Additional Resources


Our Class I partners are also busy responding to the crisis. Below are some examples about how they are communicating to customers and shareholders.

BNSF COVID-19 Response

Have a story to share about how your railroad is responding? Contact Amy Krouse, VP Communications by emailing akrouse@aslrra.org.

Helpful Hints for Railroad Entities in Managing Operations During COVID-19 Pandemic

  • For any railroads with personnel operating in an area of the country that is under mandatory quarantine or partial “lockdown”, the ASLRRA and AAR can provide you with a letter that will serve as necessary documentation and allow critical employees to travel to and from work and continue to do their job. Please contact Jo Strang or JR Gelnar for assistance.

UP COVID-19 Response

  • Railroads are part of the critical infrastructure of this country:
    • Transportation is considered Emergency Service Function (ESF)-1 by the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
    • DHS notes the "Transportation Systems Sector" as one of the 16 Critical Infrastructure Sectors in the country. We are working with the DHS to make sure that railroad workers are included when they provide guidance to states and localities on this subject.
  • Consider creating “split teams” for your critical operations, if possible. For example, if you have 6 employees who handle dispatching and network operations, consider assigning three of them to “Team A” and three to “Team B”, then don’t mix the teams (keep them on separate schedules). By doing this, if somebody on Team A tests positive for coronavirus and the other two members of Team A must self-quarantine you still have a complete Team B to keep working and continue operations.
  • Discuss with your Class I connections and nearby short lines what you would do in an emergency if you didn’t have the crews to serve your customers and move trains. Railroading is a team sport and we’re never better than when facing a crisis together.
  • Communicate with your customers. This is the hallmark of short line railroads and we know most of you doing this, but we have heard from Class I's who are getting questions from short line customers that indicate room for improvement. Shippers - and for that matter the government and the general public - are very interested in the stability of the current supply chain.
  • Alternate workplace options, or teleworking, present some unique challenges to cybersecurity. Remote work options require an enterprise virtual private network (VPN) solution to connect employees to an organization’s information technology (IT) network. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) encourages organizations to adopt a heightened state of cybersecurity by following these steps.