Commentary

White Paper: How Amtrak Can Best-Serve the Nation’s Mobility Needs.

As Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, approaches its golden anniversary in 2021, it is quite apparent that it has squandered opportunities to mature into a stable and useful transportation entity, given the plethora of internal issues that have historically crippled Amtrak operating under the federal umbrella as a state-owned enterprise. Adding to this position is the impact from a shortage of experienced senior management.

Commentary

Assault an NJT worker? It’s jail for you!

Public transportation is, well, public, and dealing with the public isn’t an easy job. Front-line workers such as railroad conductors and bus drivers can become victims of on-the-job assaults perpetrated by angry, noisy drunks, shady characters trying to steal a free ride—well, you get the picture

Commentary

Rethinking grade crossing warning devices

Four years ago, I lost my wife at a railroad crossing in the New York City suburbs. This catastrophe led to the loss of five other lives, and caused millions in damage. Needless to say, I had a lot of reasons to take a long, hard look at the railroad signage surrounding this incident.

Commentary

Ethics Issues in the Engineering Profession

Engineers uphold and advance the integrity, honor, and dignity of the profession by using their knowledge and skills for the enhancement of human welfare, by being honest and impartial, by serving with fidelity to public, their employers and clients, by striving to increase the competence and prestige of the engineering profession, and by supporting the professional and technical societies of their disciplines.

Commentary

Safety first? Or privacy first?

I have this friend, a railroad professional. I know I would never question his commitment to safety. I hope he wouldn’t question mine. This friend is concerned that railroad management will unfairly use medical information it obtains from employees, from employees’ medical care providers, and from the requirements of a medical fitness for duty regulation, to disqualify employees from service. He fears railroads will weaponize the information.

Commentary

Part 6 of 6: We Have a Plan B. Do We Need a Plan C?

At a legislative hearing on Aug. 16, 2018, Gateway Program Development Corp Interim Executive Director John D. Porcari said, “There is no Plan B.” He was wrong. At the same hearing, this writer (as Chair of the Lackawanna Coalition, a New Jersey-based advocacy organization) outlined the “Plan B” that some rider-advocates had formulated and submitted, in the event that the entire $30 billion-plus Gateway program as currently proposed fails to attract sufficient funding. Porcari stuck to his story that the existing North River Tunnels are deteriorating so quickly that they constitute a disaster waiting to happen but, under his proposal, they would not be repaired until 2030 or some time shortly thereafter.

Commentary

Alberta looks to dump multi-billion-dollar tar sands trains

Government oil trains were to start running Alberta’s glut of sludgy bitumen to foreign markets July 1 under a US$2.8 billion contract committing provincial taxpayers to the leasing of 4,400 tank cars and guaranteed payments to CN and Canadian Pacific. For the time being, they will be costly ghost trains that earn the railways real money for no haulage.

Commentary

Part 5 of 6: Can We Keep Penn Station from Going South?

In 1995, one of the alternatives of the original Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) Project would have developed a track connection for New Jersey Transit (NJT) trains to go to Grand Central Terminal (GCT) on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan. New Jersey riders, especially commuters whose offices are nearby, would have enjoyed convenient access to them for the first time. That alternative was eliminated in 2003, and the means for delivering new Manhattan capacity was downgraded to a stub-end deep-cavern station 20 stories below ground.

Commentary

Medical fitness-for-duty standards: Where are they?

“According to the BNSF employment records for the 52-year old male striking train engineer, a pre-employment physical examination and health questionnaire dated June 28, 1994, identified no significant medical conditions.” Hold that thought.

Commentary

Observations on STB’s Rate Reform Task Force Report

Surface Transportation Board (STB) staff recently released a rate reform report with a series of recommendations. Readers should remember that before any of those recommendations become regulations, the Board must conduct rulemakings. This process could extend beyond 2020 and into the next Administration.

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