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CYBER

America’s Freight Train Drivers Are Exhausted and Overworked

CYBER

VICE

Tech News, News & Politics, Technology, News

4645 Ratings

🗓️ 19 April 2022

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Trains, trains, trains. You might not think of them very often but they make America run. Getting stuff from point A to Point B is more than a full time job. Our world runs on logistical supply chains that are supported, in large part, by freight trains.


But what happens if the people doing those jobs don’t get much sleep? What happens when the company running the trains implements systems that deprive its already weary workforce of much needed Zs?

 

This week on Cyber, Motherboard Senior Staff Writer Aaron Gordon is here to answer all those questions. 

Stories discussed in this episode:


‘The Worst and Most Egregious Attendance Policy’ Is Pushing Railroad Workers to the Brink


Amtrak Is Streaming an Empty Railroad on Twitch to Beef With Freight Rail Companies


‘What Choice Do I Have?’ Freight Train Conductors Are Forced to Work Tired, Sick, and Stressed


We’re recording CYBER live on Twitch. Watch live during the week. Follow us there to get alerts when we go live. We take questions from the audience and yours might just end up on the show.


Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Tadden, it's got the code it's going to launch.

0:10.5

It's a unit system.

0:13.0

I know this.

0:14.9

It's all the files of the whole park.

0:17.1

It tells her everything.

0:18.9

Sir, he's uploading the virus.

0:21.6

Eagle One. The package is being delivered. It tells her everything. Sir, he's uploading the virus. He'll one.

0:22.4

The package is being delivered.

0:25.6

Hello out there on the internet.

0:28.0

I am Matthew Galt, and this is cyber trains, trains, trains.

0:32.4

You might think of them, you might not think of them very often, but they make America run.

0:38.4

Getting stuff from point A to point B is more than a full-time job. Our world runs on logistical supply chains that

0:44.8

are supported in large part by freight trains. But what happens if the people doing those jobs

0:51.6

don't get much sleep? What happens when the company running trains implement systems that deprive its already

0:57.8

wary workforce of much-needed Zs?

1:01.1

Here to answer that question and talk about the American train situation is

1:05.4

Motherboard staff writer Aaron Gordon.

1:08.5

We're going through three of his stories today.

1:12.0

The first is the worst and most egregious attendance policy is pushing railroad workers to the brink. The other is what choice

1:17.3

do I have? Freight train conductors are forced to work, tired, sick, and stressed. And then if we

1:22.8

have time, we're going to get into a weird little beef about Amtrak and Twitch. So stick around for that.

1:29.0

Aaron, thank you so much for coming onto cyber. How are you doing today?

...

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