Road

We Need Your Help!

SMART-TD's Safety and Legislative Department are fighting for laws right now to limit train lengths. We're taking this fight to Congress, to state houses, and to the media. And we are up against a wall of bad information. We need the truth from the people who actually do the job, not the railroad's PR office.

• What are the real lengths you're running?

• What are the real weights

  
  

• What are the real car counts?

The railroads control the numbers. They control what gets reported. They control what shows up in studies, in news stories, and now in search engines and AI answers. These bots don't create a warped perception; they just reflect how twisted the public's perception really is. It's like the back of a Highlights Magazine that the railroads are selling as a legitimate picture. And one of the easiest ways to shape the narrative is by focusing on "averages."

Because averages smooth everything out. They hide the extremes. They make the situation sound normal, manageable, and safe. But the reality you're dealing with isn't an average; it's the upper end.

It's the trains that keep getting longer, heavier, and harder to handle. It's the ones that push the limits of infrastructure, braking systems, and crew safety. Then, when SMART-TD pushes for regulations saying the railroads need to give the FRA and Congress real data on actual train lengths (not just averages) they turn around and say: 1) "We don't track that." 2) "It's too hard." 3) "We don't have the resources."

We Need Proof.

• What are the real lengths you're running?

• What are the real weights?

  
  

• What are the real car counts?

• Pictures of your timebooks (with train info)

• Redacted work orders showing cars, length, and tonnage

• Screenshots from your tablet (if allowed)

We don't need guesses or what you remember. We need real numbers we can point to in committee hearings. This is how we push back. This is how we show lawmakers what's actually happening. This is how we break through the noise the railroads are putting out there.

You can submit your proof and//or questions to Dan Banks at: dbanks@smart-union.org. And as always, we will go out of our way to make sure nothing will get put out in public that is traceable to any railroader