PRESS RELEASE: SMART-TD Sounds the Alarm On Barr Yard Job Cuts

ALERT: Possible Barr Yard Closure Threatens Jobs and National Supply Chain

I’m reaching out with a story developing on Chicago’s South Side that threatens a critical freight rail hub in Chicago, which would lead to job loss, weakened supply chain efficiency, and create a negative economic ripple effect, both in Chicago and nationwide.

At the center is Barr Yard in Riverdale, IL. Recent actions by CSX Transportation signal a possible shutdown as early as June, and the company has already begun rerouting significant freight traffic away from the yard, resulting in a drastic reduction in available work and job loss at Barr Yard.

SMART-Transportation Division, the union representing workers at the yard, warns that this situation mirrors a previous CSX traffic shift that caused major rail bottlenecks nationwide. Concerns are mounting that the carrier is repeating a strategy that previously failed while attempting to avoid accountability by stonewalling transparency to the workers who provide this critical infrastructure service in the freight rail industry.

The closure of Barr Yard would have serious implications in the area and beyond, including:

Immediate job loss: Family-wage union positions are being eliminated, and workers are unable to follow their jobs due to different union agreements at other rail yards.

National supply chain speed reduction: Prior attempts to reroute this volume of freight have led to congestion stretching across the national rail network.

Public safety concerns: Increased train congestion and blocked crossings could delay emergency response times across the region.

If you’re interested, I can connect you with the union representatives monitoring this issue as it is developing, and provide additional context on the Collective Bargaining obligations CSX may not be meeting, as well as the impact this closure would have in Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods.

Thank you for your consideration.

Best regards,