Yesterday, President Biden's administration made contingency plans aiming to ensure deliveries of critical goods in the event of a shutdown of the US rail system. It is still appealing to the railroads and unions to reach a deal, hoping to avoid a work stoppage affecting freight and passenger service.
The potential shutdown, which could come as early as Friday, could stall almost 30% of US cargo shipments, increase inflation, impede supplies of food and fuel, cost the economy about $2 billion per day and cause big transportation problems.
Railroads including Union Pacific (UNP.N), Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKa.N) BNSF, CSX (CSX.O) and Norfolk Southern (NSC.N) have until a minute after midnight on Friday to reach tentative deals with three hold-out unions representing about 60,000 workers.
Source: reuters.com