The railway industry is struggling to attract and train new staff in order to be able to fill the estimated 80,000 railroad jobs that will need to be filled in the next few years. The industry that transports the nation's freight loads has hired little since deregulation in 1980, and is finding that record numbers of its workers are reaching retirement age. Some railroads see this as an opportunity to introduce diversity into the industry.
See "In Search of Railway Workers", Reuters, Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2005