A Canadian Pacific railway locomotive pulls train cars east along a rail line past Morant's Curve near Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada on November 26, 2021. Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Freight rail cars sit in a rail yard in Wilmington, California, on November 22, 2022. This week, President Biden urged Congress to pass legislation to prevent a rail strike that could have brought trains to a halt nationwide. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption
A Union Pacific freight train carries cargo along a rail line at sunset in Bosler, Wyoming, on August 13, 2022. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Freight cars wait to be hauled out of the Norfolk Southern Conway Terminal in Conway, Pa., on Sept. 15. Gene J. Puskar/AP hide caption
Workers service the tracks at the Metra/BNSF railroad yard in Chicago Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption
Painted portrait of Wong Kim Ark in the AAPI Community Heroes Mural, located in San Francisco's Chinatown. Julie Caine/AAPI Community Heroes Mural, San Francisco Chinatown, 2022 hide caption
A Brightline train approaches a railroad crossing on Jan. 18, 2018, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In its first two years, more than 40 people have been killed by Brightline trains on tracks and at rail crossings. Wilfredo Lee/AP hide caption
People cheer and throw confetti after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta flags off a cargo train for its inaugural journey to Nairobi last year at the port of the coastal town of Mombasa. Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Amtrak has experienced four fatal crashes since December, and last year's 828 railroad deaths marked the deadliest year on rail in at least a decade, according to Politico. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
North Platte Canteen officers pose for a publicity photo, including (left to right) Helen Christ, Mayme Wyman, Jessie Hutchens, Edna Neid, and Opal Smith. Courtesy of the Lincoln County Historical Society hide caption
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority tests its Positive Train Control system at the agency's rail yard near Malvern, Pa. The system will cost SEPTA about $328 million. The regional passenger railroad is one of the few in the country that are on track to meet an end-of-the-year deadline for installing PTC. Jeff Brady/NPR hide caption
Despite Congress mandating all railroads be equipped with a Positive Train Control system by the end of the year, Chicago's Metra system isn't expected to reach that goal until 2019. Most commuter trains won't meet the deadline. M. Spencer Green/AP hide caption
Firefighters douse blazes after a freight train loaded with oil derailed in Lac-Mégantic in Canada's Quebec province on July 6, 2013, sparking explosions that engulfed about 30 buildings in fire. AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to reporters after inspecting a maglev train system at the Yamanashi Experiment Center in Tsuru Saturday. Japan is reportedly willing to send the technology to the U.S. without a fee. Kazuhiro Nogi/AP hide caption
