RAILROADS: The Big Back-Up

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Only time will tell what the railroads can do to cut through the maze of Government and union rules (for example, laws that prohibit rail crews from working more than twelve hours a day even with overtime) that prevent the most efficient use of cars. A consortium of railroaders, union leaders, elevator operators and farm economists who met at the Grain Movement '73 Conference in Chicago last week placed most of the blame for the jam on the Federal Government for overloading the rails with the Russian grain. They think new laws are needed to modernize and better coordinate the interlocking parts of the transportation system. But the remedies, even if adopted, will come far too late to unsnarl the present tie-up.