Senate panel hears ideas for modernizing the U.S. rail system

By Julie Sneider, Senior Editor

Robust and predictable funding for infrastructure projects, an embrace of new technologies and a retreat from heavy-handed regulations were on the wish lists of rail industry executives testifying at a Senate subcommittee hearing this week about the U.S. rail system.  

The Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, Freight, Pipelines and Safety held the hearing on June 18 — which was titled “On the Right Track: Modernizing America’s Rail Network” — as part of the Senate’s initial information-gathering efforts in preparation for surface transportation reauthorization legislation. The current law, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA), expires next year. 

Chaired by U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), the subcommittee was addressed by Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ian Jefferies, Anacostia Rail Holdings. Co. President and CEO Peter Gilbertson and Brightline Holdings LLC Senior Adviser Husein Cumber. National League of Cities CEO and Executive Director Clarence Anthony also testified. 

The perspectives presented during their testimony were Class Is for Jefferies; short lines and regionals for Gilbertson; and for-profit passenger rail and high-speed rail developers for Cumber. 

All three of those speakers addressed the need to continue generous and consistent funding of U.S. Department of Transportation grant programs that were substantially funded under the IIJA to help freight and passenger railroads repair, build and expand infrastructure. Key among them is the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program, which received a record $5 billion in funding under the five-year IIJA for projects designed to improve safety, efficiency and reliability of intercity passenger and freight-rail systems.  

CRISI is especially important to short lines, which generally face limited access to capital. CRISI is the only federal grant program that allows small railroads to apply directly for grants to pay for work such as upgrading lines to repair broken track, eliminate traffic bottlenecks or handle 286,000-pound rail cars; installing positive train control technology on locomotives; and replacing or modernizing century-old rail bridges. 

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) asked Anacostia’s Gilbertson how federal investment in grant programs like CRISI help the agricultural industry move their commodities to Pacific Northwest ports for export to international markets.  

“Short lines are critical to that agricultural supply chain,” Gilbertson responded.  

For example, the state-of-the-art rail car for hauling grain carries over 100 tons, but some Northern Plains rail lines couldn’t accommodate such heavy hoppers. CRISI dollars helped fund projects to upgrade that track to enable Anacostia’s Northern Lines Railway in Minnesota to originate grain-shuttle trains to Pacific Northwest ports, including those that Cantwell represents in the Senate, Gilbertson said. 

“That [track] infrastructure had to be improved for trains to access those ports. Had we not done that, we would not be a participant in that grain business,” he said. 

There’s always room for improvement 
In his prepared testimony about CRISI, Gilbertson — whose company operates six short lines that connect hundreds of customers in 270 communities — recommended a number of ways that Congress could improve the program’s grant application, approval and distribution process.  

For one, delays between USDOT grant award announcements and actual construction, as well as obstacles to making necessary project adjustments as conditions evolve, significantly reduce CRISI’s effectiveness, he testified. It’s not unusual for short-line infrastructure projects to be delayed by 12 to 18 months while railroad officials wait for the USDOT to distribute those CRISI dollars, according to Gilbertson. 

During his testimony, Gilbertson — who also represented the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association — suggested that the USDOT make greater use of pre-award authority to allow short lines and other CRISI grant recipients to begin work on their projects (at their own risk) right after grants are announced. Otherwise, they are left in limbo while waiting for the funds to actually arrive. 

Also during the hearing, Sen. Young asked the rail panelists how Congress can encourage the rail industry — through regulation and funding — to adopt more emerging technologies.  

AAR’s Jefferies explained how the government’s outdated regulations can interfere with railroads’ voluntarily adopting advancements like automated track inspection (ATI). 

Current FRA regulations for track inspection remain heavily focused on manual inspections, which require segments of track to be shut down while inspectors walk the line looking for broken rail or other potential derailment-causing issues. 

“That was the standard when regulations were set some time ago,” said Jefferies. “With the evolution of technology the principal characteristics of ATI, you can attach an ATI tool to a revenue service train, and without taking the line out of service, continue to [inspect] the line as the train progresses down the track.”  

The technology allows more track to be reviewed for failures more effectively. FRA pilot projects found a 90% improvement in defect detection using ATI versus manual inspections, Jefferies said. And yet, FRA rules on track inspection continue to emphasize manual methods. 

“Let us continue to build data sets to prove that using ATI in lieu of or in addition to manual inspection will result in a higher level of safety,” said Jefferies. “We prefer an outcome-based approach [to regulation].” 

Gilbertson responded to Young’s query by citing RailPulse as a good example of how CRISI funding has encouraged the use of more technology in railroading. Through a technology platform, RailPulse provides real-time rail-car data via GPS and other telemetry sensors installed on those cars. A CRISI grant issued by the FRA helped fund the platform’s development; a coalition of large and small railroads have since signed up to use the technology to improve service to their customers, Gilbertson said. 

“I think what appealed to the FRA was the customer value and rail safety improvement part of it,” he said, adding that his company recently joined RailPulse. 

Anacostia recently purchased 100 new rail cars to serve the steel industry in Indiana and is tagging all the cars with the new technology, Gilbertson said.  

“It’s a quantum leap in answering the question, ‘Where is that car located?’ Now we know exactly where it’s located,” he said. “So, these are the kinds of things that show there’s interplay between the funding and the technology.” 

‘Evolving thinking’ needed on the regulatory front 
Meanwhile, Brightline’s Cumber described how “evolving regulatory thinking” could help his company develop more high-speed rail in the United States. Brightline is a private, for-profit company that operates a high-speed rail line between Orlando and Miami, Florida, and is building a new line between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. 

Current regulations dealing with broken rail are emerging as a roadblock for higher-speed train operation in the United States, Cumber said.  

“For example, European high-speed trains rely on preventative measures to address the risks of broken rail conditions,” he said. “Preventive measures include a vehicle that inspects the track every day before service starts. They’re preventing broken rail conditions by using high resolution cameras that detect rail flaws before they can grow in significance.” 

But current U.S. regulations require the installation of track circuits to identify when a broken rail occurs. The regulations should be changed to ensure broken-rail prevention instead of monitoring it after the fact and should catch up to technology that’s changing the industry, Cumber stressed. 

For example, Cumber serves on the board for Parallel Systems, which is developing autonomous, battery-electric rail cars. In recent weeks, the company obtained an FRA waiver to start pilot-testing the vehicle in Georgia. 

“But for more than a year, we struggled to get permission from the FRA to test the vehicle because of antiquated regulations that require self-powered vehicles to have bathrooms and windshields,” Cumber said. “So, this is a technology that has leaped ahead of the regulations.”