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▶ 0:14:22subcommittee on Rails pipelines and haers of materials will come to order I ask unanimous consent that the chairman be recogn authorized to declare a recess any time during today's hearing I also ask unanimous consent that the members not on the subcommittee will be permitted to sit on the subcommittee and questions so ordered as a reminder if members wish to insert a document of the record please also email it to Doc
▶ 0:14:53documents TI mail.house.gov I now recognize myself for the purposes of an opening statement for five minutes since the since the early 19th century when trains first began operating railroads have played an essential role in shaping the nation's history and development as America grew with more dependent
▶ 0:15:23on railroads for Commerce and transportation rail became the very first industry to be regulated by the federal government under the infrastr Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 uh railroads remain an integral part of our nation's infrastructure and our modern economic survival as well being ring on Dependable rail service America's Freight and rails network is widely considered
▶ 0:15:54largest safest and most efficient system in the spanning nearly 140,000 miles of track this cenal network a annually moves over 1.6 billion tons of goods that Americans rely upon to survive the modering success of frail Freight railroads largely traces back to the passage of stagger Act of 1980
▶ 0:16:25which deregulated the industry and allowed for un precedented growth in a time since staggers was signed into law moving Goods by Freight and rail has become cheaper more efficient and safer ensuring that the industry continues to grow without excessive and Ne unnecessary government burdens is a key consideration that should be factored into any action toward Freight rail taken by Congress or the executive branch
▶ 0:16:55while this hearing will focus on America's Freight rail network it will also touch upon improving and uh constructively growing Inner City passenger rail to best serve America's needs passenger well Works rail works best where demand is high competition and private sector envolvement are a are ample and the dependence on government support is low Ram Trak we must look at improving
▶ 0:17:25maintain and maintaining its existing Network we needed off government support and providing competitive reliable and safe service to attract Riders Amtrak should serve as a appealing option for travel not a replacement for vehicles and airplanes which Remains the overwhelming preference for Americans as you know the current service Transportation authorization expires as Congress and this committee has begun assessing the nation's infrastructure needs
▶ 0:17:56Comm many's work on Surface authorization legislation will require us to both uh to be both principal and pragmatic building and supporting America's rail network involves cutting the red tape improving safety through technology and improving uh and and Innovation encouraging private sector involvement in competition and decreasing dependence on Government funding and control so with that uh I'd like to introduce
▶ 0:18:26our witnesses that are joining us today Ian Jeff president and CEO American Association of American railroads Chuck Baker president Shortline American Shortline and Regional uh railroad Association Joe delicio is that it okay uh chairman national railroad construction and maintenance Association and Jared Cassidy alternate safety
▶ 0:18:56national Safety and legislative director ctor smart TD now I recognize ranking member Titus for five minutes and it's great to be back United together and we'll see what happens here well thank you chairman Webster it's a pleasure to be working with you again now on trains before on economic development uh I look forward to working with you and the other members of the subcommittee to make progress on matters related to railroads pipelines and hazardous materials
▶ 0:19:26there's a lot of work to be done such as completing Pipeline and rail safety legislation and preparing for the surface Transportation reauthorization so we can be sure to find a way to maintain ongoing Investments for Rail and pipeline safety projects we don't want them to get lost in the highway Shuffle uh Las Vegas is my district and it was founded as a rail stop uh initially and right now right through my district right through downtown Las Vegas we have a
▶ 0:19:57number of trains every day carrying all kinds of things uh now also we're at the Forefront of highspeed Passenger rail that's with the bright line and that's going to be very exciting uh it's a 218 mile route that has tremendous potential for economic development all across the Southwest not just in Nevada and it's going to create thousands of good paying union jobs you know bright Line West is going to provide an inner city passenger rail service
▶ 0:20:27between Las Vegas and Los Angeles and some stops in between and it's going to turn what is a 4-Hour drive on a good day into a reliable 2hour ride it's fully electrified and it's going to do reduce emissions it's going to relieve traffic and it's going to provide Travelers a safe and more fun way to get to their destination which we hope is Las Vegas now bright line was the first High-Speed Rail Project to reach the first of
▶ 0:20:57its kind memoranda of understanding with all 13 rail unions uh they all use rail labor and the operation and maintenance and this is a quite an accomplishment all told it's one of the most exciting passenger rail projects in the country in a long time I was proud to support investments in the bipartisan infrastructure law that made this public private partnership a reality the project was re awarded $3 billion dollar
▶ 0:21:27um in federal state partnership for inner city passenger rail grants that's a mouthful uh but it's going to also include $9 billion do in private investment in addition to uh bright line we as I mentioned we also see a number of freight shipments that move by rail right through the district and these include hazardous materials and I continue to have concerns about those as trains get longer and longer so not only do we need to be mindful of train length
▶ 0:21:57but I want to be sure that our workers and First Responders know exactly what's moving on those trains Congress required the pipeline and hazardous materials Administration to develop guidelines for the trains to inform First Responders in real time after an accident occurs so they know what they're dealing with I'm pleased that the excuse me previous administration was able to get this requirement finalized that was in June 2024 and I urge its continued implementation
▶ 0:22:28so First Responders have the information they need when they respond and the communities around there are also prepared to deal with rain uh incidences lastly I'd like to see this committee pass rail safety legislation I'm glad that the previous administration finalized a two-person crew requirement I've long advocated for that and I was pleased to hear that the do nominee Mr Duffy indicated his support for that requirement during his confirmation hearings
▶ 0:22:58last week so I hope we can hold him to that and work with the new Administration to get rail safety legislation that contains a number of important uh safety improvements across the Finish Line during this Congress so I thank our Witnesses who are here today for their time and uh look forward to hearing their information and with that I'll yeld back Mr chairman thank you now recognize repr lson the ranking member of the full committee
▶ 0:23:29recognized five minutes thank you chair uh Webster and ranking member Titus for holding today's hearing I'm glad we're following yesterday's hearing on building highways roads and bridges with this hearing on rail because the uh infrastructure bill has helped create 1.6 million construction and manufacturing jobs across the country these jobs with good wages and benefits and working conditions are driving the low 4.1% unemployment rate while modernizing our infrastructure including our rail infrastructure as I said in
▶ 0:23:59yesterday's hearing it makes it hard this this is why it makes it hard to understand how in the first ating office the administration signed an executive order to Halt this progress putting millions of dollars hundreds of thousands of jobs and thousands of projects at risk with one section of uh one of the executive orders halting the flow of benefits from these Appropriations already approved by Congress is a strange way to launch the Golden Age of infrastructure instead we need need to be working on a bipartisan basis to continue these investments in all mode in
▶ 0:24:29particular as we discussed today rail let's keep this let's keep it going the blil provided transformational funding for passenger rail as a for instance for the first time since the founding founding of Amtrak in City passenger rail has guaranteed funding five years of advanced Appropriations that allows Amtrak to address Decades of deferred maintenance and begin construction on longay capital projects before the blil Amtrak would have to wait until Congress completed the annual Appropriations process to find out as capital and operating budget
▶ 0:24:59that is no way to run a railroad the B B has invested nearly $53 billion for 594 projects to improve rail safety and expand passenger rail travel Nationwide in my state the Cascadia Ultra high-speed um ground transportation project recently Advanced to phase two of the corridor identification and development program it will connect communities throughout the Pacific Northwest to include Vancouver BC Seattle and Portland it will connect workers to uh in my district to jobs it will increase
▶ 0:25:30access to housing it will offer greater uh um uh greater ways for almost 10 million people to get around the Northwest similarly the federal state partnership for in City passenger rail is matching billions of dollars in state and private investment in passenger rail improvements these Investments include bright Line West as uh ranking member Titus noted and the southeast Corridor improvements in North Carolina and Virginia we have a need for guaranteed funding for rail public investment is vital to building a truly
▶ 0:26:00National Inner City passenger rail system last week the F released a report in support of additional long-distance service that incorporates feedback from 50,000 stakeholder and public uh comments Amtrak will need new equipment and in some cases new stations to address these improvements we also have an obligation to ensure rail travel remains safe safe for people and safe for goods and safe for communities so I welcome secretary designate Duffy commitment to safety is the highest priority for the Department
▶ 0:26:30of Transportation I look forward to working with him to reduce accidents and to save lives unfortunately class one Freight rail accident and incident rates have not significantly improved over the last 10 years in my state there were 202 train accidents 192 grade crossing incidents and 21 railroad ride ofwe trespasser fatalities Over The Last 5 Years including a BNSF derailment that spilled over 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel on the swinish TR Indian Reservation in March of 2023 one
▶ 0:27:00major cause of incidents is longer trains and last fall the National Academy of Sciences published a report detailing the risk posed by long trains defined as those longer than 7500 feet these trains especially trains made up of sever several different types of rail cars are subject to in Trin forces that can make it challenging for an engineer to control I know communities in my district and I'm certainly I'm certain around the country Express concerns with longer and longer trains sighting uh we're working on a few of those issues in
▶ 0:27:30my district including a recent railroad crossing elimination Grant in Everett Washington these types of Grants are available through the F uh through the F and available to any member of congress's District to apply for and I encourage you all to consider that I just want to end by saying U that I know every one on this committee wants to ensure Freight rail remains a safe way to transport Goods across the country I look forward to working with all of you to achieve that goal I'm committed to building on the successes of the investments in the blil and Ensure this committee can say that America builds
▶ 0:28:01rail at hearings for many years to come and I want to thank the witnesses for being here and look forward to to discussion thank you you'll back briefly I'd like to take a moment to explain our lighting system in front of you there green means go you can talk yellow means slow it down and red means stop so that's when you include your marks uh I uh ask you Nam extent that the full committee be included in the rec full
▶ 0:28:31statements of of the witnesses be included in the record without objection show that ordered I ask you name exent that the record of today's hearing remain open until such time as our Witnesses have provided answers to any question that may be submitted to them in writing that objection show that ordered as human consent that the record remain open for 15 days for additional comments or information submitted by members or witnesses to be included in the record of today's hearing without objection show that
▶ 0:29:01order as your written testimony has been made part of the record subcommittee ask that you limit your or remarks to five minutes and with that uh Mr Jeffy you're recognized chairman Webster ranking member Titus members of the subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the topic of surface Transportation reauthorization my name is Ian Jeff and I serve as the president and CEO of the association of American railroads where we represent the nation's major Freight railroads I'm honored today
▶ 0:29:32to discuss the vital role railroads play for our nation and the policies needed to support continued success railroads are a Cornerstone of the US economy operating a network of over 140,000 miles Freight rail is exceptionally safe economically vital and privately funded unlike other Transportation modes Freight railroads build maintain and invest their infrastructure almost entirely without Federal funding since 1980 the industry has invested more than $690 billion
▶ 0:30:02in private Capital over 1.1 trillion in today's dollars into maintaining and improving our Network that equates to an impress of $23 billion dollar per year or $442 million per week every week every year this level of self-sufficiency is unmatched in the transportation sector and ensures that railroads remain a reliable Backbone in the supply chain it also tracks one one with safety which is at the heart of everything we do the last decade has
▶ 0:30:32been the safest in rail history last year was safer than the year before and the year before that significant declines in train accidents employee injuries and great Crossing cisions are the result led by an unwavering employee commitment railroads today lead major industries in worker safety safer than Trucking safer than Airlines safer them manufacturing construction and agriculture just to name a few yet our work in the space is never finished economically Freight rail
▶ 0:31:02supports nearly every industry moving 1.5 billion tons of goods each year that's 40% of all Long Haul Freight from a products to automobiles chemicals to consumer goods railroads connect communities and businesses the country and Beyond railroads efficiency saves businesses billions annually and enhances us Global competitiveness with real rates 42% below where they were in 1980 we are an ally in the everpresent fight against inflation and our environmental
▶ 0:31:33impact is another Advantage Freight rail is three to four times more fuel efficient than our Trucking Partners we reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75% comparatively as the demand for transportation grows railroads are well positioned to meet continuing challenges and it makes good business sense to be more efficient as fuel is the second largest cost of our operations as this committee begins to consider the next surface transportation Bill we encourage Congress to prioritize policies that uphold our ability to invest in infrastructure
▶ 0:32:03support Innovation and Advance data-driven safety improvements we urge outcomes based regulation to enable further deployment of Next Generation Technologies automated track inspections for example can improve safety outcomes but have been hindered by outdated requirements that mandate manual inspections a nimbler regulatory approach would allow railroads to innovate while advancing rigorous safety policies should be geared to meet specific challenges if a policy cannot be
▶ 0:32:33said what problem it is solving then I'd question its validity additionally Congress should address the insolvency of the highway trust fund the CBO projects without legislative action the highway trust fund will face insolvency by 2028 accumulating a $280 billion deficit by 2034 only increasing Reliance Reliance on general fund transfers like the 100 8 billion do provided under the iig reauthorization must also reject calls
▶ 0:33:04to increase truck size and weight limits which would exacerbate these funding gaps degrade roads further increase congestion on our already clogged highways and further create a competitive imbalance against our largest competitor additionally programs such as the railroad crossing elimination grant program are crucial in collaborating with our public Partners to improve grade crossing safety and reduce accidents Common Sense permitting forms can also put dollars to work more quickly Freight railroads will continue supporting the economy and driving
▶ 0:33:34growth through investment and Innovation and we look forward to working with this community excuse me committee to ensure the policies enacted and the reauthorization enable the freight rail industry to drive safety efficiency and economic growth for years to come thank you and I look forward to your questions thank you very much now Mr Baker you recognize five minutes thank you good morning I'm Chuck Baker president of the Shortline Association representing the nation's 600
▶ 0:34:04small class two and three Freight railroads short lines are the first and last miles of the freight rail network we move industrial Agricultural and Energy Products between ports factories and farms and the larger class one railroads which connect us to the National and Global markets short lines used to be the unprofitable Branch lines of the larger railroads following partial deregulation rather than a abandon those lines the class one sold those lines to entrepreneurs those newly minted short lines didn't have much
▶ 0:34:34traffic and weren't in great shape but the local folks who took over these lines were eager to make a go of it they ran efficiently focused on getting just one more new customer or car load and bent over backwards to serve their existing customers and it worked today short lines are critical in your communities and ensure that the goods your constituents rely upon get to their homes and businesses safely and affordably we now manage 50,000 Mi of track which is 1third of the freight rail network and touch 1/5th of all
▶ 0:35:04car loads but only account for about 6% of the industry's total revenue so short lines are small businesses but we have a large impact on the US economy we operate in 49 states support 478,000 jobs and produce 56 billion do in value added to the economy for decades members of this subcommittee have supported policies that allowed short lines to survive and thrive almost every one of you has a short line in your district chairman Webster has two with the Florida
▶ 0:35:35Central in Florida Midland Congressman Garcia has nine uh Congressman Westerman who's not here at the moment he has 15 that's the most of anybody in congress Congressman beget in Alaska is one of the states where short lines of the entire Freight rail network in the state the title of this hearing is America builds and short lines are indeed eager to build the next surface Transportation reauthorization bill will have a long-term impact on the country our top priority in that bill is robust funding
▶ 0:36:05for the Chrissy program it's the only Federal program that short lines are directly eligible for and it's been transformational 240 Shortline Chrissy grants have been awarded these are bridge rehabilitations tie change outs and rail replacement projects that simply would not have been possible without Chrissy uh with March approaching to use a college basketball analogy Chrissy helps get projects off of the bubble and into the big dance because of Chrissy Shortline railroads are safer and customers are
▶ 0:36:35better served small towns and Rural communities have new jobs the air is cleaner streets are less congested and taxpayers are on the hook for Less Highway Maintenance my testimony provides a lengthy list of completed Chrissy projects with specific statements of support here's one example the plant manager of a wood panel processing facility in northeastern Michigan said Lake State Railway service has allowed our operation to be cost competitive despite our remote location Chrissy has allowed us to load 286,000
▶ 0:37:05rail cars reducing our costs and helping to ensure our long-term success Beyond robust funding Chrissy also needs Advanced Appropriations to continue to be most effective for long-term infrastructure Investments certainty and predictability are crucial to make Chrissy even more effective we need to speed up the process and shorten the time from announcement to obligation good options include batch processing of NEPA categorical exclusions more aggressive use of pre-award Authority or simply setting
▶ 0:37:35deadlines this program can move faster with no real additional risk and that would be good for getting America to build on the safety and Regulatory front I'd ask that the committee keep the big picture in mind rail is the safest mode of surface transportation and the industry is already highly regulated any new regulation should be focused on solving actual safety problems and be practical for Shortline railroads to implement for short lines the biggest derailment risk comes from broken Rail and wide gauge
▶ 0:38:06and the best way to fix that is simply to invest in the track and that's what Chrissy already does for railroads in general the biggest safety risks come from grade crossing and trespasser accidents the section 130 program and the rail Crossing elimination program address those issues as to support for operation Lifesaver finally I ask the congress not increase the size and weight of trucks on our nation's already overcrowded under maintained and excessively dangerous highway system we are joined by a broad Coalition of cities counties
▶ 0:38:36police First Responders labor organizations and Highway Safety groups in that request for railroads trucks are direct competition they already don't pay their fair share of Highway Maintenance and making them bigger would make that problem worse it would shift Freight from rail to truck and we'd end up with not only bigger trucks but more of them too thank you thank you now um
▶ 0:39:07eloisio thank you Mr chairman get that good morning chairman Webster ranking member Titus and members of the system subcommittee my name is Joe deliso I'm track division manager at a company called railroad construction company or RCC and I currently serve as chairman of the board of the national railroad construction and maintenance Association for NR let me first begin by congratulating chairman Graves for another term as chairman of this vital committee I would also like to congratulate chairman Webster and ranking member Titus for your new
▶ 0:39:37positions on this important committee could you move the mic just a little closer sure the NRC is an association that advances the mutual interests of Railway contractors and suppliers who construct maintain and Supply both Freight and passenger railroads I happen to be a third generation Railroader my grandfather Joe senior he built railroad track as a track Foreman for the Erie Railroad and later established the company I worked for in 1926 my father Joe Jr served in the Army Corps
▶ 0:40:07of Engineers who began building America infrastructure towards the end of the Korean War multiple generations of my family including Aunts Uncles cousins all followed along this path building Rail and building America quite literally runs in my blood as I like to say we are not just in this industry we are this industry industry and I view this industry as a family my company RCC has a rich Legacy of providing comprehensive track services on the eastern coast of United
▶ 0:40:37States but RCC is just one company within the NRC Our member companies generate more than 100,000 jobs Nationwide supplying building and maintaining Freight passenger and Industrial rail networks our members are also mostly small businesses so we focus on safely delivering quality goods and for our railroad customers while also doing so in an efficient and costeffective manner NRC members perform every type of rail infrastructure work and serve every type of Railway
▶ 0:41:08owner including class ones short lines and Regional railroads and inner city passenger rail systems in 2024 contractors played an invaluable role in helping railroads and Industrial shippers in the southeastern United States respond to damages from hurricanes Helen and Milton and we expect that helping tradition to continue throughout 2025 and Beyond as this committee begins the process of reauthorizing surface Transportation programs the NRC offers the following recommendations
▶ 0:41:39that we suggest will help America build more detailed information is in my written testimony uh we'd like to see provide robust funding for our core rail Grant programs the iiga made many substantial impacts to our industry including unprecedented levels of funding to rail program programs spending on infrastructure especially rail infrastructure is truly a Sound Investment that pays dividends to our economy supply chain and transportation networks the NRC supports funding
▶ 0:42:09at existing or increased levels for rail Grant programs that improve efficiency safety and environmentally friendly Freight and passenger rail transportation in particular the Chrissy grant program is a vital source of funding the industry to address Key Safety Improvement projects cutting red tape the iiga provided unprecedented levels of funding for key rail discretionary Grant programs which had been critical to improving both the freight supply chain as well as enhancing passenger rail in the US however
▶ 0:42:39the speed at which Grant agreements have been executed has been too slow we encourage Congress and the new Administration to deliver grant funding in a responsible but more manner support increased competition the NRC strongly supports increased opportunities for Contracting out and competition Within These programs to stretch federal funds further this is not an attempt to take work from in-house labor forces rather it is intended to help the industry as a whole perform more work more efficiently often
▶ 0:43:09times our members are able to find the most efficient ideas and methods to deliver projects for Less cost without compromising safety separately but related there have been attempts in pass reauthorization bills to insert language that provides restrictions around the definitions of a rail carrier that are excessive unnecessary and attempt to fix a problem that doesn't exist these Provisions would increase cost and reduce flexibility and would make it hard for initiate expand passenger systems we focus on safety it is imperative to allow railroads and
▶ 0:43:39rail contractors and suppliers to initiate and deploy safety Technologies we urge Congress to data driven solutions that would effectively increase the safety of the rail network and avoid policy changes that would Place unnecessary and excessive mandates on the rail industry that would not enhance rail safety the n r c supports maintaining existing Federal truck size and weight maximums to help ensure safety on our roads and to control damag trucks cause on our Highway infrastructure finally the NRC has long supported safety
▶ 0:44:09in industry but numerous F regulations have not been data driven have not have had tenuous safety benefits despite being pitched as safety sensitive and have been cumbersome to implement many times this is placed undo paperwork on small businesses uh through this seems to be top priority for every sub surface Transportation reauthorization Bill the unfortunate reality is that permitting process for rail projects still moves way too slow the NRC supports efforts to speed up federal
▶ 0:44:40permitting and review processes in order to deliver critical infrastructure projects without delays on a reasonable timeline thank you for this opportunity to share my perspectives today and I look forward to any questions thank you thank you Mr Cassidy you recognize your five minutes yes sir thank you chair Webster ranking member Titus and members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to testify this morning on the current state of America's Freight and passenger rail network as Deputy national Safety and legislative director and chief safety officer for smart
▶ 0:45:10TD I speak on behalf of the men and women of the rail industry who are committed to ensuring a safe efficient and robust transportation system for our nation I have had no greater pleasure in my career than the opportunity to represent the single most significant factor of what sets our railroad industry apart from the rest of the world and that is the American railroad worker it is because of their efforts and their Dedication that the rail industry has been able to achieve so many improvements over the last couple of decades but there's still much work that needs to be done currently we're enjoying some of the most
▶ 0:45:40robust funding in Amtrak's history so it should be no surprised that 2024 was a record year for ridership not only were more people able to able to enjoy the benefits of rail travel but rural communities were better equipped to directly connect their citizens with the rest of the country this means better access to work and medical care with fewer cars on roads and highways but like every other passenger Well Service on the planet Amtrak cannot survive on fabox Revenue alone which is why adequate funding is so important but it's not just funding that is needed on Amtrak it's legislative and
▶ 0:46:10Regulatory support to protect the workers and Riders from violent asants almost daily a trained platform or customer service worker is threatened verbally or physically while simply trying to perform the functions of their job it is not uncommon for conductors to be cussed out spit on punched or worse but even more troubling is the limitations on responding Law Enforcement Officers to do anything about it unlike Aviation rail lacks sufficient statutes to handle Bad actors accordingly more often than not an assaulter once detained is forced to disembark the
▶ 0:46:40train in which the assault took place but because arrest isn't permissible they are permitted to just wait on the platform and then board the next train expanding the threat and not limiting it our members main priority when they are at work is to perform the functions of their jobs to the best of their ability day in and day they want to get to where they're going safely without an incident and then back home to their families the same way they went to work they take pride in safely moving passengers and freight and they are proud to see a job well done I think this is why there is so much internal conflict
▶ 0:47:10in The Rail space today because workers are being asked to do more with less resulting in diminished service and deficient safety processes and protocols training in the freight rail side of the industry has become abysmal in the majority of class one railroads while some positive changes have been made on at least one railroad the reality is that carriers are more focused on the shortest path rather than the most efficient one serious and concerning reductions in training timelines are now present and they are having an adverse impact not just on safety but also on the attraction and retention
▶ 0:47:41of the railroad Workforce trains are growing longer heavier and more burdensome on neighborhoods and communities conductors and Engineers are being asked to do more with less the onboard Technologies are not wholly reliable While others like Wayside de detectors are still seemingly flipping on like a switch on and off like a switch train accident and incident frequency continues to creep up despite fewer trains on the system and indicator of the dangers of long trains and yard accidents are becoming a serious concern the answer does not lie
▶ 0:48:11simply in new technology and waivers from critical safe rule making Endor regulations it lies in a steadfast commitment to achieving the safest course technology is not safer simply because it is technological it is people that make the difference president Trump acknowledged this TR truth and his support of the international long shoreman's Association fight against automation labor should not be viewed as adversaries we are the key to success after all it is the two-person crew that has brought about the safest and richest era ever in railroading history
▶ 0:48:41it is the Carmen and electricians best qualified to perform the required inspections that produce the best results and it is all of the craft workers that drive the truest pursuit to achieving the safest course to close I want to align my comment excuse me to close I want to align my comment with the president's recent statements about the need for a transparent government the only way to gather analyze and interpret data or to introduce new Innovations is to do so transparently and inclusively with all stakeholders having a seat at the table and an equal voice in the process
▶ 0:49:12after all it is the workers that are best suited to speak to the truths and realities of the impacts or potential effects of the consistencies of the data and the technology desired and being developed Innovation should absolutely be considered but not for the sake take of safety there is no one better suited to drive every conversation and every effort toward safety than labor our mission is simple and it does not waver safety will always lead the way we stand ready to work with you and your offices to get us there again I thank
▶ 0:49:42you for opportunity thank you very much so uh we now turn to questions from the panel I recognize myself for five minutes my first question goes both to Mr Jeff and Mr Baker um purpose of safety regulations should be to achieve safety outcome in the most efficient means possible uh most of regulations are prescriptive and their approach
▶ 0:50:13how could the industry benefit from a more performance-based approach to establish standards while also allowing operators flexibility on how to those standards are achieved and start with Mr Jeffers thank you for the question Mr chairman so we're a 200 plus year old industry in the originally Federal federally regulated industry and um we've got the we've got the code of federal regulations to to support that
▶ 0:50:43we still have regulations on the books from the steam engine area over 50 years old and what that does what that results in when they aren't updated when they don't evolve with uh with the railroad with the evolution of technology and Innovation is lock you into perhaps a backwards looking operating practice that may or may not result in the highest level of safety and um when you when you think about regulations I think we would all agree you should be thinking about the the outcome you're seeking the safety outcome you're
▶ 0:51:13seeking versus the input you're providing and so when you have a performance-based regulation when you have an outcomes based regulation you set a standard and you allow for multiple ways to achieve that standard also allowing for new development developments in technology new developments in Innovation new operating practices that can achieve if not exceed that standard so not locking in current technology or current operating practi is key in our opinion in order to advance safety down the road into the
▶ 0:51:44future Baker i' I'd add Mr chairman that the difference between short lines and class ones I think illustrates your point a regulation that would work for a 20,000 person Fortune 5 00 company with 13 different unions probably makes no sense for a five person company with one locomotive and maybe one Union and so I think Common Sense would tell you in that scenario a a performance-based outcome based regulation would make more sense than a prescriptive government
▶ 0:52:15telling you exactly how to do it anyone else to comment on that yes Mr Cassy yeah Mr Wester thank you for the or excuse me chairman Wester thank you for the uh for the question what will add is is know labor supports the the idea of performance-based regulations in as much as that what we're doing or trying to achieve is unsafely now we do have a lot of regulations that look backward but that speaks to the fact that that how we achieve the level of safety we have today is that regulations made sure we had the guidelines and
▶ 0:52:45protocols to get us there and so when we consider Innovation please rest assured that labor supports new technology and Innovation to help us work safer but we need to make sure that the umbrella is not too big so that when the new technologies are being developed that there's not too much freedom because the impact could be great on the American public you know these are new ideas and new things so we need to make sure that we have the right processes in place and when I said in my testimony that labor stands ready to work it's vitally important that we play a role in these Technologies and Innovations
▶ 0:53:16because we are the ones that are most impacted by it and we're also the ones best suited to protect the public and how it can impact them so you know when we look forward to a new process for regulations safety has got to lead the way in these we cannot accept technology as safer simply because it's technological we have to make sure we're doing what's right uh can each of you uh or one or all of you um describe the importance
▶ 0:53:46of Permitting reform for building and maintaining robust and safe rail network and infrastructure networks anyone to take that one I I'd be happy to the it's a cliche but it's very true in this case time is money per permitting reform when projects are delayed and Chrissy projects are a great example when they're delayed costs go up and scope gets reduced so getting it done faster just means more gets
▶ 0:54:16done and the communities and benefits communities and shippers feel the benefits sooner so for for most Shortline projects Chrissy projects they're really quite simple they typically involve track rehab in an existing right of way it is obvious from day one that a project like that is going to have no significant environmental impact and yet still we somehow frequently spend a year or more in sort of an elaborate box checking exercise when everyone knows the outcome
▶ 0:54:46and I would say let's just get to it that's that's end of my time so I recognize Titus you recognized for question we'll hear a lot about safety today and certainly it is a priority Mr Cassidy you said transportation workers are the backbone of our of our infrastructure system and I certainly agree with
▶ 0:55:16that we need to be sure that they can perform their duties in a knowledgeable way and in a safe way in a way that benefits themselves as well as their communities I understand that smart um participated in nine National Transportation safety board investigations last year and I would just ask you with all this emphasis on safety why are conductors still getting hurt on the job do you notice patterns is there anything that we can do about it that might be helpful thank you for the question ranking member
▶ 0:55:46Titus and that is a loaded question um you know why why are our members still getting hurt on the job is is a multitude of of reasoning you know I would start with training uh when I hired on with the railroad I come from the craft that those that may not know that I started as a conductor on CSX Transportation and was promoted to a locomotive engineer in 2008 our training was robust and it was quite different in fact I actually had to pay almost $6,000 just to hire on with the railroad to transition that to what we're looking at today
▶ 0:56:17where where you get a bonus for taking the job but the point I'm trying to make is that the emphasis was on training we had to go through a regimented process in a school of roughly weeks and we had roughly 6 months of training you know the way the training programs work in in in the in the regulatory world is that the railroads are required to cre U to develop programs and submit those programs to F but there's so much freedom in the training programs the way that they're approved that they're able to make adjustments or slash timelines
▶ 0:56:47without any oversight whatsoever and what we're seeing now today is is training that is being rushed through in at astronomical levels in some cases in six weeks you see people from hire to to working as a conductor and so that is the single greatest factor there is not an incident anywhere in this country that we've had the opportunity to investigate with the NTSB that training did not have a role in that then you look at some of the practices and the efficiencies and the pressures the external pressures that are being put on workers and you have a
▶ 0:57:17recipe for disaster you know so there there's a lot of things that we can improve but it to make this answer short we have got to get back to taking on training not focusing on regulatory minimums and only doing what's required by the regulation but actually owning safety and making sure that our folks are comfortable in their own skin when they're at work and and and aware of what's going on what changes have been made and how to do the job effectively efficiently thank you very much um I think we should look at that as we move forward
▶ 0:57:47in this appreciate that um Mr Jeff I was I've just been on the in this position a short time and I've already had a number of members talk to me about blocked Crossings and long trains and and the problems that they cause in their communities I understand that this committee was told last year that they shouldn't act on any legislation until uh the report came out of the national academies of Sciences on this on the problem of long trains that was mandated by the bipartisan
▶ 0:58:18infrastructure law has that report come out um I believe it may have yes I think came out September the 17th okay uh so I would just ask you what is in that report that says that we Knack and act on or should act on to address this problem of long trains and blocked Crossings so thank you for the question ranking member um if I could quickly hit on Mr Cassidy's comments before I get into this question 2023 was actually the industry's all-time
▶ 0:58:48low in employee injuries the rate of injuries the entire industry's history for class ones 2024 we're still closing out that data uh through 10 months it's slightly lower 2023 um always more work to be done rigorous training is absolutely key but I just wanted to include that data point um when it comes to trains and train makeup and train length the median train length of a class one train right now uh meaning 50 percentile is about 5,000 ft and about 90%
▶ 0:59:18are shorter than 10,000 ft and 99% or shorter than 14,000 ft and train makeup is a is a subject of commodity mix it's a subject of um what the infrastructure capacity is and trains are built to uh to to be managed based on what the capacity of both the Commodities being moved and the length of the train and I can tell you in looking at the train accident rate um as we've seen uh in certain areas trains grow a bit longer depending on commodity mix
▶ 0:59:48largely driven by the decreasing coal increase in Intermodal we've actually seen the rate decrease we've seen the rate decrease from from 2022 to 2023 through the first 10 months of 24 and so we continue to operate trains in a safe manner regardless of length and mix I appreciate that but my question was about the report what it said that Congress can now act on since this information has come out about these long trains and blocked Crossings if I could just briefly say that Congress
▶ 1:00:18should Empower Regulatory Agencies to address challenges by requiring railroads to put cars together in the safest conf configuration ensuring crews are trained authorizing the F to obtain and publicly share data on blocked Crossings and imposing Financial penalties of sufficient magnitude to ensure the crossings don't remain blocked so I think this is something we need to look at as we move forward with this reauthorization thank you and now back y's back
▶ 1:00:48Mr LFA you're recognize for five minutes LFA thank you Mr chairman appreciate it um and thanks to our panelists I'm going to have a couple questions from Mr jeffre and Mr Baker to start up with um and it's going to be based on our old Pal's carb in California California resour Board resources
▶ 1:01:19board as you know they submitted in in 23 a petition to EPA to be granted yet another waiver under the cleaner act to set its own standards for locomotives called the inuse locomotive regulation it would required by 2030 not loud enough okay part of it's me I'm kind of broken too so anyway so by 2030 only locomotive engine engines made 2008 or newer are available
▶ 1:01:49in California under that rag so it could be that that rag request would violate the Clean Air Act which explicitly prohibit States from setting their own standards for no Reus locomotive engines but also isn't Tech technologically feasible at this point now carb has seen the light and withdrawn for now its waiver application to EPA for the in inuse locomotive rag
▶ 1:02:20so ple Gentlemen please tell this committee what the economic impact of the riv industry would have been if EPA had gone through Rule and how would any cost increases basically hit the consumer so first Mr Jeff for a moment then Mr Baker so what the impact of the rule would have been MH well I can tell you for the two class one railroads located in California BNSF and Union Pacific the annual cost would have been $800 million per year so 1.6 billion collectively and uh I know
▶ 1:02:50that the short lines have reported that at least 25% of their companies would be put out of business um um we're we're gratified that uh carb withdrew its request to EPA the request was unlawful not only under the Clean Air Act but also under uh Ika the Interstate Commerce Committee termination act um certainly the the overarching goals of the regulation um were were laudable to to move uh to further decrease emissions and that's something railroads continue to work on to this day well you are working as technology improves
▶ 1:03:20not heavy-handed mandates Mr Baker yes sir it we were extraordinarily concerned about that waiver um you would not have thought that carb could come up with a waiver that uh the last EPA wouldn't have approved but they seem to have they seem to have found one and so we were we were pleased when it was finally withdrawn it would have been completely catastrophic for the Shortline railroad industry tell me tell me Mr Baker there's a quote out there saying that carb
▶ 1:03:51acknowledges that a percentage of short lines they know they would go out of business yeah in carbs own rule they said uh if Shortline railroads can't pass on these costs to their customers which most couldn't they would just go out of business and they just left that in there as like well that's a that's an okay result and we obviously we found that pretty horrifying and their shippers found that horrifying and the communities and um well it's very important for in my area
▶ 1:04:21a products uh you know with the moving moving right or other other things in the area or wood wood from the mill and uh being able to get it to the mainline in a timely matter and it's just it's just over it's amazing so tell me about this uh Gentleman on the if uh president Trump has uh come out on on the side of not allowing this mandate to be come forward but what if we have a change politically and um should we
▶ 1:04:51have uh a change of the LW to make certain that carb doesn't have the ability to um get waivers in the future and and just keep some continuity in in the industry I would say absolutely um again we think it's what carb tried to do with with locomotive regulations was in complete conflict with two existing laws but um apparently that needs further clarification yeah Mr Jeff you touched on uh at grade Crossings
▶ 1:05:21and I have a great concern that because in rural areas that's about it in my understanding from a previous hearing if remembering correctly is that to make a atra Crossing into a split Crossing is about 40 million bucks at least in my high high cost State of California so what do you see in that uh split that atg grade elimination program for everyone that goes out are we going to put one in are we going to put one in that is a split grade or are we going to see a bunch of eliminated because we have this mess of High-Speed Rail going through the Central Valley that's going to cut
▶ 1:05:51off a lot of farms and and access touch on that please d so so I think gr Crossing elimination is absolutely key in certain situations certainly doesn't apply uh everywhere but I think in areas anywhere you have a grade crossing an at grade crossing driver education is important um so that folks know to see track Think trains and look for trains that might be oncoming um having appropriate safety equipment at the Crossing again uh is is a key safety attribute
▶ 1:06:22but there's no one siiz fits all the important thing though is that folks understand that when when Road and rail connects um the the the drivers need to assume there's a train coming and verify that that's not happening before trying to get across the track yeah I mean heck we got lights and signals and arms and all this stuff so after a point it becomes the Darwin Awards or something so anyway I'll you back Mr chairman Gman yous back it's uh Mr
▶ 1:06:52Carson thank you chairman uh one of the many EX executive orders uh this week froze hiring and infrastructure funding now considering that many infrastructure projects really get started in the spring as you all know um this timing was anything but good in fact the Federal Highway Administration had to shut down all payments because of this very poorly drafted executive order last evening I
▶ 1:07:22along with my team heard from the Metropolitan planning organization our local one and they're very concerned about the damage this will do to infrastructure projects that are underway or at least soon to start do any of you have concerns about this new funding freeze damaging your priority objectives and if so please uh please tell us how these executive orders will effectively hurt your progress
▶ 1:07:53I I would agree Congressman the executive order was um not real well worded I I think the initial one day reaction was a blanket pause across all of dot on all dispersements uh I do think that the clarification memo posted to the White House website last night um clarified that it was really only meant to deal with what they're calling Green New Deal projects and EV mandate so I think in reality after
▶ 1:08:23you know 36 hours extreme concern um I don't think really many rail projects at all will be affected but it is you know it was probably a lesson in being careful with words that get posted to the Federal Register and executive orders yeah now to that point um while we're there Mr Baker you know very well that the great Hooser State Indiana is the home uh to many very thriving Shortline railroads uh which
▶ 1:08:54which helps us live up to to the who's your uh nickname The Crossroads of America um what's working well now in terms of short lines and your customers and what are the challenges ahead for this very unique sector and how can this committee help your efforts effectively yes sir the there are a lot of short lines in all of Indiana I believe there are four in your District Alone um the Napoleon Defiance in Western is is a great example uh 10 years ago there was a viral
▶ 1:09:24at least viral for the world Freight railroading a viral video showing a train moving down that track at about 5 mph and it was wavy and it was messy and it was called the worst Railroad in America um and it it probably was uh that railroad is now received a Chrissy Grant has upgraded its infrastructure has doubled its customer base is moving faster and moving safer it's good for the community it's good for the state it's good for the shippers it it's a
▶ 1:09:54fabulous success story and that that's replicated in multiple places in Indiana and again at the risk of harping over and over on the same point the Chrissy Grant is a huge help for Shortline railroads it can be transformational and it just lets railroads like Napoleon Defiance in Western in Indiana do projects that otherwise wouldn't be possible absolutely thank you chairman I yeld back gentleman y's back Mr NS you recognized for five minutes
▶ 1:10:27well I appreciate that Mr chairman I uh I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the freight and passenger rail network as we gear up for the surface reauthorization I have several priorities that I will be advocating for and that I believe will increase safety Mr Jeff uh I want to commend you for your comments on the rail road crossing elimination grant program uh I do believe uh we are of one mind one mind that the safest Crossing
▶ 1:10:58is the crossing that is not there I believe labor supports it as well I I'd like to say hey good to see you Greg good to see you Jared as we work on Surface reauthorization and specifically the rail title I will most assuredly be advocating for that program and another one to modernize the uh the tank Fleet with 21 century telematics the telematics grant program that I author in the railway safety enhancement act will give shippers
▶ 1:11:28and tank car owners Vital Information about their assets health and information about where their products are in the rail network I believe this information is the property of the tank car owners and must be shared with the operators in real time as their goods are moving along the na rail network Mr Jeff the fcc's allocation for the 900 megahertz spectrum is a valuable opportunity for
▶ 1:11:58the railroads to enhance rail or safety reliability and operational efficiency with the class one railroads commit to comply with the FCC order on Spectrum by September of this year I think they want to know by September of 2025 will you do that thank you for the question and uh your spot on with our shared views on uh rail Crossing elimination and thank you for your support on that um yes we will comply I've talked to our our internal experts and we're on schedule to comply
▶ 1:12:28and um be happy to bring in those experts to to sit down with you and your team and in more detail but uh that process is in place and we're moving forward and will you commit to promptly inform the FCC and members of this committee if there are any issues with absolutely once the railroads are done uh moving to the a block within the 900 band can you share what the railroad industry's plans are to further develop that Spectrum to show a continued commitment
▶ 1:12:59to safety and what the time frame the industry will need to achieve that well certainly that's what we're developing right now and when you when you look at Spectrum use um and what we've been able to build out along our Network um through our PTC Network we' got a 54,000 mile 5G Network now moving on to uh tighter bands of spectrum that'll open up more capacity allow us to really take uh uh kind of the the wireless backbone to to new heights okay I'm going to
▶ 1:13:29have some follow-up questions for the record on this uh topic and I expect them to be answered uh I'd like to Pivot to a discussion about c3rs Mr Jeff what changes do railroads recommend to the confidential close call reporting system which is at c3rs to get more of the class one railroads to enroll in the program because if you remember you sent a letter saying all the class ones would enroll in this after East Palestine thank you for that and uh it's it's a a good discussion to
▶ 1:13:59have again um so two of the class ones have have signed up to the program um we've uh long held views that um um edits need to be made to the program when when folks think about uh the ability to to report concerns confidentially first and foremost every railroad has a system like that in place and following the the avation Mr jeffre hate to cut you off but let's get it done I have a minute left uh okay I believe you testified before the Senate Commerce Committee in March of 202 then Senator Vance asked if 30 seconds was enough time to perform car inspections
▶ 1:14:29to which he replied quote 30 seconds doesn't seem like a long enough time to do an in-depth inspection should there be a minimum time requirement for carment to do inspections and if not what do you recommend so I'd say there's no one-sized fits all there's Myriad inspections that occur and while 30 seconds may not be a lot there may be zero time required if it's an autonomous inspection fair enough let the record reflect that vice president Vance in UC legislation to mandate twers crew size that was endorsed by
▶ 1:15:00President Trump incoming secretary Duffy who just moved out of Commerce Committee by a vote of 28 to zero confirmed he would not pull back the Twan work rule as a member of this committee I support that rule the idea that Republicans will do whatever big business want and will not take into account the needs of the mering Working Men it's outdated I will just say that dog doesn't hunt with that I Y
▶ 1:15:31back y's uh Mr Mo thank you Mr chairman and uh I just want to uh begin uh with a word of appreciation for the comments from my colleague from Texas who's been a real partner on working to find good solutions for rail safety rail Safety Solutions that take the industry forward not back backward and improve safety for all and make the point to all of America
▶ 1:16:01that rail is a far safer way to transport things especially Hazmat than trucks and that point seems to be lost on a lot of people Mr chairman in your opening remarks you talked about improving safety through technology and Innovation that's what we're talking about when the industry comes back to us and says you just want to install defect detectors a 1960s technology when you have the opport un to put in telematics so that every engineer on every train knows the instantaneous bearing
▶ 1:16:31temperature of every wheel and can immediately respond to a problem and oh by the way it's not so bad that customers also know where their cars are for the first time in history that's about taking the industry forward not back now Mr chairman um I would be remiss if I didn't also uh mention that you talked about uh decreasing dependence on Government funding for railroads it's interesting that you don't talk about decreasing dependence on Government funding for highways or Airlines
▶ 1:17:02we've subsidized highways and Airlines to the tune of billions and billions hundreds of billions of dollars over the decades it's interesting that the freight railroad system is asked to compete against this heavily subsidized alternative the freight rails are really the only transportation system in America that funds its own infrastructure through private sector right now president Trump has instituted this new Department of government uh
▶ 1:17:33efficiency I think the idea is that the government should invest in efficiency and perhaps not subsidize inefficiency so if the only transportation system efficient enough to pay for its own infrastructure is rail then why do we continue spending billions and billions and billions of taxpayer dollars every year subsidizing highways and truckers shouldn't we be investing in efficiency does that make sense to
▶ 1:18:03you Mr Jeff 100% you also mentioned Mr chairman that Amtrak should be off uh government support you didn't mention that our highways should be off government support or that our Airlines should be off government support it's an interesting contrast Mr Cassy you mentioned uh High-Speed Rail in your in your in your opening comments or your your testimony it's interesting that America is the only developed country in the world not investing in High-Speed Rail the only
▶ 1:18:33developed country in the entire world I I challenge anyone here to think of another developed country that's not investing in High-Speed Rail we're just starting now is that because there's some vast High-Speed Rail conspiracy that's infected every other country on Earth and just hasn't hit the United States yet or does it make sense make economic sense to invest in highspeed rail thank you for the question Congressman it absolutely makes sense to invest in highspeed rail know we fall short
▶ 1:19:03in comparison to the other countries and one of the most advantageous opportunities we have is to expand the rail system in this country and High-Speed Rail is that opportunity and we fully support on on board to see more rail for the for the citizens of this country and so you know we need to capitalize on that we need to accept that there are no conspiracies out there as far as I'm aware of of high speed rail the one hurdle we do have is that for some reason in this country people hear railroads and they think of uh of of ancient technology or ancient methods of transportation
▶ 1:19:34and we've got to get outside of that box and make sure that we're we're talking to folks and letting them know what rail can do for them and how we can make their lives better rail is a more efficient use of taxpayer dollars it's more efficient way to Simply transport Goods one single train can take 150 to 300 trucks off the highway that's good for everybody who uses our highways truckers Passenger cars we know that tens of thousands of Americans die in our highways every year
▶ 1:20:04railroads are far safer they're also better for the environment I mean the benefits go on so let's invest in efficiency Mr Jeff why does the rail industry have a reputation for being stodgy and old-fashioned and doing things like Mr Nells and I described investing in oldfashioned technology rather in growing for the future well I would beg to differ um not surprisingly look we're a 200y old industry we're a legacy industry but I can assure you we're not your grandfather's
▶ 1:20:34railroad We're Not Your Father's Railroad and tomorrow's railroad is not going to be our railroad um and Innovation and Technology are that path forward you talked about using you know detectors from the the 60s that's why we're developing excuse me inspection portals machine visioning acoustic bearing detectors autonomous track inspection technology all that should be encouraged cuz there's a positive safety outcome I've lost my time but let's hope you do enough of that that it actually becomes the reputation of the industry I'm with the opportunity for us thank you Mr chairman I yiel
▶ 1:21:06back gentleman yelds back uh Mr Owens you recognize for five minutes thank you thank you so much Mr chairman and ranking member uh Titus thank you for holding this hearing today as a committee prepares for this uh service Transportation re reauthorization and of course to thank Our Guest I'm thrilled to be a new member of this subcommittee Utah boast as a rich rail history from hosting the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad at the golden spike ceremony in 1869 to our vision of a Statewide
▶ 1:21:36Inland Port uh our goal is uh to be the crossroad of the West as we serve as a vital hub for Freight exchange across the country the ra industry is one I deeply remire admire and my position as Vice chair of the subcommittee of over um education Workforce I applaud America's Freight Wells and using their own funds on Capital expenditures and upkeep expenses while much of our country's infrastructure lags behind uh modern standards and needed upgrades the the uh Freight rail is at
▶ 1:22:06the tip of the spear in its Innovation with an average compensation of over 149,000 and a medium tenure of Railroad employees of 13 years uh this industry continues to be the place where people want to work enjoy working and supporting the family at a large amount of student debt as a member of the education Workforce committee I look forward to working with you to better connect America's great talent to this essential industry uh Mr jeffes from the workforce perspective what does your industry do differently and
▶ 1:22:36how can other Industries struggle struggling with stagnant wages and employment and retention and low morale learn from the railroads thank you for the question and you know you you you hit the nail on the head our employees as Mr Cy made the point our employees are are the are the key reason that we are able to serve America's communities and customers so well and do it at such a high level of safety and they deserve our thanks every day um and you're right that the average tenure
▶ 1:23:07for a rail employee is almost four times that of other Industries and so we're very proud of that and we want to keep our folks uh keep them on online and uh that's why we have fourth generation railroaders um working working at our on our teams um so I would I would put a few different uh pieces together other one um we've worked very hard over the past few years to to to build a positive momentum uh with our employees whether that's um scheduling agreements that provide a more uh predictable schedule for
▶ 1:23:37our operating crafts to uh better plan their lives whether it's uh negotiating outp paid sick benefits of which over 93% of our employees now have or whether it's getting a jump on collective bargaining uh so that our employees don't have to wait several years before they get their uh additional paying increases and I'm I'm very pleased that while the latest round of bargaining started just just this past November we already have five national agreements fully ratified in place so the employees of those five unions know what their salary
▶ 1:24:07increases are going to be for the next five years they know their health care is going to be almost half that the cost of their Healthcare is going to cost almost half that of the general population and they know that they're going to get additional days off early in their careers um not to mention additional deals that have been done on a railro by railroad basis is the lock in agreements as well um and so it's about listening to the employees it's about understanding what their priorities are again we have a new generation of railroaders coming on to the railroad that have different priorities different uh different
▶ 1:24:37desires from what they want to see and a lot of that's about work life balance and understandably being able to to plan your life and schedule your life and be home for for Planned events and so that's a continuing effort but I think that's a priority you hear from our executive level um day in and day out and that resonates and we're seeing progress there I just want to make a point I mentioned earlier that the medium tenure of the Railroad employees 13 years the private sector is three so there's something that you're doing right for sure I want to
▶ 1:25:07add just one other question before we let this go the efforts to cut red tape associated with uh has been successful in recent years what more can be done to FastTrack routine mainten maintenance in replacement construction projects without ignoring environmental or historic preservation concerns Mr so quickly a couple different things one Congress has already taken a huge step in fact taken it twice um when it directed The American Council on historic preservation to provide the same categorical exclusions to rail properties as it does Highway properties
▶ 1:25:38when replacing old assets however however the ACP has continued to ignore congress's Direction so they need another reminder two when replacing existing assets same infrastructure whether it's rail whether it's uh Bridges um one limited reviews of course um but also looking at the impact of that project some of the things we've seen also look at the impacts of the Commodities that move over that project once complete Commodities we have a common carrier obligation to move to us that's not part of an appropriate environmental review
▶ 1:26:08we should be talking about the project itself with set timelines and shot clocks okay just want to wrap up by saying Mr Cassie we are going to do our best education Workforce to prepare some of the greatest kids in our country for a great industry so just know we're on on top of that we're going to make sure we address it in a big way thank you so much and I back Jim's back Miss fushi thank you Mr chairman and ranking member Titus for holding this hearing and thank you to the witnesses for being with us today
▶ 1:26:39Mr Jeff are railroads currently using artificial intelligence to perform safety inspections and if so are they doing so in a wholly automated way or are these AI programs being monitored by or were used in conjunction with railroad safety inspectors so the the short answer is yes a AI is being deployed and when you when you think about what happens every day on the network whether it's via um detectors sensors
▶ 1:27:10um other information um we We Gather an immense amount of data about not only the operations the safety but the service of our of our Network and so the more data we continue to gather we can use AI through Predictive Analytics to determine uh when a product might begin to show wear and tear based on historical performance or in a service standpoint we might be able to further calibrate delivery windows so that our customers can better have a sense of when we're going to arrive
▶ 1:27:40plan their workday have their employees ready um and so there's there's Myriad ways but certainly there's always a human element to that so for example if an inspection portal identifies a potential flaw in uh in a train as it runs through it that's when you have the employee then take a look at that and uh determine exactly what's going on and then if there's a need to fix it have the employee go out and fix it um so I would say we're very much in the embryonic stage of how AI might be able to be deployed but
▶ 1:28:10uh we're certainly using it and uh as a way to really conduct in-depth analysis to what is a gargantuan amount of data we pull and will continue to pull and secondly I'm curious what standards if any a has in place or is planning to put in place regarding the use of artificial intelligence in Railway safety building on what you just said not only at the a but also we have a an IT company called Rail Link located in kry North
▶ 1:28:40Carolina um um and I would say we're we're we're figuring out that path forward now um right now ai like I said we're in the embryonic stages and um once as as as we practices um at the industry level there's always an opportunity to compare best practices and determine maybe what um what the best use of information may be or how to best uh uh address um um any issues identified by technology might be and
▶ 1:29:10so AI specific um we we're we don't have any sort of specific standard in place but I would talk more about how technology plays into inspections repairs car repairs Etc absolutely we do thank you Mr Cassidy we just had a near shutdown of some of our nation's ports due to disagreement between labor and management over increased automation from your perspective with smart TD in what ways do you see the
▶ 1:29:41freight railroads seeking to automate their safety work sure thank you for the question congresswoman so AI is is becoming a unique challenge in that you know one it's needed and it has its purpose but two it also is one of those things that we got to make sure happens in the light of day and so to speak to your direct question about the long Shan ways that we can c aai um obviously there is an appetite or a growing desire for the railroads to eliminate on board crew staff on the locomotives and the trains
▶ 1:30:11that are being operated you look at the Technologies being developed and the tasks that they're equipped to do and the way that the railroads are approaching it you can you can see the writing on the wall for automation very quickly as an example CSS recently put out a a letter to their training mentors that they are encouraged to reduce training time where PTC is present simply because they feel as though it it it it relieves some of the pressures put on the conductor and that's not true and when we're talking about artificial intelligence it is deployed
▶ 1:30:41in the railroad and to Mr Jeffrey's point you know we do have these car portals we do have track inspection but but it's not being communicated to the people that need it most and that's the workers and I'll give you two very quick examples Lexing Kentucky in Lexington Kentucky a few month or a few weeks ago we had a derailment a technology that was deployed on a locomotive that is there through AI to scan the track identified a defect in the rail and said basically there was a wide gauge that was about to happen and that that defect went unacted
▶ 1:31:11on for 5 days then sure enough a dment occurred on that exact point of that rail where the AI uh detected it to the flip side of that when you when you talk about car portals in Nebraska we had a a train with a broken wheel it was was a system train that went back and forth there was at least five times that train in that particular car with a broken wheel went through the car portal and it was identified we have the pictures but it wasn't acted upon on the railroad until the actual wheel failed and we had a dment that we went to it so when we developed new technologies we have Innovation
▶ 1:31:41we've got to make sure to chair or to to Congressman nil's point and Congressman Molt's point that the information is going to where it needs to go not just to a back room or a closet where it's hidden in the dark but to the employees that hold that responsibility and hold that accountability to make sure that they stay safe that the public stays safe and that we're doing the right thing AI is important but it's got to be done in the light of day thank you for that Mr chairman that's my time I'll yeld back J Ys back
▶ 1:32:11uh Mr bson recognize for five minutes thank you Mr chairman um Mr Baker um you didn't mention my district so I'll say um Southwest Missouri there are 315 miles of track that's owned or operated by Shortline and Regional Rail and um you emphasized in your testimony that um many these are small businesses I mean it's thrown out the big big corporations but no these are small
▶ 1:32:42businesses um and I think small businesses are the backbone of of the American economy and vital to every state including the state of Missouri um that being said what if you had to to rank in order the most egregious the most burdensome and ridiculous regulations that your industry faces what are what are the top three uh well first of all I apologize for not mentioning your District I would have loved to but I found Congress is very strict about the
▶ 1:33:12five minutes hey you're welcome to come to Southwest Missouri it's beautiful I I will I will happily accept that invitation uh I would love to love to join maybe combine it with a visit to the Chairman's District also sounds good um the boy the most the most egregious um I will say on one which is really more kind of red tape than a regulation but uh on on the Chrissy grants when they come there are recipients of the grants who just ask for
▶ 1:33:42permission to use pre-award Authority that is basically to spend their own money at risk before the grant gets finalized just so they can get things going buy materials for instance higher Engineers hire contractors start the work and it is very difficult to even get Authority for pre-award approval from the F for the life of me I cannot figure out why that is anything other than an easy yes instantaneously that's one
▶ 1:34:13uh conductor well dispatcher certifications uh dispatcher and signalment certifications is a new rule that is coming that I believe is a textbook example of solving a problem that just doesn't exist there's no data no reason to believe that we had dispatchers or signalmen who are untrained or undertrained or causing accidents because of a lack of training we find the certifications to be I mean at the end of the day you're employing these individuals and if they're
▶ 1:34:43not doing a good job or they're not safe then they're not going to have that job that's right and there's perfect alignment of incentives it's not like there's some world where we wouldn't want our employ own employees to be trained to do the job anybody that understands lure laws and certification laws understands it's all about reducing the number of people that are eligible to work right and so you can drive up labor costs this is what happens in the Health Care System every every envir you know work labor related industry that wants to impose government
▶ 1:35:14you know certification requirements is just about reducing the uh the labor yes um the I wanted to ask um I believe Mr Jeff you in your testimony you highlighted the importance of um Congress to oppose policies that harm the railroad's ability to operate safely and efficiently such as requiring a two-person crew in Freight locomotive cabs which there's been zero
▶ 1:35:44quantitative evidence that a two-person crew would mandate actually enhance safety so um could you highlight what is the impact and the effect in the industry that this twers rule has so as I mentioned uh at the outset Locking and current operating practice and perpetuity in our view is never a good idea in industries that continue to evolved whether it's a rail industry or any other industry and your your point is spoton
▶ 1:36:14there's absolutely no data to show that that regulation advances safety in 2016 the Obama Administration and its preamble to the PRM itut out acknowledged it much in 2019 when the Trump Administration withdrew it they acknowledged as much 2020 on the campaign Trail President Biden made a campaign promise that he was going to put the rule back out he did still a lack of data technology has only continued to advance PTC has only continued to advance our view is that
▶ 1:36:45look operate excuse me train consus has always been a matter for collective bargaining between us and our employees that's where it should be there's no data to support another outcome and we think locking in current operating practice is counterintuitive to the continued progress of the industry especially when especially when one of the core priorities identified by our employees is establishing more of a work life balance and when we can create a scenario when an employee Works a scheduled shift
▶ 1:37:15goes home to bed in their home every night then we believe there's opportunities to continue to have that conversation with our unions to see if if there are agreements that can be met in certain situations thank you my time is has expired I y'll back chman yields back Mr Delo thank you Mr chairman and good
▶ 1:37:45morning gentlemen uh I want to start on a place uh I think around safety where we agree in Industry Mr Jeff you represent the big class one railroads Mr Baker the the Shortline railroads railroad crossing elimination program and for folks at home it's a pretty important program that can fund safety improvements at rail crossings I'll talk about my district in Western Pennsylvania uh nearly half of my constituents live in within a mile of the tracks 95% or so live within five miles
▶ 1:38:16I hear from local government all the time about concerns and safety issues around Crossings Cheswick and my home to a Crossing with the second highest accident rate in the Northeast United States the keys rocks in my district fifth worst rate in Pennsylvania uh so I see you both nodding Mr Jeff I'll start with you you agree this program is important can help improve safety for the big railroads and Mr bre I'll ask you the same question about your railroads 100% we supported it in development of the iiga and we look forward to supporting it
▶ 1:38:46in the next uh reauthorization effort very good Mr Baker the the program works I think we only all wish the there could be more of it uh the biggest challenge with grade separations is just they're they're quite expensive it's not hypothetical in my district or I assume many of my colleagues you know this really is a risk to our communities I I I hear from so many uh local officials about this problem we need to make sure we continue to fund this in a real way now maybe where we aren't going to agree so much our broader rail safety efforts
▶ 1:39:16um that have been quite bipartisan uh you know I commend Mr Nells from Texas Mr Molton miss syes Mr ruy who represents East Palestine I represent the Western pennsylvanians also impacted by the terrible derailment uh in East Palestine with norol Southern almost 2 years ago and yet we still have not had Congress take any action on rail safety that is unacceptable to me and my constituents I've heard Mr ruy talk about his constituents in East Palestine I've heard it from vice president Vance president Trump I heard it from the prior Administration
▶ 1:39:47they support these rail safety efforts and yet nothing's happened I don't accept uh and I guess a simple part of this is whether we're going to trust the rail industry to regulate themselves Mr Cassie let me start with you you represent men women who work in this industry who work to keep the trains moving moving safely and efficiently Mr Cassy do you trust the railroads to regulate themselves unfortunately I do not um they make a lot of unilateral changes quite regularly
▶ 1:40:17that are the outcome of external pressures whether that be Wall Street or scheduling or whatever that may be and they find ways to capitulate to those pressures which unfortunately end up cutting corners and that affect our people you know when you look at long trains when you look at the scheduling when you look at attendance policies all of these things have impacts on on the workforce and ultimately the service you know twers crew if if they have their way Mr jeffre just said it they they don't feel the need for the keep the conductor
▶ 1:40:47but if we remove the conductor off the cab of the locomotive we do have a history that shows two person Crews and the conductor deliver a level of safety to to remove that person you are going to equate to risk you're going to bring a new risk into it so we got to make sure that that we have guidelines and guardrails that we're doing the right things because they're going to have impacts on the American public and when you look at attendance policies just an example last week I believe it was maybe two BNSF decided to cut and slash their attendance policy without any conversation or consideration
▶ 1:41:18you know work life balance is being used up here as though it's a gift but it's not a gift it's a hammer over our workers head and so we've got to make sure that we're doing the right things for the workers and in turn do the right things for the American public we want and need the railroads to succeed please don't get me wrong Rich railroads work well for our membership successful railroads work well for our membership we need them to do the right thing but unfortunately we cannot trust them to do that because there are pressures that they capitulate to and and we can't we can't account for that
▶ 1:41:48well Mr C you made a point about railroad succeeding being good for your members MERS and being good for our country right we have to move Goods safely and quickly I'm not willing to use my constituents as collateral damage in the way of profits we have to move things on the rails safely and to the point of trusting the railroads to regulate themselves in the year after the derailment the class one railroads derailment rate increased I'll read you a quote about those figures quote these figures show the railroads industry's
▶ 1:42:18safety standards are getting worse we can reverse the trend by passing The Railroad safy act immediately that was Senator Vance who's now our vice president let's pass the legislation protect my community protect communities like ours all over the country chairman I'll yeld back chlan y's back Mr Fong you recognize for five minutes uh thank you Mr chairman um wanted to ask a few questions of Mr Jeff and Mr Baker I certainly share uh your
▶ 1:42:49perspective it was important uh that carb withdrew their petition um to implement as an unworkable uh inuse locomotive Rule and I think that's important for our supply chain didn't want to ask if there were other state or federal policies um that are going to hinder or uh rail operations in California specifically well thank you for the question um if I could just comment quickly uh 2022
▶ 1:43:19uh the 2023 derailment rate was significantly lower than 2022 in the first 10 months it's lower than of 24 was lower than 23 2.77 incidents per million train miles um that's not good enough it should be zero but progress continues to be made on that front and um I just wanted to to to make sure the record reflected that um and thank you for your support on carbs misguided efforts uh you were a leader in the efforts and calling out the the uh uh while while
▶ 1:43:49Noble in the pursuit the uh the complete unrealistic attempt and legal attempt for card to to do what it did look at the end of the day um you know California uh and carbon particular uh they seem to be a model for bureaucratic overreach time and time again and uh you know our Our concern especially when it's a rail industry um if carb acts and they're allowed to act that's not a state regulation it's effectively a Federal Regulation because we're a nationwide interconnected Network
▶ 1:44:19now fortunately that's why the stb surface Transportation board has strong strong strong preemption Authority and that was the second law uh that carb was violating trying to regulate this but um I you know be happy to sit down with your team and get into more specifics on individual regs but um thank you for your support on on the Loco emissions peace thank you I I would say the the carb rule was so egregious and so kind of terrifying for the Shortline industry about essentially threatening to put us
▶ 1:44:49out of business we we are again thrilled that it was withdrawn I'm appreciate your support in particular and helping with that I do think that Congress um would be wise to consider taking a look at the Clean Air Act and the authority that's given to carb and changing at least limiting that in scope so that at least on industries that are clearly meant to be regulated at the federal level not the state level like railroads that um we can't revisit this nightmare
▶ 1:45:19the next time uh they have an Administration that might be willing to approve such a waiver absolutely um certainly it's uh we all know that rail is a key component of the supply chain that is not only in California but across the country that certainly you that's part of our concern about about carbs uh rule I did want to ask you know how can uh Freight rail infrastructure be expanded or optimized to accommodate the increasing demand and Supply chains um
▶ 1:45:50uh and and capacity of course what are the key rail corridors in California uh that can be improved um how can we expand rail capacity at the ports um to uh to create um some coordination if if to to reduce congestion and improve the flow of goods so one of the the common themes we've heard I think is through sensible permitting reform to to let dollars get put to work more quickly in a more efficient way and that's really just about setting timelines recognizing what should
▶ 1:46:20be pre-existing categorical um and avoiding unnecessary costs through inflationary delay um in our ports we've seen significant efforts uh to to increase information sharing among the supply chain stakeholders that's key uh the the The Barstow Intermodal Gateway in Southern California massive investment occurring um getting that approved so it can be built quickly get those containers out of the Southern California base and quickly let them be uh uh built into into trains
▶ 1:46:50and dispersed throughout the country out in a big open space key there's other massive projects like that and really the surface Transportation board who I mentioned before exercising its permitting excuse me it's um preemption authority over both rail projects and our customers projects Mr beger I I I'd add again at the risk of harping it harping on it the Chrissy program is extraordinarily effective at investing in Shortline infrastructure in including in California the Sierra Northern
▶ 1:47:21recently received one for building out a big rail loading yard uh and so further support of programs like that and and having it move faster I think will accomplish exactly what you're looking for I appreciate that I think my time is running out but I appreciate the work that's being done uh in in the rail industry to to move our our products and our Goods across the country and get them from the ports and to our homes and businesses and Farms so thank you and I back chman he's back Mr Garcia you recognized
▶ 1:47:51for five minutes thank you uh Mr chairman and ranking uh member to our Witnesses here today I represent Chicago uh the nation's busy as Freight Hub one of every four us freight trains passes through Chicago that's about 500 freight trains and 800 passenger and commuter trains every day I was glad to see that uh the the Chicago region environmental and transportation efficiency program better known as create
▶ 1:48:22received two important grants from us dot nearly 300 million will go to improvements on a threemile elevated rail Corridor on Chicago southside and another 43 million will be invested on building a great separation along 65th Street and Harlem Avenue across the street from my district together this funding will help relieve congestion along Chicago's rail network improve supply chain efficiency and make Community safer
▶ 1:48:52as well well this is made possible through the collaboration between public sector and class one railroads uh Mr jeffes uh can you speak about how important programs like create are for our national rail and Freight Network well thank you for that question it was great to see you at the event in December on the south side of Chicago um it's they're critically important and create is the model program for the rest of the country and we often get approach from other
▶ 1:49:23um of hey we want to do a create and we explain uh the commitment from not only the the freight railroads but the commuter railroads Amtrak the city the county the state the US do and how we've all worked together to identify a discret set of very large projects um that different parties benefit from at different times but everyone has skin in The game everyone has maintained a commitment absolutely critically important and we're we're thrilled with the outcome of last Fall's Awards and um I'll
▶ 1:49:53just give you a quick example uh our our leader of create in in Chicago was invited to Southern California to talk about the create program and he said it dawned on him that the close to 100 officials who were there representing local governments it was probably the first time they'd been in a room together and so the bound of coordination in Chicagoland is is to be applauded and something we're very proud of let's keep it going by all means uh Mr Cassie changing gears uh I appreciate you mentioning High-Speed
▶ 1:50:23Rail in your testimony thousands of miles of railroad tracks crisscross Chicago making rail essential to supporting a robust economy in the midwest it supports thousands of good paying union jobs it connects small towns to big cities connects people to schools and jobs and connects businesses to Commodities as well that's why High-Speed Rail is an exciting prospect for the Midwest Not only would it spur Economic Development it would low lower carbon emissions
▶ 1:50:53and create thousands of good jobs a commission in Illinois is currently studying the Chicago to St Louis route and will produce a Statewide plan uh can you address how transformational a high-speed rail system in the midwest would be and what role can the federal government play to support development plans for High-Speed Rail sure thank you for the question highspeed rail would be absolutely transformational for the rail industry and for all the reasons that you addressed I mean the off efficiency and the effectiveness and
▶ 1:51:23the benefits for the American public are exponential and hard to be Quantified in such a sort statement like this but for the real workers as well to know that we would have the opportunity to see the economy and the infrastructure grow is is something that that we haven't seen for a long time that's why bright Line West is so encouraging because the more we look at transportation in our country the more we recognize that the highway system isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing anymore that it's too crowded that it's that it's it's not efficient is it should be High-Speed Rail
▶ 1:51:54gives us the opportunity to alleviate a lot of those pressures but we need the government's help to encourage those construction projects we need the government's help to fund those those projects and we need the government's Buy in on the rail industry to make sure that we are expanding that kind of like what's been talked about already this morning is that for whatever reason and I know Mr Jeff talked about this isn't your granddad's railroad but the public view when they see the railroad system we have been in the background for so long that they don't they don't View view it as the next step for some reason
▶ 1:52:24Aviation gets this gets this whatever put on it to to make it seem as though that is the ultimate future but the ultimate future doesn't have to be there we have opportunities in the rail space to to take people where they're not easily able to go smaller routes longer routes faster routes High-Speed Rail is absolutely critical in development for our country and we just need the government's Buy in and we need financial support and support across the board thank you sir U Mr chair i y back gentan
▶ 1:52:54y's back Mr bagage you're recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chair um my first question is to Mr Baker so Mr Baker uh you noted in your testimony that 100% of Alaska's rail is Shortline rail alaskans have long sought a rail connection that would tie Alaska to the rest of the North American rail network in your view what steps should we consider to support such a connection that's a
▶ 1:53:24fabulous question I you I mean the current route of connecting is quite elaborate and involves fairies and is is not sort of realistic for where you where I think you would like to take the state and the country a a project like that is really is really a mega Grant um and so I think it would be important for Congress to continue Grant programs like infra and Ray and mega that really contemplate some of
▶ 1:53:54these maybe not quite moonshot but big deal infrastructure programs there are a lot of Shortline projects including some on the existing Alaska railroad infrastructure where five or 10 or 20 million can really really move the dial and we do a lot of those and we're very proud of that a project like you're talking about is is sort of exponentially more than that and I do think that the country and the people of the country have appetite for that that sort of thing and and the project you're talking about is a is a great
▶ 1:54:25example I'd be thrilled to support it thank you um this is this is a question from Mr Jeff M Mr Jeff in your uh testimony you mentioned that um in real terms inflation adjusted real terms cost of moving Freight on rail have declined by 42% since 1980 um do you have any information or and if not could you at some future time provide this committee with information
▶ 1:54:56on what has happened to the cost of new rail construction over that same period of time has that also trended down or has that gone up in real terms uh I wish uh unfortunately no it hasn't due to cost of materials due to inflationary pressures as every other industry is seeing and if if I could be so bold I would I would expect my my colleague Mr Delio uh can comment on it a little more sophisticatedly than than I might be able to no definitely thank you thank you Congressman thank you Ian so material
▶ 1:55:26pricing has gone up labor pricing has gone up equipment pricing everything has gone up almost exponentially you know and we talked earlier about the the grant time process about these grants so a lot of times contractors and our Consulting engineer members are involved in the initial stages of putting together budget pricing for some of these grants and we do that with good faith hoping you know that they're going to escalate maybe a year out and then we get a call three years later that hey the grant got approved then you know the price now is a third of what
▶ 1:55:56it should be so yes the answer your question everything is we see that continually going up then this is a question I'll for for anyone who who might have an answer uh to it do you have any suggestions on how we can drive down the cost of new rail construction not to hit on the the same theme but I would say you know getting projects approved more quickly to allow the money to be put the ground more quickly not to circumvent any appropriate reviews but let's
▶ 1:56:26just put some certainty into the process so that the money you have now is used and you don't need twice as much 10 years from now and the Project's approved just to chime in there so I think you know with new technologies especially on the Contracting side whether it's new tools new equipment that's helping us be more efficient and be able to build track faster I mean that that definitely is is a way to lower the costs very good and um does anyone anyone here today know how the tier one network was originally
▶ 1:56:59financed was it government grants was it money the ultimate public private partnership okay I I think it's fantastic that we're hearing about a high-speed rail rail that goes you know 200 miles an hour it's great for for passengers there's a lot of innovation on the freight side let's connect Alaska to the North American rail network so that we can be a part of this uh same success story thank you and I yield back
▶ 1:57:29Gman y's back Mr Cohen you're recognized thank you thank you um the infrastructure investment and jobs act also known as the ilja also known as the bipartisan infrastructure Bill also known as the Biden infrastructure Bill I'd prefer to call it the Biden Cohen Bill U has provided an unprecedented opportunity to modernize our rail system strengthen our economy and improve connectivity for millions of Americans one program I'd like to highlight is
▶ 1:57:59the corridor identification and development also known as the corridor ID program which is awarded $500,000 to study the feasibility of Passenger rail quarter connecting Memphis to Nashville and then on to Chattanooga and to Atlanta this Sun Belt Atlantic connector will connect major population centers fostering economic growth and reducing traffic congestion in our region Tennessee and Georgia's like are eager for the eventual completion of this project and hopefully can move to the next phase expeditiously I also remain committed to enhancing the passenger experience
▶ 1:58:29on amra Mr uh Garcia didn't mention the amra service that goes from through Memphis into New Orleans and as a kid i r a Panama Limited in the City of New Orleans and we went up to Chicago quite a few times and down to New Orleans as well uh we've had great food on some of those particularly the Panama limited and they had the best service a Pullman train but they had big thick steaks and big thick French toast and they don't have that anymore so I've introduced two bills the train food Act and the trains eat act
▶ 1:59:00which aim to restore and improve onboard dining services and longdistance routes I think would improve the experience and and the ridership when reauthorizing surface Transportation programs for Amtrak we must not neglect the passenger experience quality dining service essential to attracting and retaining Riders making rail travel enjoyable uh an alternative to driving or flying finally I want to address a pressing ISS in America and in Memphis cargo theft um unfortunately and sadly Memphis which has a large uh listic
▶ 1:59:30sub and cargo uh has seen cargo theft Spike alarming in recent years posing threats to businesses and Supply chains addressing this problems not just a local concern it's a national concern and I believe Mr Jeff but even more so Mr Baker discussed trucks and your competition with trucks obviously you don't like trucks trucks have 80% of the cargo thefts so you like that um but it's a great problem in Memphis we're trying to deal with it and uh we need more
▶ 2:00:00solutions Mr Mr Jeff the FBI has developed a task force composed of members of the US Marshall service Memphis Police Shelby County Sheriff's Office what additional areas of collaboration could be established between Freight railroads law enforcement and other stakeholders to enhance preemptive measures and effectively combat cargo theft on trains well well thank you for highlighting that and that's a prior majority of ours is is is making Headway because um not only is an issue in Memphis it's an issue across several parts of the country and frankly the the epitome of Interstate
▶ 2:00:30crime uh it is a federal issue um that we need Federal attention to and one of the most frustrating things we've seen is that you know arrests are made and prosecutions don't occur and that's why we're advocating and hopefully this task force will draw some uh attention to to to getting some resources behind prosecutions and putting folks Behind Bars and moving up the chain because this is absolutely an organized effort um the sophisticated effort and railroads are investing on their own to to increase deterrence increase
▶ 2:01:01monitoring and vigilance but it's going to take everybody working together because the problem's not going away and uh we we'll look forward to partnering with you on this thank you I know in the 1880s when Jesse and Frank were doing their job on the trains the trains jumped into and hired the pinkertons so you need to get the 21st century pinkertons on this and if I May uh Congressman we we certainly view trucks as our big competitors but we we would absolutely view we're on the same page as them on
▶ 2:01:31on cargo theft issues we would not wish theft on even our our harshest competitors but if you had a choice uh please stay away from the trains yes right um Mr Jeff the this quarter I talked about Memphis on to Atlanta could do a lot to to improve congestion and and and the environment as well reducing emissions how can Freight rail railroad Partners uh work with passenger rail projects to advance these climate goals and Equitable
▶ 2:02:01development uh so when we've seen these projects work well of which there are numerous examples around the country all stakeholders get together at the front end and sit down and talk about desired outcomes and so that's the municipality that's the state um that's the passenger entity that's the the the the affected Freight Railroad and talk about okay what we want to achieve what capacity is necessary what investment is necessary to ensure that capacity and who's going to pay for it and so I've I've got four seconds and I want
▶ 2:02:31to ask Mr Cassidy something you talked about the ultimate future and where we should look at Transportation Elon says it's Mars should we putting all that money into planting a flag on mars or should we maybe do it somewhere like Memphis thank you for the question I mean you know I'm intrigued by the the thought of going to Mars but the reality is is is when we're talking about investments in in taxpayer money the Investments here in the country and the biggest benefit is is moving them to where they need to go safely and
▶ 2:03:01efficiently and and there's no better opportunity than the railroad system and High-Speed Rail in my opinion is the greatest opportunity for funding to do something meaningful for the people of America to to make an impact on the economy and the infrastructure as a whole thank you unless you're Ralph kramden's wife you're not going to the Moon you'll back bounc in my time gentleman yields Mr Kennedy you recognize for five minutes thank you chair Webster and ranking member tius appreciate you convening this committee and thanks to the witnesses you've been here for a while and I appreciate
▶ 2:03:31your willingness to to elucidate these issues U Basin Railways an important project in Utah's Third District and it's my district is home to the ENT Basin with its major oil fields there's several crude by rail projects in the works of my district and that is one of them and it's an opportunity for us to reduce truck traffic on dangerous roads these are these are mountain roads with terrible weather sometimes and move that crude oil out of the base and move Goods into the Basin so with that in
▶ 2:04:02mind Mr Baker I was interested in your take on this is what are some of the major regulatory issues that face the railroad industry generally as it relates to American energy and what steps we can take to enhance energy dominance in the United States of America and Utah my Congress congressional district specifically the the U Basin project project is very exciting it would be served by a Shortline railroad which would then connect to Union Pacific and uh connect it to the World um there was a uh
▶ 2:04:32big regulatory threat to that particular project as you know the um the stb approve the surface Transportation board approved it with its environmental analysis it was extremely exhaustive and I thought impressive analysis and then a court overturned it and said that they didn't properly consider essentially the downstream effects of how the oil would be used which is um Ian referenced a similar issue earlier today that was just reargued in front of the Supreme Court and I think the outcome
▶ 2:05:02is heading in a direction that makes sense where the the reviews will now be limited and this is this has to answer your question important outcome is that reviews be limited to the actual project rather than sort of a holistic view of how every commodity is going to be use because if we do that then we'll never build anything and there you know they frankly not a lot of brand new Rail lines that get built in this country the Basin one is an exciting one I'm sure
▶ 2:05:32um Mr delisio's members would be very excited to get to work building it and we're excited to get to work moving it and the folks in U Basin are excited to get to work selling it and most probably most importantly this stuff already moves like you said on trucks on dangerous mountain roads moving up by rail is a is a better outcome for literally everybody thank you and with that Mr dosio would you tell us what that would mean if you were able to participate you and those that you represent were able to
▶ 2:06:02participate in building that Railway thank you Congressman I'm sorry could you please repeat that what would uh what would that mean to you if we could you and your industry if we could actually enhance the start to build that Railway that we're seeking to build there in my district thank you well it mean it means a lot I mean Our member companies are all a lot of them are small family-owned companies a lot of them are larger companies but to get those funds to be able to get those projects and get involved I mean all that money that is spent to get those companies out there get the workforce on
▶ 2:06:32the ground get their equipment on the ground start laying material that all trickles down to the feed their families I mean it's it's so vital I mean we have so many members all across this country that are just itching to build more track I mean we just we need help to be able to do that and do it safely and start get those trains on them and get them moving well we're itching to help you to accomplish that goal because it's it would be outstanding for us Mr Jeff I had a question for you as to along these lines efforts to cut red tape associated with these infrastructure projects approval
▶ 2:07:02and construction have been successful in recent years but what more can still be done to fast trck routine maintenance and replacement construction projects without ignoring environmental or historical preservation concerns thank you for the question so two things one um and Congress has already told the ad excuse me the advisory committee on historic preservation to do this provide the same categorical exclusions to replacement of uh historic assets as you do highways uh again Congress has spoken twice on this the the
▶ 2:07:33the independent agency has not yet acted so maybe third time a charm um and then uh you you kind of gave me the answer with your question uh for routine maintenance routine replacement again cator exclusions that limit the the actual construction versus that which flows over it versus other uh extraneous thank you for those responses and once again thank you all of you for being here with us and Mr chair I yield back chairman y's back Mr Johnson you recognize for five
▶ 2:08:04minutes thank you Mr chairman and thank you uh M uh Madame reiking member for hosting this critical hearing today and thank you to the witnesses for your time and for your testimony the United States leads the world with the most extensive rail transport Network spanning approximately 160,000 miles many of our communities especially in regions like my home state of Georgia started with a railroad stop entire towns were built around these
▶ 2:08:34vital pieces of infrastructure because we understand their importance yet today it operates without consistent long-term funding required to maintain and expand this essential infrastructure as we all know climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and rail emerges as a transformative solution our system provides the safest most energy efficient and environmentally sustainable mode of transportation by alleviating
▶ 2:09:04traffic congestion and reducing Reliance on fossil fuels rail plays a vital role in creating a cleaner future its ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for surpasses Road and Air transport without the security of long-term funding however it's a challenge to build on the progress achieved from long ago and through President Biden's bipartisan infrastructure law Mr
▶ 2:09:34Cassidy expanding and modernizing our rail network to reach more communities with improved service means creating good paying jobs fostering domestic manufacturing and ensuring our infrastructure meets the demands of the Century this effort requires significant investments in projects all across the country uh with funding such as the $52.79 billion allocated by the
▶ 2:10:04Federal Railroad Administration for 594 safety uh rail Improvement projects can you explain what it would mean for communities if funding if Federal funding like this was not available sure thank you for the question Congressman uh I knew at one point I was going to get some sort of economical question I want to remind everybody I am a locomotive engineer so I'm gonna take my biggest swing here but railroading is is an industry worth investing in we are
▶ 2:10:34absolutely critical to moving forward um with with everything that we do whether it's passenger or Freight you know there was discussion about the unit Basin we as labor support the notion that there is no safer or better way to move Commodities on the planet Earth than through our rail system and so everything that we depend on on our day-to-day lives the the food on the stores the the technology in in best buyer or wherever else you may go odds are that's touch to train at some point and so if we don't fund the railroad systematically
▶ 2:11:05we stand to lose a lot of the benefits we have in our daily lives and on the flip side of that we also stand the opportunity to to not have the safest work environment that we should have you know funding allows us to do all of the right things and to expand in a world where we need expansion so that we can make things easier to get to so that we can have products more readily available and hopefully frankly cheaper to buy and you create more Economic Development you create absolutely you create more jobs you have more workers you have more good paying jobs and
▶ 2:11:35in the turn it recycles and all of the good benefits of that pay out to everybody well thank you it's uh been said at this hearing Mr Cassidy um that the number of derailments has gone down over the last few years but according to to the Federal Railroad Administration data the number of derailments has increased year-over-year in 2021 2022 and 2023 um Mr Cassidy is Congress and the new Administration
▶ 2:12:06prepare for the new Surface Transportation Bill what key protection should be prioritized to enhance rail safety for workers and passengers sure there's a lot and basically I'll start with the rail enhancement safety act that that Congressman Nells introduced last year it hit a lot of those priorities that we need to do to make sure that safety is is heading down the right path you know the data in this industry obviously can be interpreted differently um clearly Mr Jeff and myself are of different opinions
▶ 2:12:36on on where we're at with the derailment Rader frequency in this country but we need to take a real look at at what is going on and and not accept that you know we are increasing or we are running flat we're not doing enough to stop these accidents to ranking member Titus this point earlier you know our our organization personally went on nine uh investigations with the national transfer safety sa safety board all of those are indicative of the fact that we need to do more with safety in the rail space you know we need to take a look at
▶ 2:13:06the crew Staffing we need to take at long trains we need to take a look at technology we need to take a look at detectors we need to do a lot of things to make sure the Innovation is welcome in the industry but it's done so in a way that others have the ability to make an imp inut that's in the interest of all stakeholders but then we we put the proper guidelines where we need to to ensure that minimum level safety but allow them to do the development they need to do in the interest of workers in the interest of public but we can collaborate on that we have to collaborate on
▶ 2:13:36that and I do think that's our challenge going forward thank you and I appreciate the grace of the chair and I yeld back gentan y's back Mr stabber you recognize for five minutes thank you Mr chair uh Mr cassid I have to correct you um you said you're just a railroad engineer no you're more than that you're an expert that's why you're here today that's why you're sharing your vision of a safer more reliable railroad so uh please accept my correction you're more than just a railroad engineer and we
▶ 2:14:06appreciate you all Mr Jeff um you know I had some comments here prepared but you you talked about some very important things on NEPA reforms and railroad construction and fixing why would you why why do you have to wait 7 to 9 11 years for the government to uh you know uh put forth uh they okay for you to move forward with construction that's all money and all time that's unnecessary
▶ 2:14:37and so I'm going to I'm going to encourage you as uh this next Congress uh gets going we're going to look at NEPA reviews and you said something that I totally agree with we're not cutting Corners we're going to keep the same environmental standards same labor standards on these projects uh we care about the environment too and so that I think you all can have a strong voice in those reviews um so please be present and and we may ask you to be a witness uh
▶ 2:15:07and such it should not and I'm I'll go to the mining issue for just one moment it takes on average 29 years to open a mine in the United States of America Canada and a Australia and others two to three years come on we can do better than that and I ask for your professional voices during that time um you also talked about uh uh prosecutions and uh uh arrests so being a former law enforcement officer
▶ 2:15:38that's one of the things that frustrated uh me the most and it still frustrates the American law enforcement Community you could have your railroad police uh uh arrest these uh these organized criminals and they get a step on the hand even if that and they're out the next night doing the same thing to your to your rail car stealing the products off there and so if we don't have prosecutions it's going to continue and continue and continue
▶ 2:16:08I hope uh and I trust that this uh new Administration they're going to crack down on rail thefts because it's getting big and you all know that I mean you're adding more rail uh Railroad police Etc but I'm one to uh stand with you on prosecutions because when we don't prosecute that guess who pays more for the end product we the American people and so I'm with I'm absolutely with you on that I want to say something that I think is really important so I I came from
▶ 2:16:38the County government in St Louis County Northern Minnesota so when we had issues with railroad crossing or safety um the community and the rail professionals always were there to help us out to make sure that that Crossing was the safest it can be I want to just tell you that I understand safety is your first second and third priority not only for the public uh but for uh the passengers Etc so I've been on this
▶ 2:17:08community since or this committee rather since day one and you we're all almost on the same page and when we do that we can move mountains and I think that as we as we continue in this Congress let's have that discussion because I think rail is a huge part of our motor Transportation amongst others right I mean we have to we have room for the aviation Community certainly Aviation we have room for uh using our ships and ports Etc certainly we can do
▶ 2:17:38that and I would be remiss if I didn't say that uh duth Minnesota has the most Inland port in the country uh with that being said so we also when we look at passenger safety uh crew safety Etc we're also I think where we can up it a little bit is training for our First Responders Across the Nation because if there's an incident that's often times in the rural communities where those First Responders are the first ones there we have to we have to really get
▶ 2:18:09really good at notifying and um and preparing and training for our rural First Responders and that includes our Native American communities because we're going through a lot of tribal land too we need to make sure that we prepare them so that in case there is an incident that we're well prepared and that we can reduce the harm and so I for a legisl a legislator like me I'm looking for all of you for that expertise advice so
▶ 2:18:39when we talk about rail safety when we need to put legislation that you're at the table I'm I I really appreciate the expertise in this panel and thank you for your time for coming this afternoon Mr chair yield back gentleman yields back Mr Ryan you recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman I'm excited to join this subcommittee for the first time and uh and thank you to the ranking member as well thank you to our Witnesses uh for now many hours of of your time this morning um
▶ 2:19:10I proudly represent the Hudson Valley region which is north of New York City uh significant amount of railroad traffic both uh Freight and passenger including 123 miles of uh CSX run Freight on the west side of the Hudson River uh many areas uh and and Crossing specifically in my district as has been discussed desperately need safety enhancements and investment and redesigns from traffic signal upgrades to prevent congestion backups roadway redesigns and enhanced Warning
▶ 2:19:40Systems even basic signage which we're lacking at many of these Crossings uh for example the town of sties in my district um which is an entirely ungated Crossing lacks any warning lights and in 2017 a constituent riding in a taxi uh was killed when her Taxi Driver missed a stop sign and and drove right into the path of an oncoming train a simple fix like warning signage would have helped avoid this tragic incident uh CSX operates as I said trains throughout
▶ 2:20:10many densely populated urban areas in my district uh including the city of Kingston my hometown which has 35 on average freight trains a day running through the heart of a pretty busy City carrying a lot of things but including waste petroleum industrial industrial chemicals and other potentially harmful substances um we greatly appreciate the role CSX plays in our economy as has been discussed here but uh it's been a repeated point of challenge um I was also
▶ 2:20:40in County uh government like my colleague said to get cooperation from CSX to really work with us on that so I'll continue to focus on that uh in fact in the town of olster last year a constituent of mine was struck and killed by a CSX train due to lack of any pedestrian Crossing signage um so I want to work in good faith in a bipartisan way to figure out how to address things like this in an encouraging sign and you mentioned this in your testimony Mr jeffre
▶ 2:21:11your written testimony uh the city of Port Jervis also in my district just received one of the railroad crossing elimination rce grants uh thanks to funding from the bipartisan infrastructure uh legislation this was another uh very problematic intersection where a few years ago someone was struck and killed um and this funding will be a GameChanger to help address that um so uh my my first question is is to you Mr jeffre just to ask um on that point of the RC
▶ 2:21:41grants and other similar grants can you just talk about the value of that um and and would ask your help to work at a local tactical level in a constructive way um to speed up all all these uh absolutely thank you for the question so pedestrian and motor vehicle accidents uh at at Crossings are the toughest safety challenge we continue to face we've seen dramatic decreases in every other type of accident and so that that starts first of all with every opportunity eliminating the crossing
▶ 2:22:11and so with the grant you referred to uh that's huge and um you know while we wish we had endless sources of funds to to separate all high high impact crossings that the reality is we don't um and so secondary we've got to have the best safety equipment there warning devices uh through the Section 130 program um driver education public education through Partners such as operation Lifesaver um who if you haven't done any work with them would certainly
▶ 2:22:41love to to get you involved with that making the public aware when you see tracks think trains it's a it's a common sense statement but not something that's always reality and I would love to to work with you and your office to continue one to prioritize the two programs I mentioned and two look for ways to to further educate the public and get that out there because it is a an immensely avoidable tragedy that happens too often and something that uh we're invested in and making further progress on
▶ 2:23:11no I appreciate that and I think as we enter this new Administration and the new moment we're in I think it's very important to note grants like the RC grants and other life-saving funding in the bipartisan infrastructure law should not be politicized and I hope uh and many of you said this in your both your um spoken testimony and written that we can at least agree that maintaining if not bolstering funding to those programs benefits everyone including uh the industry so that they're not having to uh invest
▶ 2:23:42um fully on their own in that regard um uh I'm an Irish Catholic guy so I'm going to do my best with your name sir I know I apologize Del Mr deloo is that no that was pretty good all right all right um I apologize um in terms of at your membership and yourself and your experience um what are the challenges that that um you all have faced in actually installing and and driving through projects say we have funding uh how do we drive through oh I'm sorry I'm over Mr chair I apologize
▶ 2:24:12I got too excited I'm gonna have to yield back and uh would love to follow up with all of you on on follow-up questions no I appreciate that and please feel free you know afterwards I'll give you my information I'm happy to talk to you we're actually neighbors I live in northern New Jersey so I'm not far from your I'm sorry to hear you're from New Jersey I know thank you sirman y's back Mr Man recognized um thank you Mr chairman a lot different from New Jersey I'm from Kansas and uh but New Jersey Kansas California I'll rely on Rail and I appreciate you
▶ 2:24:42all and what you do my state we have 4600 miles of rail track runs the gamut my district is the West 2third of Kansas except for the counties around Witchita and so we need good rail networks class ones and Shortline to get our a products out of fields um out of packing plants into the mouths they're going to feed them so appreciate you all and and what you do as you all know the you know this committee is beginning to work on the next service Transportation reauthorization which is a big thing that we're going to focus
▶ 2:25:12on this year U pretty high level question but for you Mr Jeff can you highlight the areas that you think we should be targeting for improvements to ensure that Goods people or a products are moved safe and an efficient matter how would you like you know there's going to be limited resources but in your view how should we be targeting those funds so so I would say there's there's a few different things one is maintaining these Grant programs that that do have such strong bipartisan support in allowing our public partners and our short
▶ 2:25:43lines to uh receive those funds on a on a merit-based basis um to invest to create and expand capacity to serve customers like all the good folks in your community um two I would say you can make those programs run better um either by Congress or the administration by getting dollars out the door more quickly we talked about delays um by you know permitting reforms allowing projects and money to be put to work more quickly and then you know on the operational
▶ 2:26:13side creating a more outcomes based regulatory environment and I know there are differing views on this but I think there's a lot of common ground about how do we achieve the best safety outcome in a way that allows for Innovation frees up the network allows Goods to continue to move takes people out of risky situations um and at the end of the day um promoting you know American competitiveness in a way that encourages investment encourages Goods to move encourages products to move out of your state
▶ 2:26:43to other states and to other countries at the end of the day so um we're not looking for funds uh primarily um but the highway trust fund sure is and that needs to be fixed in a dramatic way that's right yep all all our whole Transportation Network as we know is interconnected um which is important at this committee um next question for you uh Mr Baker you know Kansas uh is served by 14 Shortline and Regional railroads we have 2,000 miles of of track short lines play a vital role in in the in the network
▶ 2:27:14in your opinion what are the biggest barriers that our Shortline operators are facing right now the the biggest barrier short lines face is a lack of funds right and it goes back to the origin story the reason there are so many Shortline railroads in Kansas is because if you go back a couple of generations those were the unprofitable unloved kind of marginal Branch lines of larger railroads luckily rather than being abandoned they got sold to short lines and those folks
▶ 2:27:44are hustling scrapping knocking on every door working every day to try to keep those railroads in existence and let them survive and sorry and and Thrive and it's largely working but we we need help we are not like the class one's totally self-sufficient we are not too proud to say we we do need congress's help blessedly Congress has long been very supportive of short lines particularly folks from Kansas you know now Senator Moran has been a long time very aggressive
▶ 2:28:15supporter of of short lines and you have been too the the Chrissy program again is the single most important program under this committee's jurisdiction that really matters to short lines the Nebraska Kansas and Colorado Railroad uh the South Kansas and Oklahoma railroad they've both benefited from Christy grants and short lines and there's and there's more to come as long as we can keep that program going yeah which is incredibly important to support because you know when when short lines don't function well
▶ 2:28:45we can't get a r product or the Mals that feed it in it's going to cause food inflation because you can't move these fields um you can move the products that they grow and and that matters you know I think about our families farmed um you know 30 years ago if you go back on the abstracts our home place you used to be owned by the railroad that you know the federal government gave it to the railroad we and many other people settling Kansas purchased that and that's what the railroad used to continue to fund building more track right and so literally you know the railroads
▶ 2:29:15were instrumental in US building Western Kansas uh building the Midwest and really western part of this country so we need to keep supporting you guys thanks for being here I appreciate we're having this hearing and I he'll B the balance of my time thanks chman ne's back M py you recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chair and thank you as well as the ranking member for holding this hearing today uh kicking us off for this rail subcommittee hearing um as you all know on February 3rd 2023
▶ 2:29:45a Northfolk southern train carrying Hazard hazardous materials railed in East Palestine Ohio uh to prevent a potential explosion a controll burn was also ignited spewing these chemicals into the air and sparking health concerns for Ohioans and pennsylvanians alike uh what occurred in the two years following no one should have had to deal with the horror and the Fallout of such a disastrous derailment which has impacted this community and continues to impact this community so uh one of the things
▶ 2:30:16that I did and after being a member of Congress for less than a month was introduce a bill with my colleagues uh a bipartisan bill from Democrats and Republicans in Ohio the rail act uh which was a piece of legislation to address the needs of the community and you know we heard from folks in East Palestine Ohio we heard from labor unions we heard from stakeholders and we put this bill together hoping that we could address the issue of rail safety and one of those Provisions specifically came
▶ 2:30:46from our our Governor Mike dwine which was around the temperature threshold requirements for safety placards because what we found in in the subsequent report was the First Responders went looking for the placards but they had melted and they had no idea what they what they were dealing with and you know I I bring that up because the work that many of us have done uh you heard from my colleague from Pennsylvania our colleague from Texas who have been trying to figure out a solution to this issue
▶ 2:31:17yet we have no solution to this issue and people in Palestine are still wondering why Congress refused to act we heard a lot of criticism of uh the former president not showing up the current president did show up we still have no legislation that addresses the needs of the people not only in East Palestine Ohio but all across the country who've been subjected to train derailment and had their lives turned upside down and I'll I'll briefly share a story because I was speaking to a law school class earlier this week and they were asking me about the
▶ 2:31:47rail act and one of the students asked well with the fact that uh we now have a vice president Vance who was the co-lead for the railway safety act do you think that we will see train safety in the future and my response was no and they waited for me to say something else but my response was no because after ruining these people's lives in East Palestine and constantly begging for hearings having two or three or four or five different versions of the bill trying to
▶ 2:32:17find a solution that would ultimately address the needs of everyone we still have nothing and as my colleague from Pennsylvania said I find that to be unacceptable it is unacceptable to have not done anything for the people of East Palestine Ohio and all across this country who are concerned and so I was going to ask you Mr Jeff what could we do uh what would you be okay with um but my colleague had already answered this asked and you've answered the question so now I know but I am going to ask Mr Cassidy
▶ 2:32:48what are some of the things that you suggest that we could do because at this point I just want you all to be on the record of expressing solutions that we can hear that we can put to paper and then we can Implement and keep our community safe sure thank you for the question congresswoman East Palestine brought to light a lot of failures within the system of railroading and and defect detectors are kind of at the center point of that and the purpose of the defect detector is is a Wayside detector it lets you know if there are defects in the cars of the train
▶ 2:33:18um if if there are trending indicators to give a heads up that something might be going wrong you know like in a car when you have wheel bearings if those bearings start to seized temperature obviously you have metal on metal friction takes place and and you have temperature that rises historically at least from when I hired on in 2005 these defect detectors gave you audible warnings when you when you hit one or when you started to go over one it gave you an introduction you know CSX mile poost blah blah blah defect detector just
▶ 2:33:49to let you know what on and then as you went over if there's a defect it would sound an audible alarm and then it would give you a closing uh announcement saying CSX Defector M poost blah blah blah this is what the issues are but then somewhere along the way we lost the priority of those Communications and defect detector started turning off the entrance alarm so you didn't know if they were working or they weren't working and then somewhere else along the way and the next step in the transition is that railroads decided they didn't want to give the operating crew that information about the defects that they were better
▶ 2:34:19suited to to determine whether there was a defect it should be appropriate should be reported or not and then we get into the temperature thresholds like you addressed you know there should be a standard on those thresholds there should be a point at where we need to say hey look you've got to be notified of it but the Congress uh Congressman Molton Point earlier too there's no reason we shouldn't be in a place where technology doesn't exist that's providing real-time information to the crew and the cab of the locomotive because that's who needs that information we're not going to keep operating a train when we know there's a problem behind
▶ 2:34:49us now we're the ones that are responsible for its operation we're the ones whose lives are at stake and we're the ones that want to make sure that we get the job done the way we're supposed to if there's any one thing in East Palestine or Palestine that we can fix is making sure that the defect hectors are communicating that they're they're relaying the information to the crew to the people that have to have it in real time sorry and and and getting those things done but the ra safety act ra safety enhancement act did approach a lot of those issues thank you Mr Speaker I know we're
▶ 2:35:19out of time but I'm on this in this committee to make sure that we figure out these Solutions and Implement them and I look forward to working with everyone uh in order to do that thank you for letting us go over Mr chair y back U Mr brette you recognize thank you Mr chairman speaker uh Mr jeffre what priorities or Provisions would you like to see in the um the surface reauthorization legislation so to name a few fix a highway trust fund uh our competitors have gotten and our on
▶ 2:35:49pay to get over $300 billion in public subsidy for the infrastructure they operate over how would you suggest we fix it uh VMT with a weight variance on it their initial pilot programs out there it's very imminently doable right now and it's the most Equitable way to do it two um no truck size and weight increases three maintain uh multimodal competitive Grant programs for our public partners and our Shortline colleagues four create an outcomes regulation based Paradigm that
▶ 2:36:19focuses on safety outcomes versus inputs to name a few all right permitting reform sensible permitting reform sir we're we're we're government we're not in the business of fixing things we're in the business making of making it worse but I appreciate that we'll work on that um the highway trust fund does tell me how it impacts the industry well as as I mentioned Freight railroads class one railroads we pay
▶ 2:36:49for almost 100% of our own funding of our infrastructure to the tune of when you account for inflation $1.1 trillion of private funding since 1980 and we compete strongly against our Trucking Partners um they are Partners they're also competitors and they operate over a public highway system that is woefully underfunded by the user fee structure um and all that leads to is a is a competitive imbalance and um look I've heard uh the the ATA
▶ 2:37:20advocate for paying more into the system I've heard countless stakeholders advocate for paying more into the system we haven't had a change since 1993 think about how much inflation has occurred and how much less the dollar is worth now I hear it every day every day um I had a question about new technologies but I believe Mr Cy addressed some of those with the bearing um indicators I packed a few of those Tim con bearings in my life um big and small that's a that's something
▶ 2:37:50everybody ought to do at some point um and have the Federal Regulations slowed the implementation of these Technologies Mr Jeff simple yes or no yes thank you Mr Baker how's the Shortline rail industry utilize the Consolidated rail infrastructure and safety Improvement Grants ye yes sir they um Chrissy allows us to do projects that we just simply couldn't afford what's your barrier
▶ 2:38:21for that with that the the you know the biggest challenge going forward is will Chrissy continue to exist because the need exists um and so we need to make sure in the next surface rth bill that the program continues with Appropriations once the grant has given has been given the biggest barrier is just how slow it is to get from you know the award date is incredibly exciting and everyone's happy and there's a press release and a press conference and then the next couple of years is sort of a painful slog
▶ 2:38:51of getting it actually getting money in the ground you know in ties and Rail and it just really doesn't need to be that slow okay and that's how you think we should improve that is to make it faster yes sir all right don't call me sir it's just Tim you'll get nowhere showing me any respect of in Washington sir I can assure you um noted thank you uh let me ask you one more question Mr biker you've been very helpful has the bureaucratic red tape inner field with short Line's ability to build
▶ 2:39:22and how can Congress remove those barriers just I don't need the lawyer answer I need the me and you sitting here talk and answer the the answer is yes the red tape has has slowed the process of building and there are simple things um and I'm not even a lawyer so I won't give the I won't give the lawyer answer but you work for a living you choose not to steal is what you're me um things such as permit by rule where if it's obvious viously yeah a rehabilitation in
▶ 2:39:52an existing right of way the answer is obvious there's going to be no significant environmental impact it's going to get a categoric exclusion there's no reason that process needs to take months or years that should be essentially instantaneous also pre-award Authority let us spend our own money at risk and then we can get the project going and then if you want to spend a few months arguing over paperwork it's not as painful because at least we're making progress what any to gentlemen
▶ 2:40:22like to add anything to that in the next 12 seconds I would just uh I would just like to add that you know I agree you know I spoke a little bit earlier about sometimes the processes like as a contractor we want to give our partners those budget prices sometimes years later they get the funding and now that budget price we gave three years ago really it's it doesn't pay for the project anymore so we have to go for change orders and things of that nature so the timing really is an important thing thank you Mr chairman I yield back Mr chairman would like to say for the record that I have a
▶ 2:40:52intern with me named Emma Grace from Nashville Tennessee and she is wonderful we hear a lot of bad things about what's going on with our young people in this country and around a young person like that it makes me feel a whole lot better about where our country is headed thank you Mr chairman jman he's back uh Miss fredman you're recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chair uh we have heard a lot uh about the importance of rail Investments on farms and on freight and and that's
▶ 2:41:22wonderful and true um and we've also heard about the need to find ways of really funding our rail infrastructure uh both for safety and for economic development and I want to bring up another facet of this that's very important to my district which is housing I represent Los Angeles uh as you know we have been devastated by recent wild Flyers that have left maybe 12,000 people are more homeless um that's running straight into an existing housing crisis in Los Angeles that already had
▶ 2:41:52tens of thousands of people homeless in our community and many others facing severe overcrowding and thousands of people who can't afford their rent because of the housing shortage driving up the price of rent um to me it's it's been obvious for many years working on Transportation issues that we're not going to solve our housing crisis in Los Angeles or many of our parts of our country without figuring out Mobility because the first thing that neighbors always say when anyone wants to add new housing in Los Angeles and in many parts of the country is
▶ 2:42:23that they're concerned about the impact on parking and traffic congestion which makes sense because we don't always give people other options for good mobility and that means that for us to fix housing we have to fix Transit and better invest in transit and rail of course plays a huge role in that and getting people to and from work which sometimes in Los Angeles can mean traveling many miles because people are priced out or working in areas where they can't find housing so that's the lens that I'm looking
▶ 2:42:53at Transportation Investments through that it's not just about moving Freight it's not just about U moving maybe from region to region but also solving our housing crisis which makes it even more important now the ft's pilot program for Transit oriented development our to planning helps to create communities that are walkable and bikable and more connected and the the bipartisan infrastructure law provided a 38% increase for for DOT programs but transportation costs are still
▶ 2:43:23one of the highest consumer costs that we see and in 2023 LA area households spend 16% of their budget on average on Transportation totaling almost $15,000 a year and for people who are Transit dependent people who can't afford a car or for a variety of reasons can't have a car we actually give them a pretty miserable experience because we don't invest enough in transit partially because our formulas from the federal government don't reflect the real need so I am wondering and I guess I'm going to direct this to Mr Cassidy
▶ 2:43:54but it really can be any of you how can the federal government be a better partner I know that of course funding is a part of it but I am looking for ways to help support rail rail expansion upgrading rail faster headways um um and so is there something I should be looking at certain programs that I should be fighting for or policy changes that I can help push forward to help with trend transit in Los Angeles and across the country sure thank you for the question congresswoman I wish I was better
▶ 2:44:24equipped to really speak to this and the funding nature of it but what I will say one I want want to be understood that labor is fully on board with helping to rebuild the LA community and anything that we can do to encourage the growth or or new introduction of of Transit and rail we are 100% on board you know the one critique I would offer about government and its role and how we do that is just having an open communication and an honest conversation about what we can do to make things better especially in the rail space you know
▶ 2:44:54safety for us is not a partisan issue it should not be us first them it is simply one of those things that we must accept and we must drive towards and improving communities is one of those things that we've got to be talking about real world solutions that are doable and then not worrying about you know what party might do what we we we've just got to get down to the fact that hey we need to do what's right for the American public we need to do what's right with with how to get make sure they have the opportunity to get to work and I know I know this effect all too well I'll be really honest
▶ 2:45:25here I lived in the Huntington West Virginia area for the last 15 years when I was elected to this position and moved here never was I smacked so hard in the face about the difficulties of Transportation than living in Washington DC and I understand the realities and the challenges and so I can't I can't necessarily recommend the fundamentals but what I can tell you is that Congress has got to step in you've got to learn how to or figure out how to work together and and just realized this is something we need desperately to make sure we get it done and then and then let it roll and we
▶ 2:45:55are fully on board to make sure we get over the Finish Line with that I I would just add uh first and foremost my condolences to the entire La Community I have family who's lost a home friends no doubt you do as well and absolute tragedy um I think a lot of it comes down to you know Southern California is another one of those parts of the country that has so many different governments and we talked about a program program earlier in Chicago called the create program where the city county state Freight rail passenger rail commuter rail
▶ 2:46:25have all worked together to talk about Investments to be made to free up capacity to create more service and I think there was a real opportunity there to to coordinate and uh identify shared priorities that'll have the biggest impact for the whole Community versus Community by community and so would encourage you to take a look at that program and how we might be able to work to be part of that uh sort of establishment moving down the road I I'd also know we've talked about the highway trust fund a few times and Ian and I tend to approach that from the
▶ 2:46:55concept of freight and Freight rail competing against trucks but I think our Transit friends would have a similar vantage point on rail Transit you know or even bus transit versus roads and the reality is la is very different than perhaps a rural area in a rural area perhaps the money is best used to expand the county road but in La New York Chicago you cannot build your way out of traffic congestion by more roads it it does doesn't work you need to invest more in
▶ 2:47:25rail Transit thank you so much Yi CH yields back Mr Taylor you recognize your five minutes thank you chairman Webster and ranking member Titus for holding this meeting and thank you Witnesses for being here with us today I appreciate it very much as it stands Ohio has 44 operating railroads and over 5,000 miles of track making Ohio the third largest rail infrastructure uh state in the nation manufacturing steel Agriculture and international trade all depend on Railways to connect Ohio
▶ 2:47:55products with national and Global markets as one of two Ohio and serving on the transportation and infrastructure rail subcommittee ensuring rail uh safety after the incident in East Palestine is one of my top priorities Mr doio in your testimony you mentioned how railroads across the country following East Palestine created and implemented new safety measures to ensure derailments like this didn't occur again can you go into further detail about specific safety measures that the national railroad construction and maintenance Association has taken to this
▶ 2:48:25point Thank You Congressman so our association of contractors and engineers and suppliers uh they're constantly looking at new technologies like these Hot Box detectors uh like signaling information data processing things uh our contractors are constantly looking at safer and better and more efficient ways to fix the tracks and also to work with the railroads the operating railroads I mean our association uh we started we have a robust Safety Committee which
▶ 2:48:56talks about constantly about you know safer railroads safer way to do things safer procedures while we don't get into the actual operations of the trains you know our contractor members help our class one and our Shortline Partners in making things safer so when it's insulation of those detectors or whatever new technology comes out there we're definitely on board to try to help them and support them and be be a sounding board for them to try to advance some of these Technologies thank you Mr Jeff we've heard conflicting
▶ 2:49:26statements over the course of today about derailment Statistics over the last three years would you mind sharing some of the underpinnings of your testimony earlier that the uh the rate of derailments is going down over the last few years sure I'd be glad to just to add on to my colleagues comments um Freight railroads took a number of steps as well increase the number of Wayside detection whether it's hot box whether it's acoustic bearing whether it's machine uh uh inspection portals U whether it's reducing
▶ 2:49:57um absolute threshold on bearing increases whether it's establishing new trending algorithms for troubling Trends and increasing temperatures on bearings or whether it's making sure First Responders have real-time information 2.3 million First Responders now have access to our realtime app um shifting to uh the safety numbers so we saw in 2023 employee injury rate was at the industry's all-time low we're a 200y old industry all-time low final 2024 numbers haven't come in yet we're neck and
▶ 2:50:27neck with that uh slightly below but that's through 10 months so hopefully the last two months of the year will bear that out um of course any any number above zero we've got a lot more work to do on the derailment rate rate is the key measure rate um in 2023 uh the rate was 3.46 incidents per million train miles so far in 2024 the number is 2.77 per million train miles again that's above zero
▶ 2:50:57that's not acceptable we've got a lot more work to do but the vast majority of those incidents occur within the yard or on industry track not on the mainline the main line being the interstate highway of the rail network that does not diminish those incidents uh they can absolutely result in in tragedy and do and so we've got to minimize those in yard incidents we've seen a significant down tick there those incidents also largely include a wheel coming off a rail during the switch so we cannot equate all derailments
▶ 2:51:27okay thank you for that many short uh line railroads across Ohio in the United States operate on decades older Century old existing infrastructure I support investing in infrastructure but we also have to be mindful of the deficit Consolidated rail infrastructure and safety improvements or Chrissy grant program seems to be transformative and repairing outdated infrastructure without wasting taxpayer dollars what's the biggest barrier for Shortline operations or operators uh when they consider or apply for a Chrissy Grant at this
▶ 2:51:58time right well I I appreciate the the underpinning of the question short lines we take a lot of pride in the fact they're very very lean there's almost no bureaucracy if a short line gets 10 12 even5 million do from the F and a Chrissy grant that money goes right into the track there's no there's not a big engine engineering studies there's not layers of management to process it through so we we feel very happy that we can deliver government a good bang for the buck the the
▶ 2:52:28delays uh the delays in from announcement to obligation that's really the biggest hurdle to overcome and then of course just making sure the program continue to exist because we have a lot lot more to go in Ohio we've made great progress but there's there's a lot more to do thank you again chairman I yield back gentan y's back Mr nler you recognized five minutes thank you let me start by uh
▶ 2:52:59thanking chairman Webster and ranking member Titus for holding this hearing and the witnesses for appearing before I go into my questions I want to express my concern again about President Trump's hastily and poorly drafted executive order that froze a substantial portion of critical bipartisan infrastructure law funding despite the White House drafting memos and OMB trying to clarify states are still being told that their approved funding for Bridges and highways is on pause
▶ 2:53:29I remain concerned that the White House triggered an entirely avoidable crisis and I urge the White House to finally clean up this mess Mr Jeff your testimony underscored the many advantages of rail Freight compared to trucking particularly in terms of safety efficiency and sustainability studies suggests that increasing truck size and weight limits could divert as much as 20% of freight from rail to to roads could you
▶ 2:53:59elaborate on the potential consequences of such a shift for the communities we serve including the strain on the nation's Road and Bridge infrastructure thank you for the question welcome back to the committee and thank you for your longstanding uh championship of this issue um the the impact will be immense to to put it lightly uh we already have a highway trust fund that's underfunded by hundreds of billions of dollars um we've long since abandoned the the user pays fee our our Trucking
▶ 2:54:29Partners uh operate over infrastructure of which most estimates say they pay Max 60% to cover the cost of the infrastructure damage uh increasing truck weights would only uh uh exacerbate infrastructure damage exacerbate congestion that's more trucks moving up and down the I95 Corridor the I 81 Corridor which every time I'm on it I feel like I'm the only car driving on it um increase emissions um it's it's it's not good for customers consumers communities uh not good for
▶ 2:54:59for frankly society and at the end of the day from from my perspective and and oh by the way I know we've had our differences today but this is an issue I guarantee you every single one of us sees eye to eye on and uh supports so uh uh at least there's there's a few things out there um but um from my perspective look we're just looking for a level playing field here we pay for our infrastructure and we expect our competitors to pay for their infrastructure and then let the chips fall where they may but when you're subsidizing infrastructure to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars that just
▶ 2:55:30flips the scale on its side and uh pushes pushes Freight where it's going to go to the cheapest level which is going to be the highways if it's uh uh uh allowed to increase weights at uh in addition to that level of subsidy does everybody on the panel in fact agree with Mr Jeff on This I do for sure I'd also note um there's a huge safety concern which you all have pointed out there are 40,000 people dead last year on the interstate highway system
▶ 2:56:00we're used to that as a country because it happens every year for decades but that's a horrifying number and the you know the fact that anybody could look at that scenario and say what we ought to do is add bigger and heavier and more trucks to that uh I just don't think that makes a lot of sense thank you Mr Jeff your testimony also mentioned the disparity in funding between Rail and trucking what policy changes could Congress Implement to to address this imbalance while ensuring a fair and competitive
▶ 2:56:30Freight Transportation Market well first of all don't make any changes to truck size and weight and second of all um we've got to get a hold of how the the highways are funded it's got to be done uh by the user and I would just say you know it's not just the folks on this panel that that share our concerns it's truck drivers it's there's a lot of trucking companies to my knowledge the ATA is not advocating for this this is a select group of shippers advocating for this and so we believe citizens don't support it so we believe
▶ 2:57:01the vast majority of this country opposes any sort of change thank you finally your testimony highlighted the importance of programs like the infrastructure for rebuilding America which I was proud to help create a decade ago and the mega grant program these initiatives Have Been instrumental in addressing and critical infrastructure challenges Nationwide they also represent vital funding opportunities for transformative projects like the cross Harbor Freight tunnel project which has the potential to significantly divert Freight from trucks to rail
▶ 2:57:31enabling the more efficient movement of millions of tons of goods each year through New York and New Jersey Mr Jeff in your view what steps can Congress take to improve these Grant programs to support even more transformative projects particularly in high need areas I'll be quick keep funding them um get the money out quicker and make sure that uh uh distributions and awards are Merit based and finally one application one Central application for all these different programs so that folks W
▶ 2:58:01have to reinvent the wheel every time they're applying for funding from a different program but fully support thank you I back jman yields back and don't see anybody else that hasn't been recognized so uh thank the witnesses thank you for coming staying to the end giving us great direct answers on all kinds of issues and uh with that Mee yes go ahead thank you I just heard uh several mentions of cargo theft
▶ 2:58:31we've been working on retail theft and that's much more than stealing a candy bar now I suspect there's some overlap between these circles that are involved in this maybe we need to put a round table together with some of the stakeholders and look at how we can do a concerted effort uh this issue we'd be happy to thank you thank you Mr chairman now no one else is asking to be recognized so the meeting stands
▶ 2:59:47e for