Opinion Archives

Commentary

November 06, 2014
Class I

Post-election: Railroads look OK; rail labor, Amtrak not so good

What does Senate Republican control and the largest House Republican majority since the 1940s mean for railroad reregulation, Amtrak’s future, high- and higher-speed rail, transit funding, Positive Train Control (PTC), corporate tax reform, short line tax credits, the future of coal, and a minimum crew-consist mandate?

Commentary

November 03, 2014
Commuter/Regional

NTSB, Metro-North, and politicians, Part 3

Let’s continue with my comments from Part 1 and Part 2 on the Oct. 28, 2014 National Transportation Safety Board press conference regarding NTSB’s determination of the causes of five accidents on Metro-North Railway (MNR). To reiterate, I’m going through the video second by second just so I can set the record straight, or at least correct some of the more egregious errors presented as facts by NSTB Acting Chairman Christopher A. Hart, and Senators Schumer, Blumenthal, and Murphy.

Commentary

October 31, 2014
Commuter/Regional

Why NTSB got it wrong

I forced myself to review every miserable second of the Oct. 28, 2014 NTSB press conference regarding NTSB’s determination of the causes of five accidents on Metro-North Railway (MNR), for a couple of reasons: 1) I couldn’t believe what was being said; and 2) I couldn’t believe what was being said. I mean, come on: FRA as a “lawless, rogue agency”?

Commentary

October 30, 2014
Commuter/Regional

“Schumenthal” at their self-serving best and worst

I never thought I would find myself in the position of defending the Federal Railroad Administration, at least from anyone other than the Ayn Rand-Alan Greenspan-Phil Gramm-Rush Limbaugh types out there, but life is a funny thing.

Commentary

October 29, 2014
News

Transport Canada resumes modest rail safety regulation

After a train crash of criticism by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board and the country’s auditor-general, Transport Canada is softly moderating its three-wise-monkeys approach to railway regulation.

Commentary

October 28, 2014
Finance/Leasing

Unknotting rail congestion compels investment

Unraveling the knot restricting rail network fluidity cannot be achieved through Surface Transportation Board (STB) intimidation of rail CEOs, or by the agency’s issuance of an emergency service order instructing one railroad to operate over the tracks of another, or by merging the nation’s seven major rail systems into a North American duopoly.

Commentary

October 14, 2014
Class I

What lurks behind the door Hunter Harrison opened?

At age 70, when most of his contemporaries have retired, Canadian Pacific (CP) Chairman Hunter Harrison is plotting his legacy—a seamless North American transcontinental rail duopoly initiated by his proposed CP-CSX merger.

Commentary

October 10, 2014
Light Rail

Should rail advocates never oppose a rail project?

Back about 30 months ago I explained why I, and a number of other rail transit supporters, were critical of a plan for “urban rail” then taking shape from the official planning process here in Austin, Texas. (See Austin LRT plan criticized … by rail advocates.)

Commentary

October 10, 2014
Class I

Sen. Durbin emerging as STB chairman’s nemesis

“Tawdry,” is how one Washington transportation attorney describes the self-interest assaults by powerful congressional lawmakers on federal regulatory agency officials.

Commentary

September 29, 2014
News

Is FRA’s Szabo headed to the STB?

Joe Szabo, the former union boss and now embattled Federal Railroad Administrator, may be on his way out—to another federal railroad regulatory agency, actually, if rumors involving his former Chicago condo neighbor and friend, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), are correct.