankruptcy of this organization that lead to the complete collapse of the industry in the United States. As a result of this collapse in the United States Government passed the "Staggers Act" of 1980 which was signed into law by US President Jimmy Carter, that for the first time in almost a century allowed denationalized the US Railroad Network and becoming Private/Public Corporations. It is because of this independence from the Government that allowed them to provide better service to customers and allowed them to adapt with the flow of the transportation world.

   This is not just a view that has been shared by the United States, other countries such as Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan have shared similar sentiment in privatizing their railroad industry. Mexico's Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, better known as the National Railways of Mexico, is a prime example of the benefits of Privatization. Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México which due to the corruption of the Mexican Government was hampered with poor track conditions, old equipment, and servicing areas of the country that were better suited for trucks. National Railways of Mexico was in such bad condition that they still used telegraphs up until the 1990s, barely tapped into 9% of the countries GDP, and didn't even get into doublestack train operation until 1990. After the FNM was privatized (As of 2022 its still being underwent) the Mexican Railroad Network has since replaced its telegraphy system with dispatcher and CTC, but now is moving 25% of the Mexican GDP by rail which is a massive increase.

8. As a TY&E employee and terminal manager for one Class I railroad and a network operations manager for another Class I railroad spanning twenty years experience I second this entire conversation completely!

9. Nationalize everything, it’ll just fall apart faster, and that what the Snowflakes want.

10. Yes they did. It seems that since as RR Workers they are by law not allowed to strike., that the government should make sure they are treated fairly.

11. Look at any other continental infrastructure and KNOW we are a half century behind the rest of the developed world. This two party system, manipulated by the MIC is going to continue warmongering and IGNORE the public transportation/freight situation as they are all flying in jets and copters and ?

12. Bunch of idiots behind this article. We already nationalized the railroads. The freight component became Conrail and the passenger service became Amtrak. Look how well that went. Matter of fact, most of Conrail's network is now owned by BNSF and NS.

13. Yes, we should nationalize the railroads.

14. People who think that it's "bad" to let the government control stuff are only repeating propaganda pushed by capitalists to make people BELIEVE that it's "bad," and haven't actually looked at the difference in quality and cost between public vs private. Private TEMPORARILY improves quality, but they are monopolies just like government, except that instead of being about providing a public service they are about PROFITS, so in every case everywhere around the world, as private monopolies gain dominance they start slipping on quality. But what about the price? Private is actually MORE expensive, but the user doesn't see it directly since the private monoplies of utilities and services get subsidized by the government…which means that you pay for the ticket to ride a bus or train AND you pay the taxes that pay for the company to keep their prices from skyrocketing…which they might do anyway, if they think they can get away with it.

    In terms of accountability, private has almost none to the public. The capitalist refrain of "people will vote with their dollar" is entirely meaningless when there is no other option. That's how monopolies work, and why businesses do everything they can to ensure that the government, whether big or small, can't legally compete with them…and why they destroy any smaller operations that try. Without that competition (according to rules that capitalist cite "makes capitalism work"), and without the REASONABLE ability of the public to hold an enterprise accountable when they need what is provided, then the venture can do as it pleases. Government operations AT LEAST have some accountability to the public via elections (which is a double-edged sword, but it's SOMETHING), but private enterprises have even less. Capitalists DO NOT WANT COMPETITION. It is NOT in their best interest because it decreases the profits that get sent to those at the top (boss, CEO, shareholder etc), which is what "efficiency" actually means to a capitalist; more profit at less cost to the boss, and screw everyone else.

    And then look at the double-edged sword of elections. Right wingers who want privatization do everything they can to MAKE SURE that government-run operations fail so that they can say "see? The government is incompetent, and only private ownership/control can make it all better!" This is PRIVATE CAPITALISTS FORCING THE GOVERNMENT TO FAIL SO THAT THEY CAN GET MORE BUSINESS, but that's something that the common capitalist supporter refuses to really look at, or when pressed actually use that to SUPPORT their arguments that government is bad and private is good (because if it's so easy to make an operation do poorly by sabotaging it through elected officials, then obviously it's not "safe" or "a good idea" to let the government control things. It's victim blaming to heavily benefit the victimizers rather than hold them accountable for what they've done, especially since the same people would/do insist that there be LAWS AGAINST DOING THAT KIND OF SABOTAGE TO PRIVATE BUSINESSES…unless it's via a private equity firm, apparently, because then it's just capitalism).

    As a socialist, the argument that we should nationalize any industry is both good and bad. Socialism is NOT about nationalization of industry, but about turning over control and ownership to the working people themselves by transitioning from top-down controls (private or state) to common democratic control (not "1 person 1 vote," because that's just mob rule…including when it's used to elect the person(s) who will rule the mob. Democracy requires discourse to work out problems and solutions, build compromises, THEN vote, and revisit the issue as necessary. Voting is only one small step in democracy, but it's the one everyone seems to focus on as being democracy itself). That doesn't just mean worker cooperatives, though. That means that the workers within the business control the business to a large extent, but that they also participate in COMMUNITY democracy because businesses DO NOT exist separate from any community, nor do they have no influence or impact on them. Living and working communities are intertwined, so the method of regulating and controlling businesses and communities should be intertwined. Not by the state, but directly through common democracy by the people of both communities, living and working. That, not nationalization, is what socialism is designed to accomplish.

    Nationalization is nothing more than a tool to combat the worst aspects of capitalism (since we no longer have feudalism to deal with) in preparation for such a transition to common democratic control. Unions as well are nothing more than tools to combat the worst aspects of capitalism. A lot of socialists either never realized these things or often lose sight of the goals and intents behind the actions/demands.

    There are countless arguments that capitalists make to justify their beliefs in capitalism, even if that means regulating it or "only nationalizing some industries," so it's really impossible to break them all down in a youtube post. All of them come from a position of ignorance (willful or not) or intentional dishonesty (the ones who know the truth but want to profit from the lie), not because the people making them haven't read anything, but because they haven't really don't want to look at anything that proves their positions wrong. For instance, many of them still push the "tragedy of the commons," not knowing or caring that it was nothing but an untested, unobserved thought experiment that was debunked thoroughly by Elenor Ostrom and her colleagues. All they know are the common narratives which are fabricated and pushed by capitalists because anything that contradicts that narrative has been systematically attacked so that people don't even think about looking.

    Nationalizing the rails would be good for the U.S., but it is unlikely simply because the U.S. is an ultra-capitalist neoliberal society brainwashed over many generations to reject anything contrary to those ideologies/systems. Without a significant change in that regard, nationalization will not be realistic (Republicans will do everything they can to make sure such efforts fail, just like they're doing with the USPS, just like they have done countless times to countless laws…and Democrats will help them because both parties serve the same capitalist interests first and foremost). There are options to make changes, but the most effective one (community organizing to create "dual power") is not something you can just vote for and expect someone else to do the work, because if you want MEANINGFUL change it has to come through ACTIVE PARTICIPATION in forcing the change. Many don't have the time, which you can thank capitalism's monopolization of your time for, or the inclination, which you can thank neoliberalism atomizing society for, to do anything but cheer from the sidelines…and that needs to change, or nothing will.

    When Kari keeps saying "the government, the public," people need to be aware that THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT THE PUBLIC. The government is ABOVE the public, AUTONOMOUS of the public. Framing government ownership as "public" ownership is just outright dishonest. The public is more like minority shareholders vs the bourgeois majority shareholders, and the government is just the CEO.

15. Let's make the freight trains run like AmTrak. Are you F@#king insane.

16. The only version of nationalization that will be beneficial would be the public ownership of the infastructure as recommended. Operate it in the same way the FAA manages air travel. This would allow the public to manage safety concerns without having to take over the costos of total ownership. It would also lower the cost of entry for other rail services and would improve access for passenger rail.

17. Thanks. Excellent Coverage of Dying USA rail network

18. No to nationalizing yes to increased regulation and oversight

19. Nationalize the oil companies and utilities cut congress perquisites put term limits on them.

20. This is one reason why I became a independent socialist and do not vote for either party with only a couple of exceptions

21. Now we know the reason behind all the magical train derailment. Looks like a set up to me.

22. the nation's first general strike was initiated by railroad workers… maybe we need to do that again?

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