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Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rail agenda steams up as short lines blitz Congress
WASHINGTON — Short line railroads had a longer than usual wishlist when they converged in Washington D.C. for the annual Railroad Day on Capitol Hill lobby blitz organized by the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. There's a new administration in office to educate and inform, along with many new members of Congress and their staffs. But there's much more on the agenda: A federal appropriations bill, including Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grants Reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Board, which includes $300 billion over five years for federal highway, rail, transit and safety programs Modal equity, specifically regarding truck size and weight Expansion of 45G short line tax credit, which returns a portion of spending on track maintenance The consensus among attendees May 7 was that the message was well-received as they sought to put a face on the issues, and that senators and representatives, and their staffs, were better informed of rail issues than has been the case in prior years. Whether that translates to legislative wins for the industry remains to be seen. But railroads' critical role in the supply chain — and the American economy — is a positive story most everyone can agree on.'We seem to be well-positioned between both parties,' said Alan Matheson, superintendent and chief operating officer of Tacoma Rail in Tacoma, Washington. 'It's not political.' Founded in 1925, Tacoma Rail serves 43 customers in Pierce County south of the Port of Tacoma, and is one of the oldest short lines in America. 'CRISI grants and 45G for track maintenance and capital outays are two sides of the same coin,' Matheson said. 'What's new with the new administration is an accelerated permitting process. The people we met with are aware of what the issues are, and we spent time with new members getting them up to speed.' Washington is one of the most-trade dependent states, and Matheson said he was 'cautiously optimistic' following much discussion of tariffs and their impact.'There were a lot of good questions from young [congressional] staff,' said Kevin Keller, vice president at freight rail engineering specialist HDR. 'If we can just educate them…railroads are a 'safe', non-partisan industry. 'Why would you not support it?' The rail group's leadership acknowledges that achieving modal equity with trucks is more of a challenge. 'Truck size and weight is a tough issue,' said ASLRRA President Chuck Baker. 'We got our point across.' Baker said federal permitting of projects needs to speed up. 'We have got to build faster. From grants to obligation, people are really interested in that. Congress appropriates the money because the Federal Railroad Administration supported it. Everyone is like, 'Let's go!' Former STB Chairman Roger Nober said that there is a willingness on the part of the Trump administration to look at deregulation, but wondered if that would last beyond the current term. '[Businesses] need long-term certainty to make investment decisions,' said Nober, who now directs the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington said he supports repeal of the federal rule requiring two-person train crews, 'from a legal and operating standpoint. I think this administration will be open to new technology.' Kevin Donahue, state and local affairs manager for CN (NYSE: CNI) in Illinois who was there to support the Canadian carrier's short line partners, said that his lobby visits 'went really good. People were prepared and on top of issues.' 'This event is extremely important, because it shows the value of constituents,' said Robert Primus, member and immediate former chairman of the STB. 'Short line railroads are central to local economies and business growth.' 'Growth is a top issue for railroads,' said Primus, who in 2024 convened a rare public hearing to question railroads on their growth strategies. 'The strength of the economy means new businesses joining the rail network. We have to build confidence in the network to promote a reliability that attract people.' Short lines are the drivers of that growth, he said. 'The Class I railroads should give short lines more of an opportunity to build the business rather than just a smaller share.' Subscribe to FreightWaves' Rail e-newsletter and get the latest insights on rail freight right in your inbox. Find more articles by Stuart Chirls extends surprising lead in weekly US rail traffic J.B. Hunt and Eastern and Canadian railways see steady intermodal volume For first time since 1998, LA-Long Beach ports bid harbor rail services Advisory team will drive overhaul of US railroad regulator The post Rail agenda steams up as short lines blitz Congress appeared first on FreightWaves.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tax credits, truck limits top small railroads' DC agenda
DENVER – Federal funding that serves as the lifeline of small U.S. railroads will continue to flow from Washington, experts say, but exactly when and how much is unclear at present. That funding to-do list is led by the 45G tax credit and Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grants – critical issues during a legislative educational session at the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) conference here on Monday. A bipartisan House bill to update the vital 45G tax credit, which underpins capital spending at many shortline and regional railroads, was introduced in January by Reps. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Mike Thompson, D-Calif., the latter of whom is the chair and ranking member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax. Technically known as a railroad maintenance credit that is part of the IRS Code of 1986, 45G was created in 2005 and made permanent in 2021. It offers a tax credit of 40 cents per mile of track up to a maximum $3,500 – a figure that hasn't changed in 25 years. The new bill updates 45G to $6,100 per mile to account for inflation, and also indexes the credit to inflation. In addition, it allows expenditures for Class II and III track miles as of 2024, from the current cutoff date of 2015. A Senate version of the bill is also expected to be introduced. The trade group is optimistic about passage of 45G, even with a 40% turnover in Congress since 2020, said Nicole Brewin, vice president, congressional affairs, for Washington-based ASLRRA. CRISI funding this fiscal year is a mixed outcome. The grant program has been appropriated through September but cut almost in half, to $100 million from $199 million in FY 2024. That is in addition to $1 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) passed under the Biden administration. Looking ahead to fiscal 2026, the ASLRRA has sent a letter to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development committees in both the House and Senate outlining appropriations requests for CRISI grants, the Short Line Safety Institute and the grade crossing safety program Operation Life Saver, among other programs. The IIJA expires in September 2026, and ASLRRA President Chuck Baker in January testified before a House subcommittee on rail as to priorities for reauthorization. They include guarantees for CRISI funding including support for advanced appropriations, and reject efforts to permit longer, heavier trucks on the nation's roads. On Thursday, the ASLRRA along with members Genesee & Wyoming and Watco will participate in a closed-door stakeholder listening session on surface transportation reauthorization priorities. The ASLRRA has scheduled its annual Railroad Day on Capitol Hill lobbying blitz May 7, when the messaging agenda will include modal equity involving the Highway Trust Fund and federal truck size and weight (TSW) limitations; tax policy; permitting reform; and rail grants. Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.4 SONAR charts to watch for tariff impacts Fuchs: Efficient Surface Transportation Board will foster rail competition, growth Union Pacific Railroad CEO 'very comfortable' working through tariffs BNSF's trade-related intermodal projects move ahead despite tariffs The post Tax credits, truck limits top small railroads' DC agenda appeared first on FreightWaves. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rail, maritime caught in Trump's order freezing federal spending
Supply chain executives are waiting to see how billions of dollars from the U.S. Department of Transportation will be affected by President Donald Trump's order freezing spending on thousands of federal assistance programs. The Trump administration on Monday issued a vague, two-page memo ordering government agencies to temporarily suspend all federal assistance payments except for Social Security and Medicare. Politico reported Tuesday that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has asked federal agencies to provide information by Feb. 7 about programs and related spending through March 15. The pause in funding 'will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President's priorities,' Monday's memo says. The request for spending program information, detailed in a 52-page spreadsheet, asks DOT to identify programs the agency currently funds – meaning rail, highway and maritime programs potentially could be on the administration's chopping them: The Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program. Grants to Amtrak that would fund the acquisition of new equipment and route expansion. Capital assistance to states for intercity passenger rail service. High-speed rail corridors and intercity passenger rail service. Federal-state partnership for intercity passenger rail. The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act. The Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program. Grade crossing elimination programs. Grants for railroad safety technology and research and development. Rail line relocation programs. It also appears that the Treasury Department is being asked to provide information about the 45G tax credit that shortline railroads rely on to fund track maintenance. Representatives for Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration, which administers rail-related grant and loan programs, and the Maritime Administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Association of American Railroads referred federal funding questions to the OMB and DOT.'As a reminder, railroads privately fund the overwhelming majority of our infrastructure projects to the tune of more than $23 billion a year,' the AAR said in an email statement. 'Those investments will continue moving forward to enhance the safety and reliability of the national rail network regardless of the status of federal funding disbursements.' The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association says that while it's unclear how the various spending programs will be judged, the CRISI and rail crossing elimination programs do not appear to be in conflict with the administration's priorities. For now, however, shortline funding programs appear to be on ice. 'Short line project grantees are definitely affected, at least temporarily,' ASLRRA President Chuck Baker said in the statement. It's unclear how the programs will be reviewed, Baker says. 'If every single project has to be reviewed and reconsidered, that could be a lengthy delay,' he said. 'There are hundreds of projects just in those two programs, and spread across the whole government the number of projects would likely run well into the tens of thousands.' Baker adds that he expects Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy — who was confirmed Tuesday afternoon — to 'approach this with considered common sense and get projects reviewed and approved quickly.' 'We do believe that it would be a bad precedent to set to allow a new administration to cancel or even unnecessarily delay projects that have already been selected by the previous administration under the statutory criteria at the time, as long as the grantee is keeping up its end of the bargain,' Baker said. 'It's one thing to change the criteria going forward or to make different types of selections in the next round than the previous administration would have made, that is their right and the expected consequence of an election. But to undo prior grants risks making the whole program less effective and predictable and that uncertainty would make building infrastructure more expensive.' Other supply chain stakeholders were awaiting clarification.'With federal grant funding now under review, we will wait for that process to be completed,' said Gene Seroka, executive director, Port of Los Angeles, in a statement to FreightWaves. 'Federal partnership is an important component of our public-private initiatives. We stand ready to work with all levels of government to reach our infrastructure and sustainability goals.' In 2024 the Environmental Protection Agency announced a $412 million grant for LA's zero-emissions port equipment and terminal upgrades. The port's infrastructure projects in 2024 were helped by a record $60 million in federal money from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, which ports pay into. It is uncertain whether those monies would be affected. Trump's order, which was scheduled to go into effect at 5 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, has caused a stir in Washington. Democrats are calling Trump's order an illegal violation of Congress' authority, while the attorneys general of several states plan to challenge the order in federal court. They argue that a 1974 law requires the executive branch to spend money that has been authorized by Congress and signed by the president. Programs that would fall into this category include funding authorized under President Joe Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – which included $66 billion in rail spending. Included in that total through fiscal year 2026: $22 billion for Amtrak, $5 billion for CRISI grants, $3 billion for railroad crossing elimination and $36 billion in federal-state passenger partnerships. — Stuart Chirls contributed to this IBEW reach tentative agreement, avoid strike CSX, NS tab Begeman, Ryerkerk as new board members Railcar builder GATX profit up on fleet utilization, lease renewal rates The post Rail, maritime caught in Trump's order freezing federal spending appeared first on FreightWaves.
