Opinion

Commentary

• August 24, 2022
• Class I

‘Dear National Carriers Conference Committee and AAR’

My name is Michael Paul Lindsey II. I am a 17-year employee of Union Pacific in Pocatello, Idaho. I would like to humbly contribute my opinion on the recommendations of Presidential Emergency Board 250, and to also thank you for clarifying a few critical industry stances that employees and regulators will use when they inevitably bring your industry to heel in the upcoming months and years.

Commentary

• August 17, 2022
• Class I

PEB 250: A Solution for Employees, Carriers, Customers and the Economy

When I began my railroad management career in labor relations, I had been working the brakemen’s extra board at Proviso Yard in Chicago for the Chicago & North Western Railway. At that

Commentary

• August 16, 2022
• Freight

Our Industry Must Present a United Front

Recently, I was honored to receive the OneRail Coalition’s newly established Canby Award. Named for the Coalition’s founder and former director, Anne Canby, the award recognizes an individual’s “dedication to preserving and

Commentary

• August 15, 2022
• News

Why the Labor Dispute Doesn’t Seem to Matter to Railroads

Robert DeNiro, playing Al Capone in The Untouchables, pontificates on the balance between individual achievement and the need for teamwork on a baseball field. It is an engaging story until (big spoiler

Commentary

• August 15, 2022
• Class I

Will Congress Halt a Rail Shutdown?

With release Aug. 16 of non-binding Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) recommendations for voluntary settlement of a 31-month simmering labor-management dispute over amending national wage, benefits and work rules contracts on most Class I and many smaller freight railroads, the question is, “What next?”

Commentary

• August 08, 2022
• Passenger

Part 3 of 3: Penn Station Project – Good Transit or Real Estate Sense?

In the first two articles of this series, I examined two projects that have the blessing of decision-makers, but could end up inconveniencing transit riders, even though they would be built in the name of improving transit.

Commentary

• August 07, 2022
• Regulatory

FRA NPRM: The Truth Behind the Need for Two-Person Crews

Editor’s Note: Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner, who in his roughly half-century in the railway industry worked for the New York Central, Association of American Railroads, Surface Transportation Board and

Commentary

• August 05, 2022
• News

Part 2 of 3: A $22B New York City Debacle?

There is nothing new about unsolicited plans submitted by citizen-advocates, no matter how competent they may be, getting shot down or ignored by decision-makers.

Commentary

• August 03, 2022
• News

Metro Youth Council: How We Plan to Get Around as Adults

The Metro Youth Council was started last year and is made up of 27 young people from across Los Angeles County—i.e. Metro’s future riders and stakeholders. The Council helps give them a

Commentary

• August 03, 2022
• Regulatory

‘We Give to Friends’

Frank Wilner’s article “Biden Promise Fueled FRA NPRM” provides a great summary of FRA’s recent politicization of rail safety. His article brought to mind an incident that occurred in my home town