Not all consequences of the railroad were positive. As it had done many times before, the United States Government took land from the Native Americans, forcing them to relocate to reservations hundreds of miles away. Even if they were allowed to stay, the hunting practices of settlers on the Great Plains had decimated the buffalo population, their primary food resource.
The population of isolated communities began to decline as many settlers flocked to towns near or were passed through by the railroad. These Western towns found that they were slowly becoming ghost towns.
While many Chinese-Americans found an abundance of work with the railroad companies, racism towards these workers played a part in the creation of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
Hasty railroad construction meant that portions of the track had to redone after only a few uses. This meant more needless spending for the railroad companies and government.
“Throwing Down The Ladder By Which They Rose.” Digital Public Library of America, 1870, https://dp.la/exhibitions/transcontinental-railroad/nation-transformed/connection-exclusion.