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FreightWaves Classics: U.S. railroads were nationalized in World War I An active Pennsylvania Railroad railyard during World War I. (Photo: University of Pennsylvania Archives)
and railroads was included.
This article expands on the information, presenting an overview of the nationalization of most of America’s railroads during World War I.
Railroad problems prior to World War I
Interstate Commerce Commission seal.
Congress and the Wilson administration had tried to intervene in the railroad industry’s economic struggles for several years. By 1916, there were severe problems within the nation’s railroad system. Many of the problems stemmed from the expanded powers given to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) when the Hepburn Rate Act of 1906 was passed by Congress.