LISTEN: Cassity Breaks Down Railroad Safety Act in Must-Listen Podcast

For railroaders who have spent years watching carriers put profits ahead of safety, SMART-TD’s National Safety and Legislative Director Jared Cassity delivers a message of cautious optimism in a recent appearance on America’s Work Force Union Podcast. In a wide-ranging interview released on June 9, 2026, with veteran labor broadcaster Ed “Flash” Ferencz, Cassity explains why the Railroad Safety Act represents one of the most significant opportunities in decades to restore common-sense safety standards to the rail industry and why the fight to get it across the finish line is far from over.

What Is the Railroad Safety Act and Why Does It Matter?

Drawing on lessons learned from his railroad career, the East Palestine derailment, and years of frontline experience representing rail labor, Cassity details how the legislation would address long-standing safety concerns that railroad workers have been raising for years. Among the issues discussed are stronger safety requirements, better use of defect detection technology, improved carmen inspection protocols, corporate accountability, and protections designed to ensure critical safety information reaches train crews when it matters most. He also highlights how the recent two-person crew (2-PC) rule is an important step forward, but only one piece of the broader reforms needed to make railroading safer for workers and the communities we serve.

Rail Labor vs. Railroad Lobbyists: The Fight Behind the Bill

Perhaps most importantly, Cassity pulls back the curtain on the ongoing struggle between rail labor and the powerful railroad lobby. As he explains, rail carriers continue to resist safety investments despite posting enormous profits, often viewing safety improvements as costs rather than necessities. The Railroad Safety Act seeks to change that equation by putting people ahead of quarterly earnings and preventing future disasters before they occur.

Brother Cassity also takes aim at one of the railroad industry’s most misleading and blatantly false arguments against the Railroad Safety Act: the claim that requiring two-person crews will increase shipping costs and drive up the price of goods on store shelves.

Will the Railroad Safety Act REALLY Increase Prices for Consumers?

As Cassity explains, that argument is a manufactured sound bite designed to scare the American public and members of Congress. We know freight trains are already operating with two-person crews today. The Railroad Safety Act does not require railroads to add a third crewmember to trains; it just protects the staffing levels that have long been recognized as necessary for the safe operation of freight trains.

The railroad industry’s argument depends on the public not understanding that reality. It is a calculated effort to convince consumers that a common-sense safety provision will somehow create new operating costs when the truth is that two-person crew language adds absolutely nothing to the railroads’ current labor expenses. NOTHING!

What does cost money? Derailments. Hazardous materials releases. Service disruptions. Infrastructure damage. Litigation. Environmental cleanup. Communities that are devastated by preventable accidents. Those are real costs facing the industry, and they are often the result of the same cost-cutting philosophy that SMART-TD and rail labor have been warning about for years.

Helpful Tip for Saving the Railroads Some Money

The carriers have spent an enormous amount of money fighting the Railroad Safety Act itself. They have financed advertising campaigns attacking the legislation, SMART-TD, and some of the other unions supporting it. They employ teams of lawyers, lobbyists, and consultants whose sole purpose is to block safety reforms and preserve policies that place profits ahead of workers and the public. The money spent opposing the Railroad Safety Act is absolutely real, unlike the mythical cost of complying with many of its commonsense provisions.

Cassity’s message is straightforward: if Americans see higher prices after the Railroad Safety Act becomes law, it will not be because Congress required railroads to maintain the crew sizes they already use today. Any such increase would be a choice made in corporate boardrooms by executives and hedge-fund-driven investors seeking to take advantage of Americans’ lack of understanding on the legislation and 2-PC.

Rail labor is not asking for special treatment. We are asking for common-sense safety standards that protect workers, communities, and the nation’s supply chain. The Railroad Safety Act is about putting facts ahead of fear, safety ahead of corporate talking points, and people ahead of stock prices. As railroaders, we know the industry’s track record shows they are more than happy to sacrifice the quality of life of their workforce and, in some cases, public safety itself in pursuit of ever-higher returns. Now, with these public scare tactics of literally blaming us, the railroad workers, for any future market inflation, they are obviously adding “the truth” to the list of things they are willing to sacrifice for that next quarterly earnings statement. The Railroad Safety Act represents an opportunity to begin correcting that course, and it can’t get signed into law soon enough!

Cassity’s message in this podcast is clear. The debate over the Railroad Safety Act is not really about cost. It is about priorities, and this union prioritizes safety. Unfortunately, the railroads prioritize safety only on their websites and in their propaganda campaigns. But for them, that is where safety stops being useful and becomes a burden.

SMART-TD Appreciates America’s Workforce Radio

In our fight to get the RSA across the finish line, we have been looking to bring our issues to the attention of everyone in the country willing to listen to reason. It’s especially critical in a world where the AAR and the Railroads are out there in the media, misleading the public about the affordability crisis nationwide.

That is why it is so valuable to have outlets like this podcast to get the real word out straight from workers who know what they are talking about and who have actual skin in the game We encourage our members to subscribe and follow America’s Work Force Union Podcast, and we hope to see SMART-TD voices featured on the program again soon.