Newsletter: Spring 2026
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Human Resources
The 2026 Workforce Demand
By 2026, the railroad workforce problem isn’t a “recruiting issue.” It’s an operating constraint—showing up as longer outage windows, deferred maintenance, slower restoration after storms/derailments, and less flexibility to add trains or protect intermodal commitments when the network gets tight.
ATTRACT RETAIN TRAIN
A.R.T. at Cranemasters
How Does Cranemasters Attract • Retain • Train the Industry’s Most Skilled Rail Pros? It’s A.R.T. If you’ve spent any time in the rail industry, you know the truth: finding and keeping skilled people is one of the toughest…
CASE STUDY
Mansfield, Connecticut Derailment
On February 5, 2026, at approximately 9:08 AM, a freight train traveling from Palmer, Massachusetts to Willimantic, Connecticut derailed near Stafford Road (Route 32) in Mansfield, adjacent to Eagleville Pond and the Willimantic River.
Key Contributor Profile
A Cranemasters Journey: From Track Laborer to Track Department Manager
When Jerardo Garcia joined Cranemasters on May 13, 2019, he started at the ground level as a track laborer. Today, he manages the company’s Track Department in Candor, North Carolina.
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Executive POV
Skilled Hands Keep America’s Railroads Moving
America’s railroads are among the most powerful engines of economic growth in our nation’s history. Today they remain just as essential as they were when the first transcontinental routes were built. In 2023 alone, the U.S. freight rail industry generated…