A Wolfe at STB’s Door. Will He Make Entry?

Written by Frank N. Wilner, Capitol Hill Contributing Editor

James E. Wolfe. (Photograph courtesy of Wolfe)

If you think federal regulatory agencies—even federally owned Amtrak—have strayed from what former Southern Railway and Conrail CEO L. Stanley Crane termed, “stick to your knitting,” you’re not ridin’ the rails solo.

We’ve a Federal Railroad Administration that has pretended to be a subsidiary of rail labor; a Surface Transportation Board (STB) that, until recently, fancied itself the Director General of Railroads, responsible for carrier hiring and configuring train operations; and an Amtrak arguably using the political process to weaponize its relationship with freight railroads.

Suddenly pivotal at the STB is disciplined, systematic, and knowledgeable direction as it prepares to measure the benefits and drawbacks of the largest rail merger in almost three decades. If approved, the marriage will create what even railroad baron John Pierpont Morgan couldn’t accomplish—a truly transcontinental railroad providing seamless Atlantic Coast to Pacific Coast service.

Merger decisions are best made transparently and absolutely free from political interference. Essential is to fill an empty fifth seat at the STB with a nominee experienced in every aspect of railroading from the ballast to the C-Suite to the labor negotiating table, and versed in the intent, history and nuances of the STB’s controlling statute. Rather than a grandstander with an agenda, the nominee must be—and perceived by stakeholders to be—committed to neutrality and able to contribute specialized proficiency.

While Chairperson Patrick J. Fuchs has shunted to a siding the publicity attracting activism of former chairpersons Martin J. Oberman and Robert E. Primus (the latter remains an STB member), and begun clearing out long dormant and festering cases they ignored out of preference for public scoldings of accomplished rail executives, Fuchs is working without a majority on the five-person board, which is contrary to the agency’s governing statute.

This is not to say Republicans such as Fuchs, Michelle A. Schultz, and the yet-to-be named fifth member are better equipped for the tasks at hand than Democrats such as Oberman (now retired), Primus and fourth STB member Karen J. Hedlund. It is to say that unlike predecessors—and this includes Republicans before them—Fuchs and Schultz are committed to sticking to the STB’s knitting. The fifth member should be a fellow traveler in this structured approach.

Such a candidate is said to be on the White House “very short list” of potential STB nominees, having platinum qualifications for the post. He is a third-generation railroader, but little known publicly, if at all, beyond a small segment of the rail industry owing to his career efforts to avoid the public eye such as through opinion-page writing and public speaking.

Better known in the railroad community are his grandfather, the late James E. (Doc) Wolfe, the first chairperson of the National Railway Labor Conference and its Carriers Conference Committee; and his father, James R. Wolfe, who was chairperson and CEO of Chicago & North Western Railway (now part of Union Pacific) until his death in 1988.

Potential STB nominee James E. Wolfe’s rail career is more varied. Between earning an undergraduate degree in classical civilization and philosophy at Chicago’s Loyola University and entering DePaul University’s College of Law from which he earned a juris doctorate, Wolfe was a UP trainmaster at locations in North Platte, Neb.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Pocatello, Idaho. “I supervised people who knew a lot more about railroading than I did, and learned how every aspect of a railroad works, including its labor relations,” Wolfe told Railway Age in a telephone interview.

Following law school, Wolfe was employed by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), where he acquired an advanced knowledge of commerce law in representing the agency before the Illinois Commerce Commission and STB predecessor Interstate Commerce Commission; serving as legal counsel to IDOT’s Bureau of Railroads; and later supervising IDOT’s federal affairs office in Washington, D.C., where his focus was on congressional transportation appropriations and federal agency economic and safety regulation.

Returning to Illinois and a private law practice, a client included Amtrak, for which Wolfe negotiated a three-year, fixed-price agreement for state-supported passenger service. Wolfe’s next stop was managing Amtrak’s state government affairs office covering 40 states, as well as being general manager of Amtrak’s Midwest Corridor operations in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Between 1997 and 2023, Wolfe was chairperson and CEO of Chicago-based Knight Engineers and Architects, which focused on aviation, highway and rail infrastructure projects in the public and private sectors. That included serving as the Class I railroads’ lead negotiator for the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program, a $4.6 billion public-private partnership to improve the efficiency, capacity, safety, and effectiveness of the Chicago region’s freight, commuter and intercity passenger rail network.

Wolfe is no stranger to POTUS 47, as during his first Presidential term his aides courted Wolfe for nomination as neutral chairperson of the Chicago-based Railroad Retirement Board, which Wolfe declined owing to his private-sector career. Now retired at age 62, and no stranger to official Washington, Wolfe quickly moved to the top of POTUS 47’s list of potential STB nominees.

Wolfe’s credentials certainly match the job description—an attorney with in-depth knowledge of commerce law; a working background in the freight and passenger rail industry; first-hand dealing with Congress and Executive Branch agencies; and understanding of official Washington political nuances.

So why does Wolfe have interest in an STB nomination? “I would like to be part of the process that moves the STB back to its intended legislative purpose of being the economic regulator of freight rail and not some Orwellian entity that tries to micromanage railroad operations while simultaneously inundating the railroads with burdensome requests for data and never-ending litigation,” he told Railway Age. “The STB has a narrow scope—be reasonable, be fair and be objective. Board members should be neutral, non-biased arbitrators who understand railroads, their customers and competitive markets.”

Also on the short list with Wolfe in seeking the STB nomination is Richard Kloster, president and founder of rail equipment consultancy Integrity Rail Partners, Inc. He has an extensive career in rail fleet management as well as experience with Class I and short line railroads. He is an executive board member of the National Industrial Transportation League and sits on the board of the Railway Supply Institute. Kloster earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northern Illinois University and the University of Alabama in marketing. Other than confirming he is under White House consideration, Kloster chose not to speak further, citing guidance from advisors.