Railway Age, 3/20/20
“Saving America”
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
A Union Pacific locomotive engineer based in the Pacific Northwest who had just received his notice of exemption from travel restrictions proudly told Railway Age Contributing Editor Bruce Kelly, “We’ve gone from building America to saving it.” This UP field employee in Train & Engine Service has embraced his railroad’s slogan, “Building America,” and his heartfelt statement takes it to a higher level—from motto to mantra.
That, dear readers, is what this industry is all about, and it goes beyond the role railroads have as a provider of essential services, freight and passenger. Indeed, it illustrates the resiliency, hope and solidarity that the world needs in order to deal with and vanquish the COVID-19 pandemic. It also illustrates that our industry will continue to do what it does best, moving products and people, while Wall Street weeps and wails, and hedge fund billionaires shaking with fear over trading in their Rolex watches for rattling tin cups filled with plugged nickels plead with Capitol Hill—under the self-delusion of genuine concern—to shut the nation down for 30 days, lest their stock portfolios evaporate. (Yeah, Mr. Ackman—remember him?—I’m talkin’ about you.)
But let’s not kid ourselves. The situation is dire. The world hasn’t faced a health crisis like this in 102 years, when the 1918 Flu Pandemic (“Spanish Flu”) infected 500 million people— . . .
SNIP
The underlying message here is that, regardless of pandemics and other “acts of God,” our industry will stay on the move. To do our jobs, we’ll have to add surgical masks, latex gloves, microbial wipes, bars of soap and bottles of hand sanitizers to the steel-toed safety shoes, safety glasses, reflective vests and hard hats we wear as Personal Protective Equipment. We’ll care for ourselves and for our fellow railroaders, but we’ll also care for the communities we serve. We’re ready to be pressed into service to deliver humanitarian aid, or turn rolling stock into rolling medical facilities that can be transported to anywhere our tracks go. We can deliver doctors and nurses and first-responders, as well as medical supplies. We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again, whatever it takes.