Railway Age February 2022

FEBRUARY 2022

W W W. R A I LWAYA G E .C O M

AILWAY GE S E R V I N G T H E R A I LWAY I N D U S T R Y S I N C E 1 8 5 6

25 40

Damien Cantrell WATCO

UNDER Driving, Shaping Our Future

PASSENGER RAIL FOCUS: NJT Out of Crisis Mode and Ahead of the Curve

WASHINGTON REPORT railwayage.com

Federal Policy Direction in 2022

August 2017 // Railway Age 1

Railway Age 10-28-2021.indd 1

11/19/2021 10:22:16 AM

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February 2020 FEBRUARY 2022

36

FEATURES

12

25 Under 40

DEPARTMENTS

32

Legislative Outlook

36

Passenger Focus – NJ Transit

4 6 8 44 46 46 47

41

Our Annual “Fast Trackers” Awards

Uncertainty on Capitol Hill

Out of Crisis Mode, Forging Ahead

Timeout for Tech

Second In a Series With Gary Fry

Industry Indicators Industry Outlook Market People Professional Directory Classified

COMMENTARY 2 9 10 48

From the Editor Watching Washington Financial Edge ASLRRA Perspective

Advertising Index COVER PHOTO

William C. Vantuono

Watco’s Damien Cantrell, one of our 25 Under 40 Honorees.

Watco photo.

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February 2022 // Railway Age 1

FROM THE EDITOR Why is High-Speed Rail Such a Heavy Lift?

I

turned 62 late last year; this July will mark 30 years at Railway Age. I’m very fortunate—blessed, even—because I’ve seen a lot and done a lot of things that many people who love railroads don’t get to do.

Best of all, I’ve come to know and work with many truly wonderful people who are dedicated to this industry, which is like an extended family. We get along, for the most part.

Sure, there’s conflict, and the occasional saber-rattling, but on balance, rail is a good place to earn a living and do something worthwhile. Just take a look at this year’s 25 Under 40 (p. 12). Years from now, they’ll be mentoring younger people, just like many of them have been guided by the “old heads.”

Well, “older heads.”

There’s one thing I’d like to experience before I turn Railway Age’s reins over to a successor. (Don’t hold your breath; God willing, I’ve got a few more mileposts and control points to pass before I decrease the throttle setting and engage the blended braking.) I’d like to ride on and write a long feature story about a U.S. high-speed train—a true highspeed train, on a dedicated right-of-way. You know: the type that operates at 200 mph or better, with a ride quality so smooth you can set a glass of your favorite libation down on your at-seat tray table and not have to worry about it splashing you in the face on a turnout, grade crossing or other rough spot on the track. The type that you can set your watch to (or if it’s one of those new-fangled “smart watches,” you can check on arrival time and see if the train is really running under PSPR, “Precision Scheduled Passenger Railroading”). No mixing with freight or

commuter trains. No-nonsense, no-excuses service. Fast, reliable, comfortable, frequent and civilized—not like the tin cans with wings that force you to jump through numerous tiny hoops before you get to cram yourself into a seat where “leg room” is an oxymoron, and you debate purchasing something to eat because there’s not enough room to rip open a tightly sealed package of stale pretzels without elbowing the poor soul next to you who’s dealing with the same “let’s see how many people we can cram into a 1962 VW Beetle” conditions.

You know what I’m talking about: the highspeed trains you can ride today in countries like France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, England, Switzerland, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China, all of which made the commitment to 21st century rail transport a long time ago, went ahead and just did it. Sure, some of those countries had to deal with opposition from troglodytic politicians, the type who don’t know their asphalt from their elbow room—the type we have in abundance here, who stupidly adhere to the myth that passenger trains should be profit centers, and that the solution to traffic congestion is adding more lanes of pavement. The difference is the troglodytes in the nations that built high-speed rail systems didn’t have much of a voice, and they didn’t have the chance to be obstructionists and kill projects that didn’t conveniently fit their ideologies.

The United States has a sad history of HSR projects that never got a shovel in the ground.

California right now is our only hope. Let’s tamp down the troglodytes. Let’s get it done. Build it and they will ride. All we need is one system up and running. The rest will follow.

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SIEMENS MOBILITY

Leading the rail industry into the future At Siemens Mobility, we’re invested in the potential of America. Rail infrastructure investment is critical, for jobs, for the economy, and for the environvment. While the products we create transform today, it is the ingenuity of the American worker that is redefining tomorrow in communities across the country.

Helping lead the way is Ben Dobernecker. We are proud to call him part of #teamsiemens and applaud his accomplishment of making Railway Age‘s FAST TRACKERS - 25 Rising Industry Stars Under 40. usa.siemens.com/mobility

Industry Indicators ‘2021 WAS THE SECOND-BEST INTERMODAL YEAR EVER, BEHIND ONLY 2018’ “For most categories, rail traffic in 2021 was substantially higher than in 2020,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. “On the carload side, chemicals set a new annual record and grain had its best year since 2008. Coal carloads were up substantially because of sharply higher natural gas prices, while carloads of motor vehicles suffered as microchip shortages forced automakers to cut output. U.S. rail carloads totaled 12.01 million in 2021, up 6.6% over 2020 but down 7.4% from 2019. For intermodal, a record-setting first half gave way to a lower second half as supply chain challenges persisted. Still, 2021 was the second-best U.S. intermodal year ever, behind only 2018.”

Railroad employment, Class I linehaul carriers, DECEMBER 2021 (% change from DECEMBER 2020)

TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 114,499 % CHANGE FROM DECEMBER 2020: -2.78%

Transportation (train and engine) 47,611 (-2.97%)

Executives, Officials and Staff Assistants 7,283 (-0.40%)

TRAFFIC ORIGINATED CARLOADS

FIVE WEEKS ENDING JAN. 1, 2022

MAJOR U.S. RAILROADS

BY COMMODITY

DEC. ’21

DEC. ’20

% CHANGE

Grain Farm Products excl. Grain Grain Mill Products Food Products Chemicals Petroleum & Petroleum Products Coal Primary Forest Products Lumber & Wood Products Pulp & Paper Products Metallic Ores Coke Primary Metal Products Iron & Steel Scrap Motor Vehicles & Parts Crushed Stone, Sand & Gravel Nonmetallic Minerals Stone, Clay & Glass Products Waste & Nonferrous Scrap All Other Carloads

116,152 3,750 46,722 29,660 170,896 49,909 319,146 5,274 15,334 28,376 29,334 16,763 39,206 20,238 60,021 88,747 15,475 35,796 18,343 26,693

128,853 4,728 44,645 27,904 161,221 55,469 297,275 4,340 14,802 27,558 31,189 14,873 38,051 16,794 68,658 70,821 14,796 34,402 17,196 28,342

-9.9% -20.7% 4.7% 6.3% 6.0% -10.0% 7.4% 21.5% 3.6% 3.0% -5.9% 12.7% 3.0% 20.5% -12.6% 25.3% 4.6% 4.1% 6.7% -5.8%

1,135,835

1,101,917

3.1%

346,732

400,443

-13.4%

1,482,567

1,502,360

-1.3%

TOTAL U.S. CARLOADS

CANADIAN RAILROADS TOTAL CANADIAN CARLOADS

COMBINED U.S./CANADA RR

Professional and Administrative 9,809 (-4.05%)

Maintenance-of-Way and Structures 27,771 (+0.18%)

Maintenance of Equipment and Stores

Intermodal

FIVE WEEKS ENDING JAN. 1, 2022

MAJOR U.S. RAILROADS

BY COMMODITY Trailers Containers TOTAL UNITS

17,341 (-6.88%)

CANADIAN RAILROADS

Transportation (other than train & engine)

Trailers Containers TOTAL UNITS

DEC. ’21

DEC. ’20

% CHANGE

121,624

1,224,780

1,212,885 1,334,509

-9.7% -8.1% -8.2%

0 292,662 292,662

0 338,780 338,780

— -13.6% -13.6%

121,624

109,784 1,114,996

4,684 (-2.88%)

COMBINED U.S./CANADA RR

Source: Surface Transportation Board

Trailers Containers

109,784 1,407,658

1,551,665

-9.7% -9.3%

TOTAL COMBINED UNITS

1,517,442

1,673,289

-9.3%

Source: Rail Time Indicators, Association of American Railroads

4 Railway Age // February 2022

railwayage.com

TOTAL U.S./Canadian CARLOADS, DEC. 2021 VS. DEC. 2020

1,482,567 DECEMBER 2021

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1,502,360 DECEMBER 2020

Short Line And Regional Traffic Index CARLOADS

BY COMMODITY Chemicals Coal Crushed Stone, Sand & Gravel Food & Kindred Products Grain Grain Mill Products Lumber & Wood Products Metallic Ores Metals & Products Motor Vehicles & Equipment Nonmetallic Minerals Petroleum Products Pulp, Paper & Allied Products Stone, Clay & Glass Products Trailers / Containers Waste & Scrap Materials All Other Carloads

ORIGINATED DEC. ’21

ORIGINATED DEC. ’20

% CHANGE

55,740 16,760 24,774 13,243 31,515 8,569 9,995 2,700 17,607 8,596 2,555 2,142 19,646 14,597 45,691 12,244 68,996

49,003 17,083 18,386 11,461 33,266 8,231 9,042 2,662 16,566 9,085 1,731 1,820 17,437 12,792 41,856 10,167 70,664

13.7% -1.9% 34.7% 15.5% -5.3% 4.1% 10.5% 1.4% 6.3% -5.4% 47.6% 17.7% 12.7% 14.1% 9.2% 20.4% -2.4%

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved.

TOTAL U.S. Carloads and intermodal units, 2012-2021

(in millions, year-to-date through DECEMBER 2021, SIX-WEEK MOVING AVERAGE)

ARE YOU A RAILROAD OR SUPPLIER SEARCHING FOR JOB CANDIDATES?

Visit http://bit.ly/railjobs To place a job posting, contact: Frank Rose 917-856-1808 frose@sbpub.com

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February 2022 // Railway Age 5 RA_JobBoard_1/3Vertical.indd 1

7/27/21 3:02 PM

UP Acquiring 20 Battery-Electric Locomotives for Yard Service UNION PACIFIC ON JAN. 28 REPORTED ORDERING 10 BATTERYELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES APIECE FROM PROGRESS RAIL, A CATERPILLAR COMPANY, AND WABTEC CORP. for yard testing; the “green” units plus yard infrastructure upgrades will exceed $100 million and support the Class I railroad’s efforts to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

UP said the acquisition represents “the largest investment in battery-electric technology by a U.S. Class I railroad.” Deliveries are expected to begin in late 2023 and run through late 2024.

The Progress Rail EMD® Joule and Wabtec FLXdrive locomotives will operate in California and Nebraska rail yards, where they will be performance-tested in cold and warm weather to help identify their “capabilities and challenges for broader deployment,” according to UP. “The hope is that lessons learned from this test phase will get us closer to technology that could be used reliably for long-haul service,” UP AVP Labor Relations and 6 Railway Age // February 2022

Sustainability Maqui Parkerson explained on the Inside Track section of the railroad’s website. “It certainly will help inform the industry about alternative-propulsion methods for over-the-road service, which must be interoperable.”

“Battery power is an ideal solution to reduce the environmental impact and costs of yard operations,” Wabtec President and CEO Rafael Santana said. “Using the [Wabtec] FLXdrive in the rail yard can significantly improve local air quality, as well as reduce noise by up to 70% for neighboring communities.” Wabtec’s approximately 2.5-MWh FLXdrives are each powered by 7,000 battery cells; UP anticipates that the 10 on order will enable it to eliminate 4,000 tons of carbon annually from yards.

“We are pleased to supply our EMD Joule locomotives to Union Pacific, representing our largest battery-electric locomotive order to date,” Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby said. “At Caterpillar, we’re continuing to invest in new products, technologies and services to

support our customers during the energy transition, helping them achieve their climate-related goals as they build a better, more sustainable world.”

One of the 20 new UP units will be funded, in part, by a subaward from the Port of Los Angeles, according to UP. The Port in December received a $2.025 million Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to replace an older switcher with a battery-electric unit.

The new switcher is slated to run in the South Coast Air Basin rail yards. “The funds will be combined with $2,475,000 in leveraged funds” from the Port and UP, according to EPA. “Our work with the Port of Los Angeles will help us cut emissions in the South Coast Air Basin, which includes four counties in Southern California,” said Beth Whited, UP Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer, who oversees ESG efforts. “This work also will help our customers realize the benefit of moving goods by rail, reducing emissions by up to 75%.”

“We’re committed to actions that reduce Union Pacific’s environmental footprint as we work toward our ultimate goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050,” UP Chairman, President and CEO Lance Fritz said. “These investments will contribute to further developing this important technology and providing industry-wide benefits.”

Wabtec’s first-generation FLXdrive was the main attraction at a joint WabtecCarnegie Mellon University-Genesee & Wyoming event on Sept. 10, 2021. Two Australian rail operators have recently purchased the FLXdrive, as has CN for use on the Bessemer & Lake Erie portion of its network in Pennsylvania. In early 2021, BNSF and Wabtec tested a battery-electric locomotive in revenue service; it was sandwiched in between two Wabtec Tier 4 diesel-electrics, creating a “battery-electric hybrid consist.”

Progress Rail is providing Fortescue Metals Group with two EMD® Joule battery-electric locomotives to transport iron ore to port in western Australia. It has also teamed with Anacostia Rail Holdings subsidiary Pacific Harbor Line on a test in the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, Calif. railwayage.com

Union Pacific

Industry Outlook

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MARKET R.J. Corman Launching KXCG With the purchase of two branch lines from Norfolk Southern (NS), R.J. Corman Railroad Company is this month launching the Knoxville and Cumberland Gap Railroad, LLC (KXCG), its 18th short line.

KXCG comprises a 59-mile branch between Clinton and Clairfield, Tenn., and a 72-mile branch between Beverly, Tenn., and Middlesboro, Ky., that crosses the iconic Cumberland Gap within the Appalachian Mountains. The branches had been part of the Southern Railway, which in 1982 merged with Norfolk & Western to create NS. KXCG will have rights between the two branches and interchange cars in NS’s Sevier Yard.

NORTH AMERICA

Italian open-access operator GTS RAIL has awarded ALSTOM an E$30 million contract for five Traxx E494 locomotives equipped with last-mile technology. The locomotives will be supplied with a 10-year maintenance service. The operator has also ordered 100 90-foot flat cars from Czech manufacturer Walbo. The first locomotives will be delivered in May 2022, with the first railcars being delivered in July 2022. The investment is financed by the Marguerite II infrastructure fund.

The LOS ANGELES COUNTY METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (LACMTA) on Jan. 27 approved the initial 14.8-mile segment of a planned 19.3-mile light rail line linking Artesia in southeast L.A. County and downtown L.A. The West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor project will serve the cities and communities of Artesia, Cerritos, Bellflower, Paramount, Downey, South Gate, Cudahy, Bell, Huntington Park, Vernon, the unincorporated Florence-Graham community, and downtown L.A. LACMTA released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project last summer. At its Jan. 27 Board meeting, LACMTA signed off on the 14.8mile Slauson/A Line to Pioneer route as the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA), which is slated to cost between $4.9 billion and $5.1 billion. It includes 12.2 miles of at-grade and 2.6 miles of aerial track; nine stations (six at grade; three aerial); and 31 grade crossings.

Also approved was a maintenance and storage facility to be located on a 21-acre site in Bellflower. LACMTA also approved Los Angeles Union Station as the project’s northern terminus. The transit agency plans to complete by

8 Railway Age // February 2022

early 2023 a Final EIS/EIR for the initial segment, which it said would allow for groundbreaking in 2023 and completion by FY2033-35. At the same time, the remaining 4.5-mile Slauson/A Line (Blue) to Union Station segment is still under study. LACMTA staff is slated to identify a cost-effective alternative to the aerial and underground route previously evaluated, which had a price tag (with the Little Tokyo station) of $4.2 billion.

That put the total project cost (not including the Little Tokyo station) at $8.6 billion.

LACMTA said the project will not be considered complete until it provides a one-seat ride between Artesia and Union Station.

SIEMENS MOBILITY has been awarded a C$132 million contract by Montreal’s EXO regional/commuter rail operator to design, manufacture and commission 10 Charger locomotives that meet Tier 4 emissions regulations. This is Siemens Mobility’s second order for Charger locomotives in Canada and will replace the older locomotives in the Exo (officially known as Réseau de Transport Métropolitain) fleet with a modern, more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly locomotive. railwayage.com

R.J. Corman Railroad Company

WORLDWIDE

Watching Washington

A PPP for Supply Chain Woes

W

ere a Jeopardy quiz show answer “infrastructure investment” and “transparency,” the question would be, “What can be done to ease supply chain congestion?” To understand its magnitude, imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger struggling to fit into Danny DeVito’s wardrobe.

Evidence is extensive. Dozens of container ships are queued at Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. The ports are impossibly crammed with containers whose exit is delayed by a shortage of chassis stuck at jammed warehouses unable to unload the containers atop them. There are few incentives to purchase more chassis, says railroad economist Jim Blaze, as they are regarded as “a necessary evil” on balance sheets.

Railroads, meanwhile, short on crews and accused of botching Precision Scheduled Railroading and demarketing less profitable intermodal, are losing loads to truckers, further reducing chassis availability.

Also disrupting the supply chain is lack of transparency. For competitive reasons, ocean carriers don’t share information on beneficial cargo owners, frustrating advance planning by port operators, railroads and truckers. Nor is there transparency in tracking the whereabouts of proprietarily owned chassis whose use is restricted. Then there is escalation in detention and demurrage charges on containers and chassis trapped in this tumult of congestion.

Bossy backseat driving by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) and Federal Maritime Administration (FMC)—with some in the Biden Administration suggesting merging the agencies—is unlikely to correct market-driven behavior.

Consider, instead, a public-private partnership (PPP) working through former Maryland Ports Commission Chairman John D. Porcari, who heads the Biden Administration’s Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force. Meetings should be open to public attendance. The PPP might include the Secretary of Transportation, railwayage.com

the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Maritime Administration (MarAd), Association of American Railroads, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, trucker organizations, ports authorities, shipper groups, and rail and maritime labor unions.

They should coordinate tapping into the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It provides some $15 billion for highway-rail projects of national economic significance and freight intermodal projects, and allows some $2 billion in loans from the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program for port improvements.

Supply chain-friendly projects include expansion of port capacity; extension of rail lines into ports for on-dock loading of double-stack trains; creation of rail shuttle service to nearby warehouses; elimination of highway bottlenecks near ports; and construction of inland ports in lower-cost non-urban locations to which containers are moved by rail directly from dockside.

The Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland now partner with Utah and Union Pacific at a Salt Lake City inland port with access to four Interstate Highways. Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl W. Bentzel describes it as “funneling cargo into the interior of the country where it can be handled more [efficiently].” Inland ports “reduce pressure on terminal storage, gates, chassis and the local drayage community on the coast,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero.

As for economic regulatory agencies, the FMC oversees practices of ocean common carriers and already is updating regulations on the reasonableness of detention and demurrage billing, Bentzel says.

Although rail intermodal is exempt from economic regulation, STB Chair Martin J. Oberman says the common carrier responsibility requires railroads “to provide transportation or service on reasonable request.” As he alleges railroads are “demarketing” intermodal and

The merchants will manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves.” have “inadequate work forces”—contributing to supply chain disruptions— Oberman may be eying an investigation.

Separately, the STB is exploring expansion of its rail service data collection, while Oberman has been aggressive in pestering rail CEOs over shipper-reported service deficiencies.

Congress can assist by completing passage of the 2021 Ocean Shipping Reform Act (H.R. 4996), which sets minimum service standards; requires ocean carriers and marine terminal operators to certify that detention and demurrage charges comply with FMC regulations; and places with them the burden of proving the charges are reasonable. Although Congress cannot lawfully take private property to create more efficient chassis pools, it can create incentives for voluntary action similar to how TTX Corp. pools rail freight cars.

In its good faith efforts to help solve supply chain disruption, government at all levels is best to heed the advice of Thomas Jefferson: “The merchants will manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves.”

FRANK N. WILNER Contributing Editor February 2022 // Railway Age 9

Financial Edge

When the Going Gets Tough, the Toughs Blame the Railroads

S

ometimes the news cycle creates so many opportunities that a monthly column feels like it needs conversion to a blog. A couple of recent events emphasize how North American rail is perceived and often victimized in politics and the media.

In November 2021, PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) suspended a 2020 rule championed by then-Administrator Howard “Skip” Elliott—who like his counterpart at the Federal Railroad Administration, Ron Batory, is an experienced railroader— authorizing the transportation of liquified natural gas (LNG) by rail. As covered in Railway Age, the announcement by PHMSA touches the cultural hot points.

PHMSA is worried about safety, greenhouses gases, and of course its reputation.

The announcement was followed by a 15-state attorneys general filing in support of the PHMSA announcement.

Occasional accusations to the contrary, Financial Edge always comes down on the side of safety first in North American rail. Consistently, however, railroads in North America are held to a different standard and made to be liable to different rules than other industries performing the same activities. As RSI noted in its response to PHMSA, the tank car specifically for carrying LNG, the DOT113C, was called out in 2020 by PHMSA for its safe history of operation: “The final rule authorizes the transportation of LNG by rail in DOT-113 tank cars, which have an established track record of safety in transporting other cryogenic f lammable materials.”

So PHMSA buckles to political winds and partisanship rules over good sense and good commerce, how unfortunate! It is no secret that a tightening environmental agenda is being implemented by the Biden Administration. This isn’t just a matter of policy. Why? Just look at what has been happening in LNG while PHMSA fiddles with North American rail. LNG continues to move by truck and barge, regulated for sure, but certainly without the scrutiny

10 Railway Age // February 2022

being levied at rail when movement of LNG is considered.

The railroad lobby needs the strength and willingness to fight these fights when the chip stack favors trucking over rail.

This might be a case where the shipper lobby and the railroad lobby (not always bosom buddies) need to work together to put pressure on the state attorneys general making the case against moving LPG by rail.

The Wall Street Journal joins the clickbait “train”: Recent thefts in Los Angeles on the Union Pacific have made national news. It’s easy to see why. The detritus from the thieves breaking into intermodal containers looks like a post-tornado landscape: packing materials strewn everywhere and heart-string-pulling photos of family memorabilia scattered on the railbed.

In its coverage of the story, The Wall Street Journal went as far as to find names and addresses on the packages and to call the package recipients to ask them if they were aware that their package was involved in a heist. Dare we say: how Geraldo of them.

The tally for the recent (up to a full year’s worth) theft on the UP lines: $5.1 million. That is for sure a great deal of money, but it also pales in comparison to the estimated 210 million (yes, million) packages that disappeared off the porches and doorsteps of American homes in 2021.

By some estimates, the total value of that merchandise is greater than $5 billion— far more significant than UP’s current problem. However, that damage lacks a clear villain, the mantle of which has been thrust onto UP’s shoulders.

It’s a PR nightmare for Chairman, President and CEO Lance Fritz, as one report stating that UP had decreased railroad police in the target area has gone viral. It was made worse by California Governor Gavin Newsom, in a blatant photo op (pictured), walking the crime scene as if he is surveying the damage to a suburban community following a state of emergency. Potentially worse still was an accusation levied by UP

against Los Angeles that the thefts were the result of poor policing and lenient sentencing. A sarcastic columnist might suggest that a railroad executive chastising a local police force might be a sure-fire way to have the next few thefts go unnoticed until after the crime has been committed.

This is a two-part problem. On one side, rail sometimes cannot gracefully get out of its own way. On the other, rail’s devil horns are consistently contrasted against a trucking industry halo. Both parts devalue the importance of rail to the national economy. These fuel a consistent misunderstanding of the complexity of operating a nationwide rail network safely; the preponderant level of conflicting rulemaking that often stymies rail growth and opportunistically encourages on ongoing mythology that the railroads constantly miss their mark. Meanwhile, North American rail’s role as the favorite whipping post is maintained. Don’t think it’s a financial matter? Think again!

Got questions? Set them free at dnahass@ railfin.com.

DAVID NAHASS President Railroad Financial Corp. railwayage.com

SIT AND LISTEN William C. Vantuono Railway Age

Bill Wilson

Railway Track & Structures

Railway Age, Railway Track & Structures and International Railway Journal have teamed to offer our Rail Group On Air podcast series. The podcasts, available on Apple Music, Google Play and SoundCloud, tackle the latest issues and important projects in the rail industry. Listen to the railway leaders who make the news.

Kevin Smith

International Railway Journal

Podcasts are available on Apple Music, Google Play and SoundCloud

25 40 25 Under 40

UNDER

Shutterstock/ Manop Boonpeng

Railway Age is proud to recognize 25 ‘Fast Trackers’ Under 40 in 2022.

12 Railway Age // February 2022

railwayage.com

25 Under 40

railwayage.com

February 2022 // Railway Age 13

25 Under 40

R

ailway Age is honoring 25 “Fast Trackers” for this year’s 25 Under 40 awards program.

Established in 2016, the annual awards are presented to railroaders under the age of 40 in the United States, Canada and/or Mexico for making an impact in their respective fields or within their company.

For the 2022 program, Railway Age boosted the number of honorees from 20 to 25, due to a growing number of entries as well as top candidates. This year’s honorees were selected from freight and passenger railroads; government entities; and the supplier, contractor and consultant sectors. They were required to be under 40 as of Jan. 1, 2022, and were judged on criteria such as industry experience and education, leadership skills— which increasingly include diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) goals supporting both company and industry efforts—industry contributions, and community service involvement.

“Our seventh-annual awards program honorees not only represent the strength and growth of our industry, but also the ‘best of the best,’ and come from the highest pool of entries we have ever had—more than 120,” Railway Age Publisher Jonathan Chalon said.

“The quality of nominations continues to increase,” said program judge and Michigan State Center for Railway Research & Education Director Nick Little, who noted that the number of female candidates has also gone up as have submissions ref lecting the importance of supply chain, service and mobility efforts.

“It is amazing what can be achieved, the contributions to the railway industry as a whole, and the impact on society through giving back. And this is done alongside family obligations at a time when the pandemic has changed the way we live. I look forward to next year’s competition!”

NICHOLAS (NICK) C. LITTLE

Director, Railway Education Michigan State University Center for Railway Research and Education While in high school in Britain, Nick Little started his career with clerical and operating internships at Plymouth on British Rail’s Western Region in the early 1970s. He won a scholarship program with the British Railways Board that gave him a supply management degree plus training in all aspects of BR’s organization. Little then spent 15 years with BR in many locations, including Derby and London. In 1995, Little came to Michigan State University, initially for one year on loan to work on a research program, but he stayed to follow his passion of helping to develop future generations of railway industry expert managers and leaders with deep business knowledge and experience. He took charge of MSU’s Railway Management Certificate Program at the Broad College of Business in 2013.

14 Railway Age // February 2022

railwayage.com

Shutterstock/ Viewfoto studio

Broad College of Business, Lansing, Mich.

CONGRATULATIONS TO KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN’S

Mofoluso (Folu) Adepitan Sr. Sales Account Executive, Chemical and Petroleum

for being honored

by Railway Age as an Under 40 Fast Tracker.

kcsouthern.com

25 Under 40 FOLU ADEPITAN

WILL BAKER

Kansas City Southern (KCS)

Evraz

A 15-year railroader, Adepitan lives the “customer focus” mission. She has been commended by KCS management for supporting customers while meeting the company’s Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) directive of improved yard management.

For instance, she incorporated her customers’ concerns about variable invoicing while aligning the demurrage and switching fees at their facility. The head of KCS’s Customer Service department in Mexico also appreciates her dedication: “My team and I recognize that you look out for and advocate for your customers as well as work to ensure proper business practices. Your actions reflect great values of team work and customer focus.” Adepitan credits her success to training and learning more about self-awareness and relating to others—from customers to colleagues. Additionally, she is a Southwest Association of Rail Shippers Board Member; an Operation Lifesaver presenter; and a leader in Girl Scouts of the United States of America, helping girls develop their full potential.

Baker has been instrumental in Evraz’s development and introduction of APEX G2 Rail in North America. Additionally, he served as the architect of long-term rail supply contracts with Class I railroads that justified the construction of a new $500 million-plus, solar-powered long rail mill (320-foot rails) in Pueblo, Colo. Working closely with customers throughout North and South America, Baker developed the company’s “Mill to Milepost” delivery concept. He also worked proactively to ensure customers received critical shipments when an accident at Evraz NA’s Electric Arc Furnace cut steel production for a month last year, and adjusted schedules until the company could catch up on orders. Baker not only is active on the NAMRC membership committee and in the NRC, but also is involved in the Colorado State University-Pueblo mentor-match program, serves as an Advisory Board Member for CSU’s Hasan School of Business, and participates in the Evraz New Leaders program.

Senior Sales Account Executive

Vice President-Rail Sales

www.ontarionorthland.ca

Congratulations Dave Lallier, District Manager - Rail Infrastructure, for being recognized as a Fast Tracker in the industry.

Ontario Northland has been moving freight in and out of Northeastern Ontario and Northwestern Quebec for over 120 years. Despite the weather and the challenging geography, we provide safe and reliable transportation.

16 Railway Age // February 2022

railwayage.com

Congratulations Matthew Hornak!

CN’s very own 2022 Railway Age “Fast Trackers” Top 25 under 40 winner.

Matthew Hornak Senior Manager, Greater Toronto Area Intermodal

www.cn.ca

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25 Under 40 ZACHARY BOEHME

Assistant Vice President-Industrial Development Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services, Inc. (G&W)

In 2019, Damien Cantrell took over rail operations at Watco’s Greens Port Terminal in Houston, converting a stagnant storage business handling 15,000 carloads per year into a high-output operation handling 45,000-plus carloads per year.

18 Railway Age // February 2022

Boehme began his eightyear rail industry career as a Conductor/Engineer, rising through the ranks to Trainmaster, Project Manager and Manager of Sales and Marketing. In his present role, he partners with existing customers interested in expanding their operations on G&W railroads, and works with national site consultants as well as state and local economic developers to bring new business opportunities to rail—without interrupting existing service. Specifically, he is creating transportation solutions for wind turbine power-generation and distribution facilities, which include hauling turbines whose blades can measure up to 243-feet long.

In 2021, for instance, a customer invested more than $10 million in a new wind turbine distribution facility on G&W’s Illinois & Midland Railroad. Such projects have generated 7,526 carloads and more than $13 million in revenue since 2016. Boehme is a mentor with American Corporate Partners and a La Paz County (Ariz.)

Economic Development Corporation Board Member.

railwayage.com

25 Under 40 DAMIEN CANTRELL

DAVID F. CASACELI

Watco

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Honorable Mention 2020

Watco has put Cantrell’s leadership skills to work. In 2015, a large coking facility it was servicing in central Alabama struggled with safety issues; Cantrell improved operating practices within the plant, resulting in a decrease in derailments and Reportable Personal Injuries, and the Watco road is now a Jake Award recipient.

Later, as GM of Watco’s Louisiana Southern, a major customer was unable to grow outbound business due to a boxcar shortage and sporadic car distribution; Cantrell engaged the shipper, Class I, and local and state governments to provide consistent service and invest additional capital in track and storage, resulting in customer plant expansion, increased traffic and faster transit times for railcar equipment. His team also completed more than $3 million in track/ bridge repairs after flooding in 2016. In 2019, Cantrell took over rail operations at Watco’s Greens Port Terminal in Houston, converting a stagnant storage business handling 15,000 carloads per year into a high-output operation handling 45,000-plus carloads per year.

Since 2015, Casaceli has served as FRA’s subject-matter expert on regulations related to railroad construction and maintenance-of-way, including track safety standards and railroad workplace safety. He participated in negotiated rulemaking via the RSAC process and was selected for and has completed the agency’s leadership training program. Casaceli is spearheading the FRA Track and Roadway Workplace Safety Symposium, the first collaborative safety gathering specializing in track maintenance and construction groups. His accomplishments include a 34% reduction in defect ratio (defects per unit of track inspected), from 0.47 to 0.31; and development, with railroads, of a track inspector training program. As a Manager of Track Maintenance at Union Pacific, Casaceli helped reduce on-duty employee injuries 66%, from one per year to one total injury during his three-plus year tenure, and helped reduce track-caused derailments by 30%, with no main track derailments with a track cause.

Assistant Vice President-Rail and Liquids

Railroad Safety Specialist-Technical Training (Track)

Congratulations to Wabtec’s Milan Karunaratne and all of the outstanding recipients on being recognized as one of the Top 25 Under 40 in the rail industry.

Milan Karunaratne

Director, Digital Advanced Technologies & Applied Innovation

railwayage.com

February 2022 // Railway Age 19

25 Under 40 BEN DOBERNECKER

SHANDA DURBIN

Siemens Mobility

Herzog

Dobernecker’s ability to be open-minded and listen and learn from others have been key to earning the trust of top transit agencies and operators.

And due to his business background from the Berlin School of Economics, he can successfully translate how the right technology provides important economic benefits for rail— especially useful in rationalizing and securing a broader base of funding for rail projects, both from the government and the private sector. Dobernecker served as Project Lead for Siemens Mobility’s recent contract with Amtrak, not only to renew its fleets with dieselelectrics, but also to introduce multiple power sources, including electric only and now a hybrid lithium-titanate battery system.

Additionally, he was part of the Siemens team that landed the VIA Rail Canada contract to replace its Quebec City-Windsor Corridor trainsets. While many assumed Canada-based Bombardier had a “lock” on the bid, Dobernecker focused the team on proving the strengths of Siemens technology.

Durbin got her start at Herzog as a receptionist, one week after graduating from Northwest Missouri State. She moved to the contracts department, and then began recruiting for positions in rail construction, passenger rail operations and maintenance services, and Class I and short line maintenance-of-way services. To keep pace with Herzog’s national growth, the company promoted Durbin to Lead Recruiter and transitioned to a centralized human resources department, which Durbin established with a staff of 12 to serve some 2,400 employees. She streamlined communications with applicants and new hires, improved employee benefit program administration, and developed dashboard reporting statistics. She took on her current role in 2020 at age 33, and ensures that talent acquisition; training and development; compensation and benefits; performance management; and enterprise guidelines are aligned with Herzog’s long-term goals. In April 2021, Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons appointed Durbin to serve on the NMS Board of Regents.

Project Director-Trainsets

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Vice President-Human Resources

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25 Under 40 LAVOY GOLDEN

CAIT HICOK

CSX

The Greenbrier Companies

Golden has held several positions at CSX—from Conductor and Manager of Train Operation to Terminal Operations Supervisor, Terminal Manager and Regional Operations Manager. He helped design, set up and run one of the most advanced intermodal terminals in the U.S., CSXIT Fairburn in Georgia, and has worked on several projects to boost CSX productivity. In 2018 as a subject-matter expert, Golden visited all CSX terminals to roll out EDVIR, an app to track equipment health. It not only is changing the way Intermodal and Automotive run their equipment maintenance programs, but also is saving the company millions in equipment readiness. Currently, Golden is working with the Automotive Group to help advance automatic in-gate systems, among other measures. In addition to holding an associate degree from Columbia Southern University, he is Six Sigma certified. Golden is currently in the SOAR leadership program for African American men and a member of the CSX African American Inclusion Group.

Hicok’s contributions to developing an internal, cloudbased system to electronically capture tank car maintenance data at the shop-floor level, and her ability to design a system that integrates this data with AAR UMLER data, Car Repair Billing Data and other data has helped Greenbrier and several external customers find strengths and weaknesses in their respective programs. In several cases, using the collected data, Greenbrier was able to extend equipment inspection and test intervals, which improved asset uptime and reduced maintenance spend. Because developing a maintenance data collection system that synchronizes and exchanges data with other systems resulted in programming and deployment challenges at the shop-floor level, Hicok was instrumental in hosting a series of web-based forums, collaborating with users and identifying and fixing software issues. Outside of work, Hicok is Co-Chair of Drake University’s regional alumni association, helping firstgeneration students like her, navigate the admissions process.

Regional Operations Manager

Product Team Lead

Rail isn’t part of our business, it IS our business

CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations to RailPros’ Director of Construction Observation, Jason Murray, on his recognition as a 2022 Railway Age 25 Under 40 Fast Tracker! His innovation and leadership strategies are to be admired, and we look forward to his future successes.

NATIONWIDE - CONNECT WITH THE EXPERTS!

877-315-0513

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www.RAILPROS.com Follow Us ►

February 2022 // Railway Age 21

25 Under 40 MATTHEW HORNAK

Senior Manager-GTA (Greater Toronto Area) Intermodal Operations, CN

“The quality of nominations continues to increase. It is amazing what can be achieved, the contributions to the railway industry as a whole, and the impact on society through giving back.”

- Nick Little, 25 Under 40 Judge

Hornak has made a number of noteworthy contributions at CN. He was a key leader in the Smart Terminal implementation at Brampton in 2019 and Malport in 2020. This automation initiative at intermodal facilities handling domestic and international traffic has led to significant gains in productivity, capacity and efficiency.

The yard layout changes and reduction in lifts has allowed CN’s front-line supervisors to reduce manual work and lead through data and analytics. Hornak’s goal is to complete implementation at all GTA terminals by the end of 2022. Hornak was also instrumental in creating the Intermodal Supervisor Development Program, a yearlong training program that has produced 20 graduates over two sessions, eight of whom have been promoted within the Multimodal department. As well, Hornak collaborated with his team to alleviate congestion by stacking “mega-piles” for specific trucking companies; this allowed a terminal to serve the first container on top, reducing unproductive lifts.

G&W congratulates Zach

Boehme on his recognition in this year’s “ 25 Under 40” feature.

Thanks to his entrepreneurial spirit and extensive industry knowledge, customers recognize the value in freight-rail service every day.

To learn more about G&W’s industrial development/site selection capabilities, visit gwrr.com/id.

Zach Boehme, Assistant Vice President of Industrial Development

22 Railway Age // February 2022

railwayage.com

25 Under 40 TIFFANI JENKINS

MILAN KARUNARATNE

Office of Capital Program Delivery, Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA)

Wabtec

Director-Signaling Systems Renewal Program (SSRP)

Following graduation from Missouri University of Science and Technology, Jenkins joined WMATA as a Power Systems Engineer. She was quickly promoted to Assistant Superintendent of the Maintenance Operational Control Center (MOC) and to Superintendent of the MOC and Track Access team, where she created a process that resulted in a 25% increase in on-track productivity and optimized WMATA’s work zone practices. Jenkins went on to become Safety Operations Manager, leading a corporate-wide fatigue management effort that resulted in a 57% decrease in fatigue-related accidents. As Project Manager for Safe Track, the agency’s largest rail renewal project that included replacing one-third of its track infrastructure, she completed three years’ worth of work in just one year. In her current role, Jenkins has grown the SSRP department to more 50 members, with an eye toward diversity and inclusion, and is developing the implementation strategy for upgrading WMATA’s signaling system, a $3 billion initiative.

railwayage.com

Director-Digital Advanced Technologies and Applied Innovation Early in his career at GE Transportation (now Wabtec), Karunaratne directed the technology validation of the industry’s first Tier 4 locomotive.

He also led the development of 30-plus diagnostic algorithms to help increase the diagnostic capability on locomotive products. Karunaratne has since formed the Digital Applied Innovation team at Wabtec to help build Artificial Intelligence and Big Data-enabled digital solutions. The group has grown to 15 data scientists and machine learning engineers working on projects ranging from virtual simulations on billions of rows of real-world data to help improve software quality and speed, to intelligent diagnostics that have made it on board Wabtec’s locomotive controllers for safer and more predictable system health. The most recent products have centered on computer vision in the services, transit and digital electronic businesses to drive automation in inspection, visibility and asset tracking. Karunaratne holds more than 20 patents in advanced diagnostics for locomotive systems and other rail innovations.

February 2022 // Railway Age 23

25 Under 40 JONATHAN KIRBY

STEPHANIE KUNTZMAN

New Jersey Transit (NJT)

BNSF

A certified locomotive engineer and designated supervisor of locomotive engineers, Kirby has been an active participant in PTC development and deployment at NJT since 2017, and created the processes and procedures that all train crews used to integrate PTC into normal operations. In charge of testing, he coordinated with the contractor and prime subcontractor, mechanical department, and dispatchers, and he organized the crews running trains 24/7; he also helped analyze test results, adding his operational experience to the process. Without Kirby’s drive, organizational skills, constant communication with all parties, personnel management and leadership, NJT would have been far more at risk of not making the PTC deadline, according to the agency. Kirby has participated in Northeast Corridor-wide initiatives to improve PTC system operation and comply with FRA regulations, and in a working group of the seven host railroads operating ACSES/ASEStype PTC systems.

Kuntzman began her railroad career as an intern in BNSF’s Transportation department, moving to full-time work as a management trainee and then as a Trainmaster in Seattle, Wash. She has held multiple sales and marketing roles with increasing responsibility over the past 10 years in both the Industrial Products and Consumer Products business groups. As General Director-Domestic Intermodal, her team was charged with a $2.1 billion customer portfolio in one of BNSF’s fastest-growing business segments supporting e-commerce retail freight. Kuntzman recently transitioned to her current role leading BNSF’s efforts to increase digital integration across the intermodal supply chain. This includes the integration of information, processes and technology between BNSF, shippers and intermodal partners to drive greater visibility, fluidity and capacity. Additionally, she has participated in the railroad’s mentoring program, and volunteers for the Tarrant Area Food Bank and the Refugee Services of Texas.

Chief Road Foreman-PTC

General Director-Consumer Products

Congratulations LaVoy Golden Regional Operations Manager, CSX TDSI CSX congratulates LaVoy Golden on being named a Railway Age 25 under 40 honoree. LaVoy’s effective team-building skills and personal leadership style have earned him respect throughout the organization. He has been a key contributor to several CSX projects — driving ingenuity, and helping increase productivity and employee engagement to improve service for customers across our far-reaching network. LaVoy regularly hones his leadership skills, and positively impacts CSX operations, our employees and our communities.

csx.com

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25 Under 40 DAVID LALLIER

EILIDH MCGREGOR

Ontario Northland Transportation Commission

Hatch Ltd.

Born and raised in northern Ontario, Lallier worked in the forestry industry before joining Ontario Northland as General Track Laborer.

He worked his way up to Section and Track Technician, Foreman, Track Inspector, and District Manager, where he is now responsible for track performance. In 2021, Lallier and his team developed a plan for the removal of all slow orders in the district by fall; they succeeded. Even though Lallier is a 15-year railroad veteran, he is challenged with leading employees with more experience than he. His solution: listening to his team members and using positive reinforcement. Lallier always tries to reframe a new task or process and/or explain a new tool or piece of machinery so everyone can understand the efficiencies and safety benefits. Additionally, Lallier has served as Co-Chair of the Health and Safety Committee, and holds such certifications as MTR-Track Safety, CRO Rules, A100, and transportation of dangerous goods.

In 2021, McGregor was recognized with a Hatch Leadership Award for successfully heading a remote team during the pandemic and delivering project milestones that met clients’ expectations. She also established the company’s Rail and Transit Graduate Development program in collaboration with regional leadership and now serves as Chair. Over the past year, McGregor acted as the Technical Procurement Lead for Metrolinx on multiple new station and existing station renovation projects using the designbuild model, and as the Procurement Lead of a design-bid-build package for a complex mixed-use rail corridor. A thought leader in alternative procurement strategies, McGregor gives presentations internally to business leaders at the regional and global levels on the benefits and risks of project delivery for design-build and public-private partnership (P3) models. Additionally, she is Treasurer of a local Girl Guides chapter, fostering the next generation of female leaders.

District Manager

Senior Engineer (Transit)

The CP family congratulates Nicholas C. Walker, Vice-President Operations Western Region, for being named one of Railway Age’s Fast Trackers 25 Under 40 Honorees.

Connect to an exciting career at cpr.ca/careers

railwayage.com

February 2022 // Railway Age 25

25 Under 40 CLAYTON MILLER

Product Manager-Asset Characteristics Railinc

“Our seventh-annual awards program honorees not only represent the strength and growth of our industry, but also the ‘best of the best,’ and come from the highest pool of entries we have ever had— more than 120.”

- Railway Age Publisher Jonathan Chalon

26 Railway Age // February 2022

A four-year railroader, Miller has worked with a Railinc team on a variety of projects to improve component tracking, tank car services and interline service agreements. They have also added wind speed/ direction data to the AskRail app, which already provided hazmat cargo data, the location of at-risk geographic features and structures, and the position of hazmat railcars within a train to train crews and emergency responders at the site of an incident.

Additionally, due to his team’s efforts, when Class I’s update a general order, Rail Document Interchange instantaneously transmits it across all North American railroads. Two years ago, when UN hazmat codes were issued between updates of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s Emergency Response Guidebook for first responders, Miller hand-built initial data files to provide the codes to railroads and first responders, while the team worked on the long-term solution, updating all industry files, which took months.

railwayage.com

25 Under 40 CASSANDRA MULLEE

JASON MURRAY

Norfolk Southern (NS)

RailPros

Mullee’s goal is to be an operations leader, cultivating and retaining talent to create a sustainable future for the rail industry. She was the first woman at NS to lead a Top 4 system classification yard (Chattanooga, Tenn.). While working in NS Network Optimization (Service Design) roles, Mullee led initiatives on work time adherence (line of road vs. terminal work event), which transitioned into a corporate KPI-assigned service for T&E employees; and on ensuring districts maintain a balanced train plan, for which she helped develop an IT process to facilitate the efficient utilization of assets (manpower, decrease in deadheads/detention), while improving T&E employee lifestyle by providing a train schedule. When crude/ethanol traffic wasn’t moving efficiently, Mullee analyzed market conditions and corridor capacity, and proposed and executed a bulk-slotting plan through the Chicago gateway, realizing substantial cost savings and improving network fluidity. A similar approach was taken with the recent increase in coal volume.

In eight years of railroading, Murray has led process improvements in railroad logistics, railroad utility permitting and utility construction on railroad right of way. He was recruited by Union Pacific while at Michigan State, getting his start as a Logistics Coordinator. Two years later, he was hired into the Real Estate department and quickly established himself as leader in the Utility Group, volunteering to direct the team’s Standard Operating Procedures and Training Manual rewrite and serving as a liaison with the Engineering department. His desire to understand the industry has been critical to his rapid growth, as has his willingness to take on additional tasks, earning him two promotions in just four years. In 2018, Murray became a Utility Observation Manager at RailPros.

Here, he has streamlined and grown a fledgling program into one of the fastest growing business units at the company. In just a few years, the Construction Observation program has grown to serve UP plus another Class I railroad and short lines.

Director-Chicago Transportation Coordination Office

Director-Construction Observation

From everyone at Metra, we wish to congratulate

TOM STUEBNER for his well-earned recognition. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to the success of our agency.

railwayage.com

February 2022 // Railway Age 27

25 Under 40 CHRISTINA ROBERTS

ZACH RUSSELL

Patriot Rail Company

Union Pacific (UP)

For eight years, Roberts has rapidly assumed progressive responsibilities from Accounting Manager and Director of Accounting to Assistant Controller. Now as Treasurer, an executive leadership role, she not only oversees all cash and debt management and leads payroll and accounts payable, but also serves as the Finance department leader for all special projects, including acquisitions, new railroad integrations and other strategic transactions. As part of the Salt Lake Garfield & Western Railroad acquisition in 2020, Roberts led the incremental $20 million debt raise and coordinated an equity capital injection to support deal closure; she also drove cash management, payroll and accounts payable processes to integrate the railroad.

As part of the Patriot Ports divestiture last year, Roberts spearheaded all financial due diligence requests, while maintaining professionalism and discretion. Finally as part of Patriot’s debt restructuring in 2021, she accomplished two debt repricings that together will save the company more than $3 million annually in interest expense.

Since joining UP in 2006, Russell has worked in equipment maintenance; field and terminal, intermodal, and network operations; asset planning; and at the Harriman Dispatching Center. As General Superintendent of Premium Operations in 2019, Russell played a key role in UP’s implementation of PSR; under his direction, the railroad yielded numerous intermodal terminal consolidations, improved train size productivity, and increased equipment velocity, all while maintaining service reliability. Russell took on his current role during the pandemic, managing the distribution of the Intermodal and Automotive car fleets and distribution and maintenance of UP’s intermodal container and chassis fleet in the U.S. and Mexico. He is now leading initiatives to improve intermodal inventory automation and to deploy lift and drayage equipment telematics. Additionally, Russell is directing development of an intermodal excellence training program that will be rolled out to the field operating team in 2022.

Treasurer

Assistant Vice President-Asset Planning

Florida Central Railroad and Regional Rail LLC congratulate

ASSISTANT ROADMASTER

LIONEL THOMPSON

Congratulations to Eilidh McGregor for being named as one of Railway Age’s Top 25 Under 40!

on being selected as one of RA’s 25 Under 40 honorees!

www.regional-rail.com hatch.com 28 Railway Age // February 2022 FCR_Congrats_QuarterAd.indd 1

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25 Under 40 SAM SARGENT

THOMAS STUEBNER

Capital Metro

Metra (Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation)

At Capital Metro in Austin, Tex., Sargent has worked handin-hand with the freight and commuter rail operation to secure federal grants for new infrastructure and Positive Train Control, and state grants for a new terminal commuter station. Between 2018 and 2020, he developed the successful strategy for Proposition A, Austin’s dedicated property tax to build a $7.1 billion light rail system. Following voter approval, Sargent worked with policymakers and Capital Metro’s President and CEO to launch the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP), which will ultimately design, engineer and construct the light rail system. It is Sargent’s job to see ATP through the federal Capital Investment Grant process before Capital Metro begins light rail operations later this decade. A lifelong rail evangelist, he frequently presents on Project Connect and transit, and enjoys speaking with local high school and college students.

“With the scale of our program in Austin, we need the best and brightest young people to help us build a new rail system,” he says.

Bargaining had already been under way for more than six months when Stuebner left Metra’s Law Department to manage Labor Relations. He immediately began to compile industry data to formulate a plan. When one plan failed, he recommended pivots where he saw opportunity develop and managed to succeed in providing Metra with an employee-friendly agreement, which bettered prior benchmarks as well as management expectations.

Stuebner’s efforts have led to stabilizing and settling 15 out of 17 bargaining agreements; the vast majority of which were ratified under seven-year terms. Stuebner strives to hear all opinions before acting, and focuses on developing and mentoring his staff. When he joined Labor Relations, he immediately held regular meetings with employees to discuss what they accomplished, where they were blocked, and what they intended to do (SCRUM) in a non-judgmental space. Stuebner also continues to guide the Law Department’s less-experienced attorneys.

Director-Strategy

Senior Director-Labor Relations

Metro congratulates Tiffani Jenkins for being chosen as one of Railway Age’s Top 25 Under 40.

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February 2022 // Railway Age 29

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25 Under 40 LIONEL THOMPSON

NICHOLAS C. WALKER

Florida Central Railroad Company

Canadian Pacific (CP)

After working full time to pay his way through Florida A&M, Thompson joined NS’s management training program and became an Assistant Track Supervisor, with Pennsylvania and Georgia assignments. In 2018, he returned to his hometown, Apopka, Fla., where he grew up next to the Florida Central main line and began leading the short line’s maintenance-of-way team. Among his accomplishments: helping holding company Regional Rail reduce derailments by 50% in 2021 across its Southern Region; working to improve track inspections and to provide focused maintenance work on the more than 200 miles of track the company operates in Florida; and ensuring the company’s Bartow Airport Industrial Park rail project was completed on time and under budget. Thompson received a scholarship last year through the ASLRRA Short Line Education Fund, which allowed him to take a University of Tennessee-Knoxville Railroad Track Inspection and Safety Standards course. His goal is to become a short line General Manager.

Walker started his railroad career as a Canadian Pacific Conductor right out of high school, and took on a variety of roles over the next 16 years to learn more about the network.

In June 2016, he was promoted from Assistant Superintendent to Superintendent and given an extraordinary task: turn around the Bensenville, Ill., terminal. Walker started by building a team and bringing together T&E, Mechanical and Engineering to create a plan. He also collaborated with union leaders and management to improve communication and to create an environment where at-risk behaviors and locations could be addressed in real time. Due to these efforts, Bensenville saw a 32.5% improvement in personal injury frequency, and an overall service improvement, with fourth-quarter Trip Plan performance at 97.7%. Additionally, cars handled per on-duty hour had a 9.2% improvement in 2016 with a 14.5% increase in the second half of the year. This success led to CP naming Walker Railroader of the Year and Bensenville terminal, Terminal of the Year.

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WASHINGTON REPORT

UNCERTAINTY

ON THE

HILL

BY DON ITZKOFF, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

32 Railway Age // February 2022

railwayage.com

WASHINGTON REPORT The sharpest key light in 2022 will train on logistics oversight and rail economic regulation.

Shutterstock.com/ Kristi Blokhin

R

railwayage.com

ail stakeholders assessing federal policy direction in 2022 should look to the Executive branch and the Surface Transportation Board—with attention to new funding streams, customer perspective, outside drivers, and especially supply chain fluidity.

The view from San Pedro Bay may be clearer than from the Potomac. Last year, scenes of dozens of cargo vessels waiting to unload at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach riveted the nation. Stacks of thousands of undelivered containers gave vivid form to COVID-19 economic disruptions, goods shortages from appliances to vehicles, and surging inflation. “Supply chains” became White House words, and resiliency of just-in-time logistics systems a new Washington focal point. Last June, President Joe Biden launched a Cabinetlevel Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, highlighted expedited West Coast port operations in October, and asserted in December that, “We’ve got a way to go but we’re making progress.”

In 2021, the legislative battle over new infrastructure investment legislation occupied center stage. With this landmark measure enacted, implementation now falls largely to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Developments in other modes and other forces will unequivocally shape policies affecting the railroad industry. But the sharpest key light in 2022 will train on logistics oversight and rail economic regulation. How well railroads deliver for shippers—reflected graphically for the public in the speed of goods movement through ports across the country—will drive the pace of surface transportation and rail regulatory decisions in Washington.

UNPRECEDENTED FUNDING FOR RAIL WILL FLOW IN 2023 The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), signed into law

Nov. 15, 2021, includes $550 billion in new “above the baseline” transportation spending. As widely reported, the measure allocates $66 billion primarily for Amtrak and passenger rail (though omitting dedicated new high-speed rail investments).

The legislation boosts the CRISI/RAISE/ INFRA constellation of competitive grant programs available for passenger and freight rail projects, along with port infrastructure grants for which freight rail can be eligible. CRISI—the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program available for direct application by short lines—for example jumps from $362 million appropriated in FY 2021 to at least $1 billion annually for the next five years, and more if Congress chooses.

The IIJA also establishes a new program to eliminate highway-rail grade crossings backed by guaranteed annual funding, creates a “Mega-projects” program including rail eligibility, and increases the federal commitment to a broad range of multimodal, climate change, safety, electrification, tech, and other initiatives benefitting rail.

Beyond the funding, the IIJA effectively bans operation in the U.S. of freight railcars manufactured by China. The final measure notably did not include the rail crew size provisions, prohibition on rail transport of liquified natural gas (LNG), or limits on blocked crossings sought by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.). The IIJA also omits substantive changes to current truck size and weight restrictions.

Following past enactment of surface transportation reauthorizations, policy momentum has typically shifted from Congress to Executive branch implementation. We should see the same pattern now, as Congress transitions to IIJA oversight both to take credit and criticize while the USDOT ramps up program rollout.

The big IIJA dollar increases will take time to spool up. Applications for competitive rail-eligible grant programs will likely February 2022 // Railway Age 33

open starting in Q1 or Q2 2022. That schedule pushes award decisions into late 2022 or beyond, with grant obligations thereafter.

Therefore, 2022 will set the table for boosted transportation funding flows in 2023 and the out years.

2022 TRANSPORT POLICY WILL CENTER ON CUSTOMERS With heightened scrutiny of supply chain performance across the economy, 2022 also will see a fully empowered Surface Transportation Board examining railroad service to shippers. On Dec. 16, 2021, Congress confirmed Karen Hedlund as the Board’s fifth member and cemented a Democratic 3-2 STB majority. Hedlund arrives at an agency agenda featuring review of the proposed CSX-Pan Am and CP-KCS mergers, and sharper assessment of freight railroad service nationally.

At 2021’s close, STB Chairman Martin J. Oberman sent letters to several Class I railroads regarding declining transportation service and increasing informal complaints from freight shippers. Those service levels will be influential in some of the highest profile regulatory proceedings that the STB is expected to consider in 2022.

For example, when a shipper alleged that its serving Class I railroad, which had previously provided service five days per week for a decade, unilaterally reduced service to three days per week, incorrectly placed cars on 30% of the scheduled service days, provided no service at all on 14% of scheduled service days, and that it incurred increased shipping costs and demurrage charges, the Board listened even 34 Railway Age // February 2022

though the subject commodity was exempt.

In a decision in Sanimax vs. Union Pacific Railroad issued Nov. 2, 2021, the Board found that partial revocation of a commodity exemption was necessary in order to investigate whether alleged service reductions violated a railroad’s common carrier obligation to provide reasonable rates and services upon request.

John Scheib, formerly EVP and Chief Strategy Officer and earlier Chief Legal Officer at Norfolk Southern, now a partner with Kaleo Legal, notes how the Board carefully distinguished the procedural effect of the Nov. 2 Sanimax decision: “To be clear, the Board has not reached a decision on the merits of the issues raised in Sanimax’s complaint. However, partial revocation of the exemption allows this case to proceed to discovery and evidentiary development in 2022 so that the Board may evaluate the service issues raised by Sanimax in greater context.”

Scheib, whose prior public service includes his tenure as Chief of Staff to former STB Chairman Roger Nober and Counsel to the House T&I Subcommittee on Railroads, observes further that “the Board has rarely revoked a commodity exemption, and the case seems to signal an interest in what the rail common carrier obligation requires.”

The Board’s closely watched reopening of Reciprocal Switching Docket No. EP 711 (Sub-No. 1), marks how intense this scrutiny has become. In line with a July 2021 White House Executive Order aimed at promoting competition in the American economy, the Board has advanced EP 711 because, as Chairman Oberman told an industry conference

this past November, “It has become clear to me that this issue is too important ... to just have these seemingly endless back and forth discussions between the STB, railroads and their customers.”

Oberman continued: “Since joining the STB, I have focused much of my attention on fomenting as much competition into the delivery of rail services as possible. Because, in our American system, almost always, more competition in business means better products, better prices, and a more thriving economy. I believe that the potential is there for a more accessible reciprocal switching mechanism to provide that answer to competition. Any railroad that is really providing that kind of service at fair prices should welcome such an environment.”

In other areas, too, the Board has amplified its service and competition inquiries. At regular virtual meetings of the Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council (this author serves as a small-railroad representative on the RSTAC), the dialogue includes customer service performance. So the EP 711 docket may more fully be considered as one facet of an accelerating Board regulatory examination.

Yet railroads hold some reach over the pace of the Board’s review and further Congressional and Executive branch engagement. John Scheib explains: “As has historically been the case, service levels to rail customers will affect how actively regulators and other government actors are involved in the supply chain.”

OTHER DRIVERS Railroads do not operate in a vacuum, and railwayage.com

Shutterstock/ Ingus Kruklitis

WASHINGTON REPORT

Shutterstock.com/ Engel Ching

WASHINGTON REPORT inside and outside drivers can disrupt the industry quickly. Avery Grimes, Chair of the Transportation Research Board Technical Activities Council, which oversees the work of all TRB technical committees, stressed the renewed emphasis on logistics productivity solutions across all modes at TRB’s January 2022 annual meeting. Grimes (who also serves as a senior adviser to Patriot Rail CEO John E. Fenton) noted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s attention to supply chain issues in his remarks to TRB attendees: “The Secretary highlighted both short- and long-term investments including research and technology, and specifically stressed the human element of supply chains.”

Grimes sees scrutiny of long-established paradigms in all modes escalating as the supply chain focus continues. New policy, workforce, technology and other policy decisions could alter the competitive balance.

“Railroads have to follow these larger trends, and trends can pivot swiftly,” said Grimes.

“Improving logistics performance means continually enhancing intermodal alignment, while recognizing distinct modal contributions.” As Secretary Buttigieg told TRB participants from every mode, “If you got a package today, thank a trucker.”

Looking ahead, a central policy segment, as always, is safety. Confirmed by the Senate on Jan. 12, 2022 as Federal Railroad Administrator, Amit Bose will chart FRA’s path across the agency’s jurisdiction, and especially on forward-facing regulatory issues including crew size oversight, and the scope of automation and technology deployment.

Workforce issues also deserve attention.

This spring, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, representing 22,000 dockworkers, and the Pacific Maritime Association, on behalf of shipping lines and terminal operators at West Coast ports, will begin negotiations on a new labor agreement. The prior round of bargaining in 2014-15 drove work slowdowns and employer retaliations slowing productivity and ultimately requiring federal mediation. Meanwhile the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, representing more than 30 railroads, continues the bargaining that began in 2020 with 12 rail unions through the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition for approximately 125,000 employees at a time when some rail CEOs have struggled to find workers in certain locations. Additionally, across the rail sector, the same COVID-19 railwayage.com

workforce challenges facing the entire economy drive uncertainty and costs.

Because freight railroads operate as part of an integrated logistics system, workforce developments not only at railroads but in the trucking industry shape the competitive landscape. Severe driver shortages in trucking led Congress to mandate as part of the IIJA a pilot program enabling 18-year-olds to operate commercial motor vehicles. In a Federal Register announcement Jan. 14, the Biden Administration rolled out its version of the Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program, building on a 2020 Trump Administration test program.

Accelerating technology deployment offers another avenue for enhanced trucking performance compared with rail. Truck platooning, in which two or more trucks convoy with advanced connectivity and automated driving support systems, looked to be a disruptive game-changer with fuel and potential driver productivity savings when initial deployment tests started several years ago. Platooning progress slowed consistent with broader concerns over autonomous driving systems, but the rail sector should expect the ongoing supply chain crisis to spur technology progress in competing modes.

EYES WEST In 2022, we’ll see the first IIJA funding flows cemented, and other transportation policy currents that may or may not affect the rail sector. Logistics and service will lead the agenda.

The day before speaking to TRB, Secretary Buttigieg inspected the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. On Jan. 11 in Los Angeles with California Governor Gavin Newsom,

other elected officials, and port leaders, Buttigieg commented, “When there is an issue affecting ports here, you will feel it as far away as my Indiana hometown.” That is because the LA ports together process more than 40% of the containers arriving to the U.S. Literally and figuratively, the velocity of that cargo movement will this year frame how policy decision-makers see and act on goods movement challenges.

While as of mid-January, 12 vessels waited in or near San Pedro Bay to unload with another 90 ships farther off the coast or approaching the ports, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka spoke positively about recent progress in handling a record 2021 volume of 10.7 million container units, 13% higher than the previous Port of LA record set in 2018. Just in the first half of January, containers sitting on dock for nine days or more at both LA ports decreased by nearly a third, with other fluidity improvements under way through fuller logistics teaming and coordination. Seroka told Railway Age, “Moving forward, we need to do a better job utilizing our rail capacity. Our rail partners tell us that they can accommodate substantially more cargo on the rail side, so we’ll be working with them and others in the short and long term to make that happen.”

The success of this partnership, other initiatives to meet the nation’s supply chain concerns, and especially how customers perceive the rail service they receive, will guide many of the most sensitive Washington policy outcomes touching the railroad industry in 2022.

Don Itzkoff is Chief Policy Officer for Patriot Rail Company.

February 2022 // Railway Age 35

PASSENGER RAIL FOCUS: NJ TRANSIT

OUT OF CRISIS MODE;

AHEAD OF THE CURVE Coming out of a crippling pandemic, sustainable longterm funding, critical for essential capital projects, appears within reach for New Jersey Transit.

BY WILLIAM C. VANTUONO, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 36 Railway Age // February 2022

railwayage.com

PASSENGER RAIL FOCUS: NJ TRANSIT

N

ew Jersey Transit is among North America’s largest providers of rail transit, with an extensive regional/commuter and light rail network and annual operating and capital budgets approaching that of a Class I railroad.

NJT’s commuter rail system is an amalgamation of many different railroads going way back—the Central Railroad of New Jersey, Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, Lehigh Valley, Erie-Lackawanna, DL&W and Erie before their merger, even Conrail. And even though the system has been integrated over the years, still there are a lot of structural and physical elements that are characteristic of those fallen flags.

On the equipment side, the long-term plan is to standardize the commuter rail fleet to the Bombardier (now Alstom) MultiLevel.

NJT President and CEO Kevin Corbett discussed the agency’s current operations, its priority capital projects, and how it intends to leverage funding made available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) with Railway Age Editor-inChief William C. Vantuono.

William C. Vantuono

Westbound NJT North Jersey Coast Line train 3231—nine MultiLevels hauled by an ALP46 electric—crosses the Navesink River Bridge, prior to stopping at Red Bank station.

railwayage.com

RAILWAY AGE: We thought we were coming out of the pandemic, but we’re not quite there yet. How is that impacting New Jersey Transit staffing?

KEVIN CORBETT: Omicron certainly threw a punch in the gut that we didn’t need, nationally, but for us, ridership fell drastically between December 21 and 23—a throwback; it was almost like March 2020.

It was unfortunate with Christmas in New York. But we’re out of crisis mode at NJT and that’s a nice feeling for us, to be able to be ahead of the curve or at least on top of things. We’d staffed up, with all the engineers’ classes. So although our numbers were impacted pretty significantly on train crews and engineers, we had a deep enough bench that we could handle that. We still ran 97% of our regular service through the worst days of Omicron because we had that bench. We didn’t have to look at suspending service or going back to enhanced holiday service.

RA: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA): What does it mean for a statewide agency like New Jersey Transit?

February 2022 // Railway Age 37

CORBETT: Being direct about it, we’re certainly happy. I think there are a couple areas where I see it can be a game-changer.

But on formula funding, there’s still a lot to be determined. I think the jury’s still out on a lot of it for transit agencies. We’re obviously excited, but for our formula funding, we’re possibly getting another half-billion.

We are assuming our normal formula funding would be at $4 billion over five years, so it gives us an extra $110 million per year, which is great to have. We want to have the base nailed down, as well as get a significant bump-up of $110 million a year.

But it’s not like, people think oh, you’re getting billions and billions of dollars. It’s going to be competitively bid, but we’re pretty confident. We have a five-year capital plan that we’re in the process of updating.

We have needs, projects in the pipeline that we don’t have funding for yet. The question is, will that match up with what FTA and FRA put out in grants? We have very good relationships with Amit Bose at FRA and Nuria Fernandez at FTA. We expect to have 38 Railway Age // February 2022

projects in the pipeline, but the devil is in the details. With the USDOT—I’m working with them as Co-Chair of the Northeast Corridor Commission—there are harmonization efforts, where FTA and FRA policies conflict. Some are legislative, some are administrative. We’re working with them to try to make things as easy as possible, but it’s still not clear. With FRA state programs, for example, you have to have an element that’s intercity or freight. Some projects we have don’t fit into that, at least not easily.

You try to find a hook, and I think other transit agencies are looking for the same thing. But I would say overall, it’s very positive, but when you get down to the details of projects for which we’re going to be eligible, that’s still to be determined, and I expect it to be very competitive.

RA: What are some of the priority capital projects, the big-ticket items, fundingdependent, of course?

CORBETT: Portal Bridge [on the Northeast Corridor] is the biggest project in New

Jersey Transit’s history. We’re gearing up, getting the Notice To Proceed out. We’ve got the contract signed, and you’ll be seeing construction starting soon on that. Amtrak is getting $66 billion in IIJA funding. A lot of that’s going to go in the Northeast Corridor. We’re looking at projects along the NEC with Amtrak, how we’re going to sequence them. That’s going to be an interesting discussion about whose projects get moving first along the NEC, and whose operations are going to be impacted. That’s another thing to watch going forward. But for us, otherwise, leaving the Northeast Corridor aside, we have a lot of station work to do. We did a baseline assessment, and we have a backlog of 100-plus stations that need anywhere from modest repairs to major rebuilding to new construction.

Newark Penn Station is a perfect example of that. Looking at the capital plan, breaking it into two components, one is equipment.

We’ve exercised the option with Alstom for an additional 25 MultiLevels, in addition to the 113 that are under way right now. railwayage.com

William C. Vantuono

PASSENGER RAIL FOCUS: NJ TRANSIT

PASSENGER RAIL FOCUS: NJ TRANSIT We started looking at options at phasing out the [single-level] Comet cars. To the degree that we have funding, about which we’re optimistic, we’ll be able to exercise more options to start replacing them. We’re really trying to bundle stations and bridges together to be able to take advantage of standardization. We need a lot of electrical upgrades. Some of our electric-traction substations are ancient. We’re working in collaboration with PSE&G on taking back some of them, even bundling a number of them, to get the 40- and 50-year-old-plus electrical infrastructure in them upgraded.

RA: Where does procurement of the MultiLevel III, the self-powered railcar, stand?

CORBETT: They’re coming along. We’re going to have delays, there’s no doubt about it, in delivery because of supply chain issues. We have many. Components like truck castings come from all over the world.

Alstom is working collaboratively with us.

But as far as the summer of 2023, when we were supposed start taking delivery, that’s

railwayage.com

going to slip into 2024. We’re working with Alstom to see what we can do to make up schedule. That disruption is hitting everyone. But price is a good thing. With Alstom, we’re able to maintain the price. It’s just the delivery time lagging. But we’re excited about them. The whole MU concept for MultiLevels really will be a game-changer for us. And we are taking delivery on more dual powers, the ALP45-DP. We love them.

They give us so much flexibility.

RA: What’s your longer-term outlook?

CORBETT: I’m concerned with the outer years, after the next couple of years. Right now, thank God for CARES and the other federal funding we’re getting. But after two or three years from now where we start looking down the line, where will that pipeline be, both from the state and the federal government, that sustainable funding we need? When you get these big bumps, it’s great but then you go back down in the trough for another decade. Hopefully, we can avoid that. What does that mean for

equipment, prices as well as construction?

As far as delivery times and prices going up, we see inflationary issues—we and everybody else in the transportation industry.

RA: Other than major infrastructure projects and rolling stock, what are NJT’s capital priorities?

CORBETT: We really spend a lot of time on Information Technology. Our executive team just had a meeting going through all the different technologies that are now built into all the equipment. But a lot of it is siloed. You’re going to have four or five different computer systems that don’t talk to each other on a train, different built-in elements that are mostly stand alone. We have started looking into enterprise asset management and life cycle costs and how to get all the continuous operational data.

It’s called Information Technology, IT, but we’re really focusing a lot on OT, Operational Technology. I’m learning a lot of things as quickly as I can, because I really see smart investment in operational technology

February 2022 // Railway Age 39

PASSENGER RAIL FOCUS: NJ TRANSIT allowing us to manage our operations, our expenditures in a lot of ways that really will transform places like the MMC (Meadows Maintenance Complex), how we run that place. It may sound a bit dry, but boy, I think that’s going to be probably the most critical thing in the next few years.

RA: For a younger generation of people in our industry, this is exciting stuff. These are the kinds of things that they’ve come to take for granted, all the software platforms, information technology and artificial intelligence. And our industry has made great progress in getting up to speed. That’s not an easy thing to say about railroads, as you well know.

CORBETT: We’ve made a lot of progress in the past few years here. Collectively, we’re all proud of it. We’re rated in Forbes as one of the 25 best companies to work for in New Jersey.

That’s not something you buy with advertising. So we really feel a lot of pride. There are a lot of bright young people coming in here.

You talk to some of the train crews, some1 1_2pgHorzWrkStTraining2019.qxp_Layout

of the ones who aren’t even old timers, but have been 15 years with the railroad, and they’re saying, in a positive way, wow, we have all these new people, new engineers, new train crews. It’s a different camaraderie.

It feels different. That’s great. But in technology, we’re still behind. If you take the 50 major transit agencies in the country, we are not one of the top five in technology. We’re making investments, and hopefully we’ll be able to leapfrog a bit. On the IT side, we’re really trying to invest and get caught up with the rest of the world. We’re sharing our IT people with agencies in places like Singapore, Toronto and Europe, comparing what they’re doing. I’m the North American rep for the UITP. We’ve been active over the past year and have really increased our participation. I was elected the North American rep to the Board there. And we’ve been participating, getting involved in a lot of great information sharing. I think in that sense, it was making the lemonade out of lemons with COVID. That really helped the North American transit 7/17/19 10:00community AM Page 1to be more aware of

what’s going on in the world. In a lot of ways, we are different, but there are a lot of common things, how to respond, following each other’s data, how we’re dealing with sanitization, labor issues, fare collection issues, all those kinds of things. I think COVID really helped accelerate that cooperation between APTA and UITP. There has been collaboration and cooperation between APTA and UITP for that kind of sharing, which on the technology side has been helpful.

In his State of the State address following election to a second term, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy—astute politician that he is—said that, four years ago, NJ Transit “was national model of how not to run a transit system. Now it’s a national model of how to turn one around.”

Kevin Corbett and the people at NJT can take credit for that. “I’ve got a pretty good gig here right now,” he says. There’s much more work to be done. The prospects for the level of funding that will be required are looking up.

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timeout for tech

METAL FRACTURE The fatigue cycle that really counts.

BY GARY T. FRY, PH.D., P.E., VICE PRESIDENT, FRY TECHNICAL SERVICES, INC.

W

elcome to “Timeout for Tech with Gary T. Fry, Ph.D., P.E.” Each month, we examine a technology topic that professionals in the railway industry have asked to learn more about. This month our topic is fracture of steel.

I am often asked, “Why did this break?”

Typically, the inquirer is pointing to a piece of steel that has suffered an obvious fracture. Structural fractures can occur even when a component is only subjected to the normal service loading that it was designed to withstand with a significant margin of safety. In fact, the component may have supported millions of applications of the loading for many years before the fracture suddenly occurred.

So what was special about that last load application that caused the fracture? The simple answer is: probably nothing special at all. A more vexing answer might be this: The last load did not cause the fracture; it was the fracture which resulted in that becoming the last load.

Let’s consider generally what comprises a fracture event using a broadly familiar object: a pistachio. Figure 1 contains a sequence of four photographs of pistachio shells: intact, slightly cracked, very railwayage.com

cracked, and fractured. This sequence is representative of how steel components might fail in fatigue. They start off intact, develop small fatigue cracks which grow into larger fatigue cracks, and then fracture.

If offered one of the first three pista-

There are fascinating microscopic things happening inside solid material at the tip of a crack. chios, I would certainly choose the one that contains a larger crack, since little force is needed to pry it open. In general, the larger the crack, the easier it is to fracture a solid, and we should always distinguish between a crack and a fracture. A crack is a defect in a component; a fracture is a failure of a component, often into two or more separate pieces.

There are fascinating microscopic things happening inside solid material at the tip of a crack just prior to a fracture event.

These things comprise the fracture process and are best represented mathematically as a tipping point in a balance among three energies. In the context of opening the pistachio shell, these energies are: 1) the energy created as the forces in our fingers spread apart; 2) the strain energy inside the solid shell caused by our fingers prying the shell open; and 3) the energy required to extend the length of the crack within the solid shell material.

That third energy, the energy required to extend the crack, involves a material property that we call toughness (also referred to as critical strain energy release rate). It has units of energy per unit area of crack formed. All solid materials have toughness. The toughness of metals usually varies with temperature: generally lower at cold temperatures and higher at warm temperatures.

Here are some toughness values of a few materials at room temperature. For our pistachio shells, it is around 10,000 Joules per square meter. For glass, it is very low: around 10 Joules per square meter. For copper, it is very high: around one million Joules per square meter. For the low-carbon steels used in bridges and February 2022 // Railway Age 41

timeout for tech

buildings, it is around 100,000 Joules per square meter. For the hard, wear-resistant pearlitic steels used in railroad rail and railcar wheels, the toughness is around 10,000 Joules per square meter, surprisingly similar to pistachio shells.

With that introduction, let’s focus on the engineering principles that are used to mitigate brittle fracture failure of steel components. Up to now, I have assumed the existence of a crack defect in the material as a precursor to fracture—and with good reason. Steel components without crack-like defects rarely experience brittle fracture under normal loading. Rather 42 Railway Age // February 2022

than being limited by toughness, their performance is limited by their inherent uncracked strength, which is a different engineering material property.

For example, every broken railcar wheel rim that I have examined triggered from a fatigue crack defect—usually substantially larger than one inch in dimension. In some cases, multiple large fatigue crack defects were involved in the wheel failure— so-called multiple site damage (MSD) scenarios. With very rare exception, the broken railroad rails that I have examined also triggered from fatigue crack defects— usually in the head or base.

The energy balance described for the pistachio example provides valuable insight to the problem. Material toughness, fatigue crack size, and load level are independent variables. For a given material toughness and some level of applied load, there is a critical sized fatigue crack that will trigger a brittle fracture. Alternatively, given a material toughness and a fatigue crack of some size, there is a critical level of applied load that will trigger a brittle fracture. Finally, given a fatigue crack of some size and an applied load of some level, there is a critical material toughness that will trigger a brittle fracture. Figure 2 is a diagram that represents these essential considerations (toughness, defect and load) imagined as a fracture safety triangle.

Better understanding of the engineering properties associated with these types of fractures comes from laboratory tests using fatigue-cracked specimens.

Figure 3 is a photograph of a test specimen used to establish toughness values for steel. The specimen includes a sharp, machined notch. The test is conducted in two stages. First, the specimen is subjected to a cyclic load to initiate and grow a fatigue crack from the notch. Then the specimen is subjected to an increasing load until the specimen fractures, similar to prying open a pistachio shell.

Several specimens from a given material are tested at different temperatures.

Data sets recorded during each test are used to calculate a quantity called fracture toughness. Fracture toughness is directly related to material toughness but reflects more directly the criticality relationship among material toughness, applied load intensity, and fatigue crack size.

Figure 4 is a plot of fracture toughness vs. temperature for pearlitic steels used in railroad rail and railcar wheels. As was indicated earlier, the fracture toughness varies with temperature, being lower at cold temperatures and higher at warm temperatures. The ranges of expected fracture toughness values are indicated by blue shading on the plot—substantial variability is observed.

In general, the larger the value of fracture toughness, the larger the fatigue crack that can be tolerated before triggering a fracture. It is worth noting here railwayage.com

timeout for tech

that a crack tolerated on a warm summer day, when the fracture toughness is high, might well trigger a brittle fracture on a cold winter day, when the fracture toughness is low. The only difference being the value of fracture toughness in the material; the crack and loading remaining identical.

Considering the fracture safety triangle, Figure 2, as it relates to some of the details of freight rail transportation in North America, there are some practical constraints to note regarding load intensity and material toughness. The loads in North American freight rail transportation are not arbitrary. They are limited to maximum levels according to published equipment interchange rules and are carefully controlled to be permissible in revenue service. In addition, as ref lected by the plot in Figure 4, the fracture toughness of rail and wheel steel is rangebound but substantially temperature dependent. That leaves fatigue crack size and temperature as the only variables that are not controlled.

Regarding fracture of steel rails and wheels, here are the key takeaways.

Though controlled, the loads imposed railwayage.com

on wheels and rails in North America’s heavy-haul freight rail system are sufficient to cause fatigue crack defects. On rails, fatigue cycles accumulate with the passages of loaded wheels. On wheels, a fatigue cycle accumulates with each revolution under load.

Furthermore, at potentially varying rates, fatigue cracks grow during all seasons of operation: summer, fall, winter and spring. Even after millions of cycles of load successfully applied, left unchecked, there can be a fatigue crack that grows to be critical under a single additional cycle of load applied at a given temperature (really at a given fracture toughness), triggering a fracture.

One can reasonably expect to see clusters of these fractures with the arrivals of the coldest days of winter. The fractures are triggered by cracks that survived the coldest days of the previous winter, though perhaps barely so. These cracks continued to grow but managed to remain subcritical through the warmer spring, summer and fall days, but were now critical in the cold. If they had been this size the previous winter, they would have triggered fractures then.

The most effective countermeasures are to regularly inspect for cracks in rails and wheels and remove the defective components from service.

Dr. Gary Fry is the Vice President of Fry Technical Services, Inc. He has 30 years of experience in research and consulting on the fatigue and fracture behavior of structural metals and weldments. His research results have been incorporated into international codes of practice used in the design of structural components and systems, including structural welds, railway and highway bridges, and high-rise commercial buildings in seismic risk zones.

He has extensive experience performing in situ testing of railway bridges under live loading of trains, including high-speed passenger trains and heavy-axle-load freight trains. His research, publications and consulting have advanced the state of the art in structural health monitoring and structural impairment detection.

February 2022 // Railway Age 43

People TRACY ROBINSON CN

HIGH PROFILE: Tracy Robinson will assume CN’s throttle effective Feb. 28, replacing retiring President and CEO JJ Ruest (Railway Age’s 2019 Railroader of the Year), who will depart CN’s Board the same day but will remain at CN in an advisory role until March 31 “to ensure a seamless transition.” Only the second woman after BNSF’s Katie Farmer to become a Class I railroad president and CEO, Robinson also joins the company’s Board of Directors. She will be joining CN from TC Energy, where she is Executive Vice President, and President of both Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines and Coastal GasLink.

Prior to joining TC Energy, Robinson spent 27 years at Canadian Pacific in executive roles spanning Commercial, Operations and Finance. “Throughout her professional career, Robinson has held a number of industry and private board positions, and currently serves as a member of the Board of the Business Council of British Columbia and on the Campaign Committee and the Dean’s Advisory Council at the Edward’s School of Business of the University of Saskatchewan,” CN noted. “She also represents TC Energy on the Board of the Canadian Gas Association, is a member of the Business Council of Alberta, and is on the Board of STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service, a Canadian non-profit helicopter air ambulance service). She fully understands and respects Quebec’s rich cultural and linguistic reality and distinctiveness and has made it a personal priority to build proficiency in French. She is a well-respected and seasoned public company executive who brings more than 35 years of operational management, strategy development and project execution experience to drive growth and profitability to CN. She has a proven track record as an extraordinary high-performing leader, for which she is highly regarded within the Canadian federal and provincial regulated natural gas industry and beyond.”

SEAN PELKEY CSX

HIGH PROFILE: CSX has promoted Sean R. Pelkey, a 16-plus-year company veteran, to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Previously, Pelkey was Vice President and acting CFO for the Class I railroad; he took on that role in June 2021, after serving as Vice President of Finance and Treasury.

Since joining CSX in 2005, Pelkey has held a variety of finance management roles, including Assistant Vice President of Capital Markets, as well as several director and managerial roles in Investor Relations, Performance Analysis, Financial Planning and IT Finance. “Sean has played an important role as a member of the CSX leadership team throughout our transformation, which has delivered superior value to our many stakeholders,” CSX President and CEO James M. Foote said in a Jan. 24 announcement. “Sean’s strong financial acumen, deep railroad industry knowledge and broad experience at CSX will be invaluable as we strive to deliver profitable and sustainable growth.”

44 Railway Age // February 2022

P

atriot Rail has named Sam Sexhus as President and Chief Operating Officer. Sexhus, a 25-plusyear rail industry veteran, will be responsible for supporting strategic, operational and growth objectives, while leading and optimizing the business development, marketing and operating functions at Patriot Rail. The company runs 13 short lines, a scenic rail excursion train and rail-related services companies across the United States; it finalized its most recent acquisition, the 26-mile Salt Lake Garfield & Western Railway (SLGW), in January 2021. Sexhus served previously as Vice President of Strategy and Technology at BNSF. Also at the Class I railroad, he held the positions of Vice President, Transportation, where he oversaw the Transportation organization, including Field and Network Operations, Locomotive Distribution, and Crew Management; and Vice President, Service Design and Performance.

Maeghan Albiston has taken on the role of Vice President Capital Markets at Canadian Pacific (CP). In announcing her promotion, CP said that her “extensive financial background and railroad experience give her a unique view of the capital markets and strong ties to the investment industry.” Albiston has served CP for 17 years, starting as Capital Markets Analyst, Treasury, and rising through the ranks to Manager/Project Advisor, Financial Analysis; Director, Investor Relations; and Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations, before being elevated in 2018 to her most recent position, Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations and Pensions.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has named Deanna Leggett Executive Vice President of Growth and Regional Development. She will oversee the Capital Planning, Real Estate, Environmental Compliance, Transit Oriented Development, Capital Program Support, Service Planning, Commuter Rail, and Design and Construction departments, as well as design consultants and construction contractors. With more than 20 years of project planning, development and operation experience, Leggett served most recently at HatchLTK, where she was Vice President of the SouthCentral Region and Director of Zero-Emissions Technology; she was also subject railwayage.com

People matter expert and project manager for transit contracting, planning, operations and maintenance, grant funding, and federal regulatory requirements. Leggett has also served as Chief Operations Officer at Bowman Engineering and Consulting, as well as the Southwest Region Vice President of Transit Contracting and Region Vice President of Transit Management at First Transit.

Joanna (Asia) Alvord has been promoted to Transportation Project Controls Director at HDR. In this role, she will provide strategic and technical leadership to further expand the company’s project controls practice and its application on transportation infrastructure projects.

Alvord will focus on prioritizing needs and advancing the implementation of dashboard analytics and applications of Power BI, cost estimating and scheduling, particularly critical path, linear scheduling and construction phase mapping. Alvord, a 21-year HDR veteran, served previously as Manager of Project Controls, providing dashboard solutions for transportation clients in such states as Utah, Alaska, California, New York and Texas.

At the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Kevin Willens has been appointed Chief Financial Officer; Paige Graves, General Counsel; and Mersida Ibric, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer. In addition, Quemuel Arroyo, Chief Accessibility Officer, is now also Special Advisor to MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber, whom the State Senate confirmed to his role on Jan. 20. As CFO, Willens will be responsible for managing the MTA’s budget and finances and accountable for developing the agency’s annual budget and four-year financial plan.

He will also oversee the Comptroller, Finance, Management and Budget, and Treasury departments.

With more than 35 years of experience in public finance, Willens served most recently as Managing Director and Co-Head of U.S. Public Finance at Goldman Sachs. Additionally, he has provided investment banking expertise to the MTA for 30-plus years, including serving as MTA’s financial advisor for 10 years. His work included developing new revenue sources such as the regional mobility tax in 2009; designing the new Capital Lock-Box sales tax credit in railwayage.com

2021 to provide a funding source for the MTA’s 2020-24 Capital Program; structuring innovative risk management instruments such as insurance-linked securities following Superstorm Sandy; and executing complex real estate transactions such as the Hudson Rail Yards financing.

Graves, a 10-year MTA veteran, has taken on the General Counsel role after serving in an acting capacity. She was most recently General Counsel in the MTA New York City Transit Law Department, at MTA Long Island Rail Road and at MTA Bus Company.

Graves started her legal career as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, before working in the Forensic Litigation Group at KPMG providing investigative and integrity advisory services, and as Senior Counsel for an insurance defense firm handling complex litigation matters.

As Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, Ibric will support the Chief Administrative Officer in overseeing the People, Procurement, Information Technology and Real Estate departments. She has more than 14 years of public-sector experience, serving most recently as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Diversity Officer at the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services. Ibric has also worked at the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services as Deputy Director for Research and IT, where she was responsible for maintaining and developing procurement data analytics and reporting, along with planning and developing mayoral procurement initiatives.

Arroyo is adding Special Advisor to his role at MTA, providing assistance to MTA Chair and CEO Lieber on New York Cityrelated transportation issues and policy, while continuing to lead the implementation of policies, initiatives and programs that advance accessibility.

Atlantic Track has promoted Paul “PJ” Schuler, MBS, to Vice PresidentOperations to manage the growth and development of its manufacturing operations. “This announcement is well-timed, as Atlantic Track has kickstarted its capital investment of $14 million to secure and expand operations at its Memphis, Tenn., location,” said Vice President Railroad Division John McDonald. Schuler (pictured, above) began his career with Atlantic Track in 2011 as a project engineer at the company’s facility in St. Clair, Pa. “During

the past several years he has successfully grown Atlantic Track’s Transit Division by dramatically expanding its product offerings,” McDonald noted. “In his new role, Paul will be tasked with developing and executing the strategic vision of the company’s operational goals for quality, manufacturing and information technology.”

McDonald described Atlantic Track as “a data-driven organization that strives to be the safest, most efficient trackwork supplier in its industry. Paul Schuler’s impact on the company’s processes and procedures will undoubtedly increase productivity and mitigate risk for its valued customers.”

Tina Lainhart has joined RATP Dev USA as Executive Vice President of Business Development, with a focus on fixed route, paratransit, light rail and shuttle service partnerships. Lainhart has more than 25 years of transportation industry experience.

She served previously as Vice President of Business Development at Hallcon Corporation, Vice President of Sales at Transdev North America, and Director of Business Development with First Group America.

She began her career in aviation as a member of the core management teams of Sunworld International and USA 3000 Airlines. “Tina has an exceptional track record in the transportation industry and brings a tremendous amount of experience to this role,” RATP Dev USA CEO Arnaud Legrand said. “With our continued growth in North America, the addition of Tina to the team will allow us to accelerate our expansion, increase our focus on business development and continue to provide the highest level of service to our customers.”

February 2022 // Railway Age 45

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46 Railway Age // February 2022

FRANK ROSE P: 917-856-1808 frose@sbpub.com

railwayage.com

Ad Index COMPANY

PAGE #

PHONE #

FAX #

URL/EMAIL ADDRESS

BNSF

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CANADIAN PACIFIC

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CN

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CSX CORPORATION

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GREENBRIER COMPANIES THE

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SALCO PRODUCTS INC

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WABTEC CORPORATION

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WATCO COMPANIES

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WMATA

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29

The Advertisers Index is an editorial feature maintained for the convenience of readers. It is not part of the advertiser contract and Railway Age assumes no responsibility for the correctness.

Advertising Sales MAIN OFFICE Jonathan Chalon Publisher 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7224 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jchalon@sbpub.com AL, KY, Jon Chalon 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7224 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jchalon@sbpub.com CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, VT, VA, WV, CANADA – QUEBEC AND EAST, ONTARIO Jerome Marullo 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7260 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jmarullo@sbpub.com

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AR, AK, AZ, CA, CO, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, LA, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, NM, ND, NV, OK, OR, SD, TN, TX, UT, WA, WI, WY, CANADA – AB, BC, MB, SK Heather Disabato 20 South Clark Street, Suite 1910 Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 683-5026 Fax: (312) 683-0131 hdisabato@sbpub.com

THE NETHERLANDS, BRITAIN, FRANCE, BELGIUM, PORTUGAL, SWITZERLAND, NORTH GERMANY, MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH AMERICA, AFRICA (NOT SOUTH), FAR EAST (EXCLUDING KOREA /CHINA/INDIA), ALL OTHERS, TENDERS Jerome Marullo 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7260 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jmarullo@sbpub.com

SCANDINAVIA, SPAIN, SOUTHERN GERMANY, AUSTRIA, KOREA, CHINA, INDIA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, SOUTH AFRICA, RUSSIA, EASTERN EUROPE BALTIC STATES, RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING Simone Fahr +01149 175 2411426 sfahr@railjournal. com ITALY, ITALIAN-SPEAKING SWITZERLAND Dr. Fabio Potesta Media Point & Communications SRL Corte Lambruschini Corso Buenos Aires 8 V Piano, Genoa, Italy 16129 +39-10-570-4948 Fax: +39-10-553-0088 info@mediapointsrl.it

JAPAN Katsuhiro Ishii Ace Media Service, Inc. 12-6 4-Chome, Nishiiko, Adachi-Ku Tokyo 121-0824 Japan +81-3-5691-3335 Fax: +81-3-5691-3336 amkatsu@dream.com CLASSIFIED, PROFESSIONAL & EMPLOYMENT Frank Rose 917-856-1808 frose@sbpub. com

AILWAY GE February 2022 // Railway Age 47

Perspective: ASLRRA

Short Line Story Is One of Resiliency

O

ver the holidays, I came across two items that highlighted what may be the most enduring trait of the short line railroad industry—its resiliency. For more than 150 years, short line railroads have overcome the perils of calamitous weather events, economic crashes, an ever-changing customer base, increasing truck competition over publicly funded highways, and long periods of a misguided regulatory regime.

The first item is a recently published book telling the story of the Pinsly Railroad Company from its founding in 1938 to the present day, written by two railroad historians, Dr. Cary Poole and Eric Bickleman.

The company was founded in 1938 by Sam Pinsly (pictured), who ironically began his career working for the Salzberg Company, which at the time was best known for scrapping abandoned rail properties.

Pinsly concluded that saving railroads was a better business than scrapping them, and in 1938 he purchased the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington (HT&W), an 1884-chartered railroad that had suffered severe flood damage, had $201,000 in outstanding debt, and was given up for lost by its local owners.

Pinsly purchased the railroad for $233,000 by investing $60,000 of his own money and financing the remainder with borrowed money from friends and bank notes. No sooner had he begun to revitalize the line than it was nearly destroyed

48 Railway Age // February 2022

by the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, which remains the most powerful and deadliest hurricane in modern New England history. Pinsly persevered and managed to obtain three power shovels to begin rebuilding his battered railroad.

Landslides were shoved into the river, grades re-established, and temporary trestles constructed. In only 31 days, the HT&W was back in business. In 1941, he fulfilled his vow to put the line in the black for the first time in 15 years.

The book goes on to chronicle the storied history of the next eight short lines purchased by Sam Pinsly, each of which were originally formed in the 1800s, and the subsequent expansion of the company under the leadership of his daughter, Maggie Silver, and following her retirement, her son John Levine. Each story is one of determined survival during a century of changing and challenging circumstances, both man-made and those of mother nature. At the time of their purchase by Pinsly, each short line was in near bankruptcy and/or headed for abandonment. None survived in their original form, but with few exceptions, each was brought back from near extinction, rebuilt, attracted new customers, and preserved local rail service for decades after their purchase. Today, much of what was saved has been incorporated into modern day short lines that still provide critical firstmile/last-mile service to tens of thousands of shippers across the country. It is a story of survival that is shared by few if any industries in the nation.

The second item is sitting on the office windowsill of Red River Valley & Western Railroad’s (RRVW) owner Martha Head: a 135-year-old piece of rail with the date stamp “86” that was part of the railroad’s original track construction project near Oakes, N.Dak. in 1886. This was 56-pound rail that was removed and replaced with welded rail as part of a 2021 rehabilitation project. The 56-pound rail was rolled in July 1886 by the North Chicago Rolling Mill Company and installed by the Chicago & North Western Railway (C&NW).

In the 1880s, C&NW and Northern Pacific Railway (NP) explored the option

of connecting their respective lines in the Dakota Territory, C&NW having built to Aberdeen, S.Dak., and NP having built to LaMoure, N.Dak. But neither wanted to connect in the other’s townsite. In May 1886, W.K. Cook, the general right-of-way agent for C&NW, went looking for a desirable location, knowing that the junction of the two railroads would create a good-sized town. According to a subsequent newspaper account, “He camped for a while to determine the adaptability of a location he had found, discovered that good water in abundance could be obtained any place at a depth of 12-16 feet, and that the natural lay of the land would afford excellent drainage.” In September 1886, C&NW laid its track north to this location, and the NP soon built down from the north. The new town of Oakes founded at the junction was named after NP’s Vice President and General Manager.

It is fair to say W.K. Cook got his money’s worth from his 1886 infrastructure investment. This 56-pound rail carried freight into the first decade of the 21st century, and when freight traffic could no longer be supported, RRVW kept the segment in service for car storage with 300 to 400 cars a year moving over the line. Following the 2021 rehabilitation, the segment is a more efficient and safer line, still used for car storage, but now has the potential to attract new freight business.

As these two pieces of history demonstrate, the short line railroad story is one of resiliency. Today’s short line entrepreneurs embody that same determination to preserve rail infrastructure, bring new business to rail, fight for government policies that promote the economic health of our industry, and survive and thrive. I am confident that determination will place us in good stead for a long time to come.

CHUCK BAKER President ASLRRA

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BNSF proudly congratulates

STEPHANIE KUNTZMAN

for being chosen as one of Railway Age’s FAST TRACKERS— 25 Rising Industry Stars Under 40 award recipients.

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