Why Railroad Capacity Is Tightening in 2026

Episode 17 of The Supply Chain Economy digs into an overlooked bottleneck in the goods-movement network: U.S. railroad capacity. Hosts Lucas and Luna explain how a decade of cost-cutting, Precision Scheduled Railroading, and reduced investment have left the Class I railroads with less slack than many shippers realize. They walk through the specific math: train-crew shortages are adding 8 to 12 hours to transit times on key corridors like Chicago to Los Angeles, and car-turn times have lengthened by nearly 20 percent since 2020. The conversation connects this to the broader industrial-production data released this week—factory output is up, but if railroads can't move the goods, the manufacturing recovery hits a speed limit. Lucas points to the tension between the railroads' high operating ratios (below 60 percent for the big four) and the shipper complaints piling up at the Surface Transportation Board. The episode closes on whether the next wave of automation—think autonomous locomotives or digital intermodal platforms—can break the logjam, or whether the industry is headed for a regulatory showdown. #RailroadCapacity #ClassIRailroads #UnionPacific #BNSF #PrecisionScheduledRailroading #FreightRail #SupplyChain #Logistics #ManufacturingRecovery #IndustrialProduction #SurfaceTransportationBoard #TrainCrewShortage #Intermodal #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #SupplyChainEconomy #GoodsMovement Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo