By David C. Lester, Managing Editor, RT&S Magazine; September 3, 2019
Since shortly after World War II, the number of people employed by the railroad industry has trended downward. Several years saw increases in rail employment. One example was the 2014 traffic boom, led by the explosion of crude-by-rail, which left freight trains sitting on mainlines because there were no crews to run them. Overall, however, rail employment has decreased from approximately 1.5 million in 1947 to about 140,000 today.
One prime factor in the decline of rail employment was the change of motive power from steam to diesel. The number of shop forces and operating personnel required to support the general use of steam locomotives was significantly higher than the numbers needed to service and operate diesels.