RAILWAY AGE OCTOBER 2025 ISSUE: A Conversation with American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association President Chuck Baker.
Patriot Rail Chief Policy Officer and Railway Age Contributing Editor Don Itzkoff caught up with American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) President Chuck Baker for a wide-ranging reflection on railroading, policy and leadership.
Charles “Chuck” Baker joined ASLRRA as President in February 2019 after a 15-year career in the railroad industry. Before joining ASLRRA, he was a Partner at Chambers Conlon & Hartwell (CC&H), where, in addition to ASLRRA, he represented clients such as the National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association (NRC), the OneRail Coalition, the American Railway Development Association, Norfolk Southern, and CN. For the NRC, Baker also served as President. In that capacity, he had responsibility for all the Association’s core financial, operational, and legal programs, including the development and execution of the federal legislative and regulatory program in front of Congress and the Administration.
For the OneRail Coalition, which brought together freight rail, intercity passenger rail, commuter rail, rail labor and rail supply industry interests, Baker coordinated the group’s activities and messaging. Prior to joining CC&H, Baker worked with the Surface Transportation Policy Project in Washington, D.C.
Baker has also worked for Deutsche Bank Securities as an investment banker specializing in Corporate Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions in San Francisco, Calif. He is a native of Baltimore, Md., and a graduate of Rice University in Houston, Tex.
Don Itzkoff: You came to Washington, D.C., in 2004. What was the short line sector like then?
Chuck Baker: The short line industry was more fragmented than it is now, and less professional. There were holding companies, but smaller and less prominent than today. Some folks understood that short lines were growing, but we weren’t fully recognized. Even in D.C. transportation circles at that time, many who heard “short lines” didn’t know what you were talking about.
DI: How do you describe the core DNA that makes short lines successful?
CB: The beauty of the industry flows from the small businesses, small towns, the hustle and the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s the close connection to the shipper. Beating the bushes for every carload, one customer at a time. White glove service, bend over backwards, always figure out a way to say “yes.” That’s what people love about short lines. I don’t find much difference talking to a short line that’s owned by a holding company vs. a family business. Whether it’s the owner or the president or a general manager, you find they know every customer by name. They know exactly what is happening on every pickup that day. They know when their Class I interchange partner is coming. They know every plot of land around the railroad. And they know every potential new customer that could be coming in the next six months.
DI: If this nimble spirit is baked in, why are federal 45G tax credits, CRISI (Federal Railroad Administration Consolidated Infrastructure and Safety Improvements) and other grant programs so vital?
CB: Short lines exist because these were the routes that didn’t do enough business, didn’t have the density, and cost more to operate and maintain than the revenue they generated within the Class I network. After the Staggers Rail Act in 1980, the Class I railroads sold or leased off these lines, sometimes for a dollar and a promise to develop the business. It’s capital intensive to run a railroad and that’s especially hard when there’s not a lot of traffic. You’re not finding short line track with 20 or 50 trains going per day; it’s frequently one or two. The beauty of 45G and CRISI is that these programs incentivize and channel investment into our infrastructure. Then we get all the good public policy outcomes we love to talk about.
DI: So public investment in short lines leverages the public benefits that short lines produce?
CB: Exactly. Let’s say we have a short line with $10 million in annual revenue. The line provides fabulous benefits for the community. It’s good for safety. It’s good for mobility, it’s keeping trucks off the road. It’s good for the environment. But this line might also have a bridge that costs $10 million to rehabilitate. You don’t need an MBA to understand that a $10 million revenue company will be challenged to deliver a $10 million infrastructure upgrade without help. Congress has understood this need for a long time, which is why we have such great support for 45G and CRISI.
DI: Why do short lines have such bipartisan appeal?
CB: Members of Congress tend to look at the practical aspects of what short lines do. We maintain access to the freight rail network for smaller customers, often in smaller towns and rural areas, and assure choices for shippers. The public benefits of short lines transcend party politics, and that makes my job making our case pretty easy.
DI: Which brings us to the win getting 45G permanently into the tax code, and now the push to modernize the credit.
CB: We achieved permanency of 45G into the tax code in 2020. Now we’re pushing to increase the credit to account for inflation since 2005 and make sure it includes all current short lines. We are blessed with champions in Congress who introduced the legislation, including Senate Finance Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Senior Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon. On the House side, we have Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Mike Thompson of California, the Chair and Senior Democrat of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax, respectively. That was Step One. Step Two, we now have more than 100 House cosponsors for the credit modernization—109 and counting. This is in the top 3% of the most heavily cosponsored tax bills in this Congress, and we’re pushing to get more. We have 16 Senate cosponsors. Step Three, we’ll find a legislative vehicle that’s going to pass. That is easier said than done, but we’re believers. It’s a question of when, not if.
DI: Short lines play the
long game well!
CB: It was a three-plus year effort to get 45G into the code originally. Then it took from 2005 to 2020 to get 45G from temporary extensions to permanent enactment.
We’re about a year into the effort to modernize 45G, and we feel good about our case. We have the right champions. We have a lot of support. And luckily for us, many short line folks are hard-headed and persistent. We don’t know how long it will take but we’ll keep banging on the door until somebody opens it.
DI: CRISI has been a game-changer too, with increased funding and the certainty of planning around advanced appropriations. What comes next?
CB: I’d agree with “game-changer.” CRISI was created in 2015, first funded in 2017, and it’s been transformational. CRISI supports large “lumpy” investments that 45G can’t address such as replacing 30 miles of jointed rail from 1897 with modern 136-pound rail. CRISI early on received a few hundred million dollars per year, which was great. Then the big infrastructure bill supercharged CRISI with advanced appropriations. That made CRISI the successful program it is, with greater funding and the ability to plan into the future. Partnering in many cases with state and local entities, short lines have earned about half of the available CRISI funds in each of the past few years. We are now advocating for continued investment in CRISI after the advanced appropriations guaranteed funding ends in FY 2026. It’s vital to keep this program going with guaranteed funding. We see a huge opportunity for Congress and this Administration to double down and invest in something that works—and is so popular.
DI: Moving to another core program, short lines have continued to improve safety, and the Short Line Safety Institute (SLSI) has been a big part of that.
CB: The foundation for the SLSI came after the Lac-Mégantic tragedy in Canada in 2013. We needed to get safer. To emphasize safety culture, we came up with the Short Line Safety Institute, which would be staffed with safety experts and work collaboratively with our members to audit short lines; get into the nitty-gritty of operations; and produce frank, confidential, deep-dive reports on safety culture. We proposed the concept to Congress because we needed funding, and Congress liked it right away. We’ve added safety training and HazMat response, but the core of SLSI remains these intensive safety culture assessments. It’s a phenomenal program.
DI: Any Washington railroad conversation now must address the proposed transcontinental merger …
CB: We have 600 short lines and varying opinions. I sense broad agreement about the potential positives: faster interchanges in the middle of the country, new spinoff opportunities for short lines, new opportunities and new competitive paths. On the other hand, every short line already struggles at some level to deal with Class I partners because the sizes of the organizations are wildly different. A merger will make one combined Class I twice as big, and the parties will be distracted for years to get the deal approved and then integrated. Some folks have reasonable angst about whether short lines will get the attention needed amid the distraction. We’ll continue to watch and develop ASLRRA’s position, but I’d encourage the Class I’s to proactively address these concerns with tangible plans.
DI: What are your priorities as you look to take short lines to the next level?
CB: It’s tough to stay grounded when you sit in your fancy office and people want to talk to you because your business card says you are association president. But I try to remember that I work for the short lines, the short lines don’t work for me. So, what I want to do next is what the short lines want to do next. I talk constantly to our members, and listen to our customers, the competition, and Congress and our regulators. Just trying to grasp the problems that need to be solved? I get to be in the fun spot and sit in the middle, hear everyone, and see what kind of consensus can emerge on collective action. And then meld that consensus and transform intent into action and ultimately deliverables and wins. But it all starts with listening.
One challenge I’d like to help meet is that while short lines have generally enjoyed a positive reputation, it feels now that the freight rail industry overall isn’t uniformly liked. A rough ride with PSR starting about 2017 hurt customers; strained relationships with rail labor; and ultimately affected our standing with the public, elected officials and regulators. Then came East Palestine. So even if short lines have fans, we’re part of a broader ecosystem and we need our Class I friends. The Class I carriers are changing fast, and I’m glad to be part of the renewed push by the entire rail industry to return to the public’s good graces. You must earn your way back. There are no shortcuts.
DI: You’re a leader in D.C. now. How would you advise a young person wanting to make a career in policy?
CB: First, you must find a field that interests you. Being successful in anything requires grunt work and persistence. Even in my role today, there are only five to ten hours of any week that anyone would call “glamorous,” such as having a conversation with a Member of Congress or an off-the-record talk with agency leadership. The rest is a never-ending grind, and it’s only doable because I find short lines and railroads inherently interesting and worth doing. So whatever field you choose, it must grab you. You want to feel like you’re working for the good side, like I do. Second: Show up. You succeed by consistently working hard and saying “yes” to assignments. It won’t take long before you find yourself in a good spot. Finally, and perhaps this is the rarest quality, be nice to people. Life is too short to be a jerk. It’s a small world. You’re constantly running into the same people in D.C. in new jobs. One day, someone is in a role where they need you, and the next day you have a different assignment, and you need them. Life is more pleasant with a brighter path if you’re nice and respectful to everyone even when—especially when—you don’t have to be.
