MA: They’ve been working on the railroad … rail jobs substantial in Mass.

Railroads built much of Massachusetts and still provide employment to its citizens, including workers at CRRC in East Springfield, building subway cars under a reinvigorated relationship with the MBTA.

Freight railways have about 538 employees here in Massachusetts, according to the Association of American Railroads.

The vast majority of them work for rail giant CSX, which has 205 employees across the state, including those working at freight yards in West Springfield and Springfield. CSX told investors last year that it has wrapped up track improvements on the rail line it bought two years ago from Pan Am Railways, which stretches from Ayer through Greenfield and North Adams across the northern tier of the state.

In January, 30 union members ratified an agreement with CSX covering operational changes related to merging CSX and Pan Am’s workforces, according to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen locals in the state.

Passenger rail line Amtrak employs 22,642 people, including 806 Massachusetts residents, it said. Total fiscal 2023 wages were $2.21 billion, of which Massachusetts residents earned $77.7 million.

That’s a number that’s sure to go up at the end of the decade. Amtrak will operate the trains as part of the west-east rail expansion in the state.

Now in its planning and design stages, west-east rail doesn’t have a price tag yet, but it involves trackwork, signaling improvements and a new station in Palmer.

Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal told reporters that more than $300 million has been allocated for the work.

“Many of the improvements are taking place even as we speak,” Neal, D- Springfield, told reporters in January.

CRRC MA’s current workforce is 481 employees, including 13 in Los Angeles. The manufacturing facility in Springfield employs 426 people, including 265 union production employees made up of Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 63 and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 7. An additional nine union employees work out of MBTA project field locations.

Of the 406 employees working in Springfield, 198 of these employees live in the city of Springfield, with 93% of the staff living in or around Springfield.

They are making progress after years of missed delivery targets, shoddy quality and acrimony.

But things are better now.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokesman Joe Pesaturo said 138 of its Orange Line cars have been delivered. The remaining 14 cars — in the total order of 152 — will be delivered between now and the end of summer. The Orange Line has been operating only CRRC trains made in Massachusetts since September 2022.

Also, 38 of the 252 Red Line cars have been delivered. The remaining 214 cars in the total order of 252 will be delivered between now and the end of 2027, as the T announced last year.

CRRC spokeswoman Lydia Rivera said the plant in Springfield also is making 64 cars for Los Angeles Metro to enhance capacity on the agency’s B and D Lines and support the region’s Olympic games in 2028. On Dec. 20, six new HR4000 subway cars entered service on the Metro D Line. Final delivery of Los Angeles vehicles is December 2026.

But those final delivery dates in 2026 and 2027 are a problem for CRRC and the workforce.

Because of federal law passed amid concerns about China gaining too much influence over U.S. transportation, CRRC is forbidden from taking work from transit agencies other than ones it’s already built cars for: Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The T is not shopping for more subway cars at this time.

Philadelphia’s SEPTA canceled an order last year amid concerns that not enough of the parts and materials were U.S. made, although at least one of the double-decker SEPTA cars are on CRRC’s Springfield property.

Short-line railroads are also employment generators. Gaynor Ryan, chief of human resources for Pinsly Railroad Co. in Westfield, said the company employees 22 in Westfield at Pioneer Valley Railroad and Railroad Distribution Services.

Pioneer Valley Railroad operates an 18-mile railroad connecting Westfield to Holyoke, linking two major railroads — CSX and Pan Am Pioneer Valley Railroad — with more than 30 diversified customers in various industries.

Railroad Distribution Services provides warehousing, outside storage, trucking and transloading services through two facilities in Western Massachusetts, with plans to build a new 156,000-square-foot warehouse in Westfield.

“While we generally have success in staffing our PVRR operations, recruiting for roles on the RDS side of the business has posed some challenges,” she said.

The company has a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding drugs and alcohol.

“However, with the legalization of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, it has become increasingly difficult to find candidates,” she said.

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