Watching Washington, September 2017: How will we ever communicate without communication?” was asked in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1958 musical, Flower Drum Song. Six decades later, communication is under assault from so-called “alt-facts”—intellectual vandalism polluting social media.
I’m pleased (and relieved) to report that, with a push from readers of this blog and the Association of American Railroads, Subaru has thankfully removed its “Boxcar” ad from circulation, demonstrating at least some sense of corporate social responsibility. Now, I’d like to hear from the Fillmore & Western, the tourist railroad that provided the equipment and right-of-way for the infamous commercial. Why would you allow this? Aren’t you aware of the dangers of trespassing and attempting to ride a freight train? What were you thinking?
Knee-jerks are part of business, one of the risks of doing business. As for knees, like most people, I have two of them, and as for jerks, I’ve been one, on occasion.
Watching Washington, August 2017 Railway Age: Free-market philosopher Ayn Rand, an émigré from the economic horrors of the command-and-control Soviet Union, was celebrated as the Reagan Administration’s “novelist laureate.” Alan Greenspan, who served as Federal Reserve chairman to four U.S. Presidents (1987-2006), is a Rand disciple. House Speaker Paul Ryan requires his staff to read her books. President Trump named Rand his “favorite” author.
A friend and colleague sent the following letter to, among others, Dr. Amanda Emo, Fatigue Program Manager, Risk Reduction Program Division, Office of Safety Analysis, Federal Railroad Administration, regarding obstructive sleep apnea (OSA):
The luster is fading from Hunter Harrison’s “Dr. Fixit” image faster than an old jalopy’s back-alley paint job. His boisterous March arrival as CEO of CSX put in motion warp-speed, backfiring directives changing culture, operating practices and marketing practices.
The 50 shades of vexation venting from self-described captive shippers over delay by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in considering their petitions to dilute rail regulatory freedoms is matched only by their asserting last year a contradictory 50 shades of encouragement that the Board do just that.
Confirmation of career-railroader Ronald L. Batory as Federal Railroad Administrator has been delayed by New Jersey and New York’s Senate delegation—Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Kirsten Gillibrand ((D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)—over what they say is concern that the federal government will not provide funding for the Gateway Project.
The quest to concoct a workable rubber-tired replacement for steel-wheel light rail transit (LRT)—on standard steel rails—seems eternal. Several variants of running a “tram on tires,” typically with some configuration of a center guiderail, have been developed.
CSX President and CEO E. Hunter Harrison, our two-time Railroader of the Year, reached out to me personally following publication of my blog, in this space, asking about the events at CSX since he took over the railroad. What I wrote was based solely on correspondence I received from various stakeholders. I promised Hunter that I would publish his response, unedited, and he could use as much space as needed:
