The school run can be stressful at the best of times. But in one small US town the journey has become life-threatening. ProPublica and Investigate TV have recently revealed that in order to get to school on time, children in Hammond, Indiana, are having to clamber under the monstrous carriages of parked freight trains. The carriages, which can stretch to nearly five kilometres, block public crossings in Hammond and other towns across the US for hours, even days, impeding ambulances, fire engines and schoolchildren alike.
Behind this is a tale of corporate greed. To slash operation costs, rail companies have pushed for ever-longer trains to ferry more freight in a single trip using fewer workers. But the infrastructure is ill-equipped to support trains of this size, leading to blocked public crossings. Powers previously held by states to impose time limits have been eroded by rail companies through legal challenges.
