Do U.S. railroad workers get a pension?

Retired U.S. railroad workers receive retirement benefits from the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, also known as the RRB, an agency of the U.S. government created in 1935. The RRB’s principal purpose is to administer retirement, unemployment and sickness benefit programs for railroad workers and their families.

The railroad retirement system is, as of 2015, closely tied to the far bigger social security system, but it is separate from that system, with differences in the manner of funding and specific benefits provided. The RRB was set up to address concerns in the early 1930s about the ability of existing pension plans to provide adequate retirement assistance to railroad workers.