The train wreck in Carson City: How lawmakers derailed rail safety

(Image: U.S. Department of Transportation)

The 2025 Nevada legislative session has come to a close, and with it, any remaining illusions that rail safety is a bipartisan priority in this state. Despite the rhetoric from both Democrats and Republicans, the people who keep freight moving – the engineers, conductors, car inspectors, and signal maintainers, were left standing at the station once again.

Assembly Bill 446, a bill shaped by rail labor and safety experts, should have sailed through. It proposed common-sense measures: limits on train length, minimum crew requirements, better lighting in railyards, oversight of contract carriers, and functional defect detectors. These were not radical demands. They were safeguards forged from decades of experience and, in many cases, tragedy. But instead of passing legislation to protect workers and communities, lawmakers threw up roadblocks. A fiscal note from the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada didn’t clarify cost, it inflated it. It was less about what AB446 would require, and more about what the agency wanted to avoid.

We have heard all the excuses before. But this time, it was not just Republican opposition. It was Democrats too. The same ones who have claimed to champion labor, who have stood on union stages during campaign season and nodded along while we talked about precision scheduled railroading (PSR), fatigue, and unsafe practices. They nodded, then turned around and did nothing. Again.

If this feels familiar, it is because it is. It was only a few years ago that President Biden and Congress imposed a contract on railroad workers, denying them the right to strike after years of being overworked and under-protected. It was the so-called “most pro-labor administration in history.” But when push came to shove, labor was shoved aside.

Now, in Nevada, a state where rail labor has long played a role in shaping public policy, those same patterns are emerging. Lawmakers, many of whom we have supported cycle after cycle, abandoned us when it counted. And I do not want to be the one to say “we told you so,” but at some point, it becomes impossible not to.

There is a bigger story here than a single bill. This is about the slow erosion of labor’s power in Nevada. While unions fight to hold the line, corporate lobbyists wine, dine, and whisper their way into influence. Big business does not just want a seat at the table anymore. They want the table, the chairs, and the menu. If labor does not start pushing back, and soon, we will be on the outside looking in for good.

This moment should be a wake-up call. It is not enough to endorse candidates and hope they do the right thing. Labor in Nevada needs to remember its muscle. We need to show up louder, smarter, and more unified. We need to stop handing over endorsements and donations without demands. And we need to hold every lawmaker accountable, regardless of party, who sides with corporate interests over worker safety.

To be clear, some lawmakers did express support. A few backed the bill and spoke up, even as the rail lobby quietly moved behind the scenes. But good intentions were drowned out by indifference, misinformation, and political convenience. And in the end, those who supported the bill were left holding the bag.

This is not just about rail labor. It is about emergency vehicles stuck at blocked crossings. It is about toxic chemicals rolling through our communities on nearly three-mile-long freight trains with no crew oversight. It is about rail yards so poorly lit that workers have tripped and been injured just doing their jobs. What protects us protects you too. And when lawmakers choose silence over safety, we all pay the price.

Rail labor will keep fighting. We do not have the luxury of giving up. But we are not going to keep playing nice while lawmakers play political games with our lives. We are organizing. We are watching. And come the next session, or the next election, we will be back at the table. If they do not set a place for us, we will bring our own chairs.

It is time for the labor movement in Nevada to take stock, get serious, and stop financing its own betrayal.