Is this New Orleans-to-Mobile Amtrak commuter-like train proposal “a rather complex story,” like the meaning behind the lyrics of the 1974 Lynyrd Skynyrd hit, Sweet Home Alabama?
Trends across the rail industry appear positive, although ongoing congestion is an issue for inland ramps, according to leaders at our recent “Suds with Seidl” event.
Sometimes in decision making, there isn’t much of a middle ground. Sometimes there is simply right and wrong. Such is the nature of the decision facing the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in the coming months as it addresses proposed railroad mergers. Their decision will have a very big impact on what the railroad industry will look like in the coming decades.
The COVID-19 virus did not kill all of its victims. Most people who were infected with it recovered. Still, the virus not only wreaked havoc on individuals, but also on communities and the economies of those communities. Transit is no exception. It is recovering slowly, but its long-term future is uncertain.
It’s déjà vu all over again, and I’ve observed a lot by watching. Yes, ladies and gentlemen (present company included, I hope?), it’s time once again when we’ve come to that diverging approach on the railroad regulatory right-of-way called “revenue adequacy,” as defined by the Surface Transportation Board. Let’s take that turnout, even though no one, except perhaps railroad and shipper attorneys, goes there anymore, because it’s too crowded. So wye does it matter?
Historians may look back on the Great Pandemic of 2020-21 and notice that February 2020 was the month in which commuting by train peaked in the United States. Beginning in March 2020, Railway Age has reported the overall decline in service on our local railroads, which came in reaction to the shutdowns that suddenly appeared to sweep the country on Friday the Thirteenth of that month.
In a somewhat-unexpected action, Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chairman Martin Oberman recently suggested some ideas and offered borderline critique about pending public railroad issues. During my long railroad career, such displays of opinion were restricted normally to written official procedural decisions text. A lot of this is geographically following congestion and related intermodal rail service issues around Memphis. Here is my strategic view.
Having been one of the three Surface Transportation Board (STB) Members who voted on the 2001 Major Merger Rules, it seems clear to me that the CN voting trust satisfies the new rules requirements addressing “unlawful control” and the “public interest” when deciding to approve or reject a voting trust. As such, it should be approved so that the Board and the public may move forward to consider the merits of the proposed transaction.
As part of a larger initiative stemming from “key findings” from reviews directed under President Joe Biden’s Feb. 24, 2021 Executive Order (E.O.) 14017, “America’s Supply Chains,” as well as “immediate actions the Administration will take to strengthen American supply chains to promote economic security, national security and good-paying, union jobs here at home,” the Administration has established a Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force (SCDTF).
First, let me make one thing very clear: The United States is way behind the rest of the world in high-speed rail. That needs to change. There have been some efforts in the right direction, but despite these efforts, domestic HSR for the most part has gone nowhere.