WATCHING WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 2025 ISSUE: Perhaps the gutsiest-ever regulatory agency decision was the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) 2001 imposition of a railroad merger moratorium. Its architect was then-STB Chairperson Linda J. Morgan.
This summer, I set out on a journey that took me from the historic rail hubs of upstate New York to cutting-edge manufacturing facilities in Maryland and Louisiana. What started as a series of site visits quickly became a powerful reminder of the innovation that defines our members.
The 2025 Commuter Rail Summit is especially well-timed and placed this year. The Commuter Rail Coalition (CRC) annual convention, which gathers agency leaders and policymakers from across the country, is taking place in Washington,
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) on Oct. 16 sent a letter to POTUS 47 signed by 40 chief executives of member companies, all of which are railroad customers, expressing “strong concerns regarding
In this transcription of a Rail Group On Air Podcast, Norfolk Southern Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John Orr discussed passenger rail. Like all Class I railroads, Norfolk Southern hosts
As Norfolk Southern Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, John Orr holds ultimate responsibility for every train on the Class I’s vast network, freight and passenger. Relationships between passenger carriers and
For months, Union Pacific’s (UP) CEO Jim Vena has been on the offensive, touting possible benefits of the proposed merger between UP and Norfolk Southern (NS). He has spoken with POTUS 47,
Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena claims to have identified a number of rail industry shortcomings that according to him can only be solved by his proposed transcontinental merger between the Union Pacific
Usually when passenger service on a rail line is discontinued, it never comes back, but there have been some exceptions. One is the MBTA’s South Coast Rail “line,” in the shape of
Given that the new North Star of growth I gave our rail industry is being used to justify an alteration to the course of its future, I must break my annual publication