When you have lived in the same area for a long time, you get to know how things flow around you. You know generally from which direction the storms come from, and if you are outside on a hot, humid, sunny day, you usually take a look in that direction to make sure that thunderstorms are not on their way. Things are not that much different on the political horizon for the short lines, and there might be a couple of clouds forming in that familiar location.Our old friends Senators Schumer of New York and Blumenthal of Connecticut have dropped S. 2784, the Rail Safety Act of 2014, and it has been referred to committee. The bill itself is a mixed bag of items, ranging from making sure that PTC is implemented by the end of 2015 (not realistic), to funding for the Short Line Safety Institute (good), to inward and outward facing cameras on locomotives (concept good, reasoning flawed), and a number of other railroad-related issues that the senators decided to put together. The various political statistical services put the chances of the bill passing through the committee at 10-15%, and the chance of the president signing it into law at less than 5%. That is assuming, of course, that there are no outside forces that suddenly make this bill important.Why did I make that last statement? Well, we have been in this situation before, and been on the receiving end of legislation that otherwise would not have seen the light of day.Back in 2008, there were a number of little pieces of railroad legislation floating around. Most were “we’d like to do it” types of things that would get stuck onto other bills, but nothing on its own would have constituted legislation that would have made it to the president’s desk.Then the accident in Chatsworth, CA happened, and all of a sudden all of those small pieces of legislation without a chance of seeing the light of day got put front and center when they were put together into the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008. When all of those pieces of legislation were separate, we could fight our individual battles and make sure that our industry was protected. When you gang them all up together, as they were in 2008 (and are in 2014), all of a sudden you have to pick and choose which part of the legislation you are going to fight, and which ones you are going to have to accept.My point in all of this? Very simply, be aware that the clouds are forming on the horizon, and hopefully that one little event to cause the full-blown storm won’t happen, because if it does, we will have more to deal with than we can handle at one time.
---By Steve Friedland
Steve Friedland is a child of the railroad industry. Following summers and vacations working on the track gang for the family-owned Morristown & Erie Railway, a 42-mile New Jersey short line, he started full-time in 1994. He has worked in all areas of the railroad, including track, mechanical, signals, and operations, and currently is a member of the management team for the company as director of operations in Morristown, N.J. In 1999, he founded Short Line Data Systems, a provider of railroad EDI and dispatching software, AEI hardware, and management consulting to the short line industry. He currently serves as the ASLRRA representative to the AAR's Wireless Communications Committee and is chairman of the joint AAR-ASLRRA Short Line Information Improvement Committee. He also is a member of the ASLRRA's board of directors.
Steve Friedland is a child of the railroad industry. Following summers and vacations working on the track gang for the family-owned Morristown & Erie Railway, a 42-mile New Jersey short line, he started full-time in 1994. He has worked in all areas of the railroad, including track, mechanical, signals, and operations, and currently is a member of the management team for the company as director of operations in Morristown, N.J. In 1999, he founded Short Line Data Systems, a provider of railroad EDI and dispatching software, AEI hardware, and management consulting to the short line industry. He currently serves as the ASLRRA representative to the AAR's Wireless Communications Committee and is chairman of the joint AAR-ASLRRA Short Line Information Improvement Committee. He also is a member of the ASLRRA's board of directors.