ASLRRA PERSPECTIVE, RAILWAY AGE JUNE 2025 ISSUE: In sports, there are many terms that reference multiple things happening simultaneously or in quick succession. A “hat trick” refers to scoring three goals in one hockey game. A “parlay” is a gambling bet that two or more things will happen in a single game or in a series of games. Today in Washington, the short line industry is facing multiple challenges and opportunities that need to be dealt with at the same time.
On the legislative front, we are racing against the clock to secure enough Congressional co-sponsors to include the much-needed 45G tax credit modernization proposal in tax legislation being prepared by Congress, and we are working hard to preserve CRISI (Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements) Program funding in the upcoming transportation appropriations bill and the next surface transportation reauthorization bill.
On the regulatory front, the new Administration is giving us what may be a one-time chance to identify existing regulations that can be modified or repealed. Similarly, the Surface Transportation Board is undertaking a serious effort to make its process more responsive and transparent and is seeking industry input to aid in that endeavor.
A hat trick is achieved through preparation and skill, and maybe a little bit of luck. A winning parlay bet is based almost entirely on luck. What the short line industry needs today is a hat trick, and we need to put in the work needed to get that done. Some of that work is being done, and done well.
We are coming off a productive Railroad Day on Capitol Hill where we had 305 Congressional meetings with some 327 well-prepared and engaged attendees. One of the primary missions was to secure cosponsors for the 45G modernization bills, and we now have 72 cosponsors for the House bill (H.R.516) and nine cosponsors for the Senate bill (S.1532).
As we anticipated, the measure is not included in the recently passed House tax bill, so our new uphill climb Plan A is to get in the Senate version of the tax bill and then survive as the two sides come to a compromise proposal.
Since its creation in 2015, the CRISI grant program has provided short lines with large chunks of infrastructure funding unavailable elsewhere. Unlike most federal grant programs, which allow only public bodies as eligible applicants, short lines can apply directly for these grants, and they have done so with relentless determination. Since the program began in 2015, 240 awards totaling more than $2.7 billion have gone to projects benefiting short lines.
In the most recent round of grant awards, short lines received 81 out of 122 awards. That is a testament to the hard work short lines put in to prepare good applications, line up the required local or private matching funds, and build the public support needed to promote the project with the decision-makers.
In response to the USDOT’s recent RFI on regulatory reform, ASLRRA has submitted a detailed filing identifying burdensome and unduly expensive regulations that could be repealed without compromising safety. These include Signal Employee and Dispatcher Certification, which are not justified with cost-benefit ratios of 8:1 and 3:1, respectively; the final rule establishing Emergency Escape Breathing Apparatus (EEBAs) requiring up to $107 million in industry cost with no quantifiable benefits; and the Train Crew Size rule, for which there is no data supporting the need.
The filing also addresses the opportunity to use the currently statutorily mandated Risk Reduction Program (RRP) as an alternative to the existing prescriptive and costly federal regulations and urges an industry-wide working group managed by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to further develop this idea.
This is all good work, but it is not enough to get the job done. Doing so requires a much higher level of engagement, and the need for that engagement is driven by one simple fact: Most Congressmen, Congressional staff and Administration officials (FRA Administrator nominee David Fink being a notable exception) know far less about short lines than we think they do, and short lines themselves are the only source of that information.
To get our hat trick, there are three areas where short lines need to step up engagement:
1) Short lines need to invite Members of Congress and agency leaders to see their operations in the real world.
2) Short lines need to get shippers, local economic officials and other third parties involved in telling our story. In our first 45G legislative campaign, we enlisted more than 1,000 shippers who publicly supported the effort.
3) Finally, short lines need to publicize the good news benefits that flow from the programs we are promoting. As I noted, since the beginning of the CRISI program, 240 short lines have received awards, and we now have asked those short lines to give us the project details and quantify the benefits so that we can help publicize them before key decision-makers.
None of these three things are easy. All of them are time consuming. Each of them is necessary.
The origin of the term “hat trick” comes from cricket, where in the late 19th century, a British bowler, H. H. Stephensen, achieved the feat of taking three wickets in three consecutive deliveries. Fans were so impressed that they collected money and bought him a hat as a reward. Placing a parlay bet on multiple outcomes is easy to do, fun to follow and rarely successful. If we want the hat, we must do the work.
