Amtrak announced cancellations of all long-distance train routes this week ahead of a nationwide railroad strike that could begin as soon as Friday.

BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific announced embargoes on certain shipments earlier this week as negotiations continue with multiple rail unions. Amtrak, whose employees are not involved with the negotiations, operates largely on track maintained and dispatched by freight companies.

Amtrak is "hopeful that parties will reach a resolution," although the company "has now begun phased adjustments to our service in preparation for a possible freight rail service interruption later this week," according to a statement provided to Reuters.

Trains servicing Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, San Antonio, New Orleans, San Francisco, and other major cities are subject to cancellation. Amtrak will only operate trains this week if they "will have enough time to reach their final destinations" before Friday.

However, travel in the Northeast Corridor — which includes Boston, New York City, Washington D.C., and related branch lines in Pennsylvania and New York — will be largely unaffected since Amtrak operates most of the routes.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh met with union leaders and rail company executives on Wednesday morning. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) affirmed on Monday that Congress, which has the authority to block strikes, would intervene "if needed."

"There is a role for Congress if in fact they fail to reach an agreement. Obviously a railroad strike at this point in time would be extraordinarily detrimental to our economy and the American people. And we want to avoid that."

Indeed, supply chain bottlenecks caused by labor shortages and worldwide government lockdowns have impacted the American economy over the past two years, worsening inflationary pressures as consumer goods fail to reach shelves.

Two major rail unions — the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD) — have declined the tentative deal to resume operations. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), whose leadership originally approved the framework, announced on Wednesday that its members had voted against the deal.

Last month, the White House proposed increasing railroad employee pay by 24% over the next two years — a measure that would lead to an average raise of $11,000 per employee. "An agreement based on these terms would lead to the largest general wage increase in nearly 40 years," Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jefferies said in a statement.

Major U.S. railroads and unions secured a tentative deal on Thursday after 20 hours of intense talks brokered by President Joe Biden's administration.

Biden called the deal a "big win for America" and for tens of thousands of rail workers. Thanking business and labor, the Democratic president promised more worker-company agreements in the future.

"I'm optimistic that we can do this in other fields as well. Unions and management can work together for the benefit of everyone."

If they accept the deal that was announced at about 5 a.m. (0900 GMT), workers whose pay had been frozen will win double-digit increases and will be allowed to seek certain types of medical care without fear of being punished, union leaders said. The agreement includes an immediate 14.1% wage rise.

Unions, whose members bitterly rejected prior proposals, will now vote on the agreement. Even if those votes fail, a rail strike that could have happened as soon as a minute past midnight on Friday has been averted for several weeks.

Biden's Labor Secretary Marty Walsh hosted contract talks in Washington that ran for 20 consecutive hours between unions representing 115,000 workers and railroads including Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern.

Amtrak, which runs passenger rail, said it will resume normal service on Friday after cancelling long-distance trains in anticipation of a strike.

The impact of a shutdown would have stretched beyond U.S. borders because trains link the United States to Canada and Mexico and provide vital connections to massive ships that ferry goods from around the globe.

Negotiations between the companies and a dozen unions had stretched for more than two years.

The number of U.S. railway workers has dropped from over 600,000 in 1970 to about 150,000 in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, due to technology and cost-cutting.

Administration officials wanted the disputes resolved ahead of November's midterm elections that will determine whether Biden's fellow Democrats retain control of Congress. Senior congressional leaders had threatened to pass legislation imposing a resolution on the railroads and unions if the negotiations were not successful.

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