Oberman joined the STB on Jan. 22, 2019, following his Senate confirmation. He held the Chairmanship since Jan. 21, 2021, as designated by President Biden.
The STB on May 13 reported that President Biden designated Primus as Board Chairman, effective May 11, 2024. Chairman Primus is serving in his second term, following his nomination by President Biden on June 22, 2022, and his confirmation by the U.S. Senate on Dec. 20, 2022. His current term expires Dec. 31, 2027.
Generally, until the President names a new permanent Chair, the agency’s Vice Chair—who is determined internally—becomes acting Chair.
“Although Democrat Karen Hedlund currently serves as Vice Chairperson, tradition holds that the Vice Chair slot rotates annually among members,” Railway Age Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner reported when Oberman announced his retirement Nov. 16, 2023. “It is probable, but not certain, that the Board either will extend Hedlund’s term or choose Democrat Robert M. Primus.
“There is no clock ticking on Biden’s choosing of a new permanent Chairperson. It is logical that Primus has an edge on Hedlund for the permanent Chairperson slot, but Biden could also nominate a Democratic successor to Oberman, with intent to name that successor permanent Chairperson upon Senate confirmation.
“Primus’ edge is owed to his almost two decades in senior House staff positions, gaining for him numerous Democratic friends in the House and Senate who likely would lobby the White House on his behalf. Not coincidentally, several very left-of-center public interest groups wrote Biden in 2023 urging that Oberman be demoted from Chairperson to member and Primus be elevated to Chairperson, the reason being Primus’ lone dissent to the Board-approved Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger.
“For sure, Primus … made new friends among shippers and rail labor following his sometimes-searing cross examination of rail CEOs during STB public hearings into rail safety and service lapses. Primus also has a friend in South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, the assistant Democratic leader in the House, who was instrumental in Biden’s 2020 Democratic primary victory in South Carolina.
“Hedlund, whose first term expires in December 2025, has a background in infrastructure consultancy, a special interest in passenger rail issues and a demeanor less confrontational than that of Primus. She has more experience in transportation, but less in politics than Primus. At age 75, she might opt out of consideration for permanent chairperson. (Primus is 51; Republican Patrick J. Fuchs, whose first term expire[d] Dec. 31, [2023] and … [who in January 2024 was nominated by President Biden to a second term], is 35; and Republican Michelle A. Schultz, whose first term expires in December 2025, is 50.)
“Regardless of whether Biden opts to leave an acting Chairperson in charge or names a new permanent chair, a Republican victory in 2024 would allow the incoming Republican President to name a Republican permanent Chairperson as early as late January 2025. That could tee-up Fuchs for permanent Chairperson, but not necessarily.”
President Biden is separately mulling five potential Democratic nominees for the opening Oberman leaves. On his list are Chicago Metra Board Member Melinda Bush; Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval Carter Jr.; former House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chairperson Peter DeFazio of Oregon; former congresswoman Marie Newman of a nearby-Chicago county; and Chicago-rooted Senate Commerce Committee staffer Melissa Porter. Except for Porter, all tote problematic baggage, according to Wilner.
Parting Words
Under Oberman’s leadership, the agency held several public hearings on such topics as rail service issues, the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, and the Amtrak Gulf Coast matter. STB noted that in those hearings and in other public meetings, “Chairman Oberman was known for asking the hard, direct, and incisive questions necessary to get from parties the information the agency needed to get to the bottom of the issues presented. Within the agency, Chairman Oberman has been known as a consensus builder, always interested in hearing opposing viewpoints and identifying a path forward on which all can agree.”
Oberman on May 10 noted that “[i]t has been the honor of my career to have served on the Board for the past five years, and more importantly, to have been selected by President Biden to serve as STB Chairman and as a member of the White House Competition Council. In my view, at the STB, over the last three years, we have been able to make meaningful contributions towards accomplishing those goals with respect to the railroad industry.” He went on to say, “While I look forward to spending more time with my family, I will miss the dedicated STB staff who have worked tirelessly as public servants.”
Vice Chair Karen Hedlund said: “The experience I have had working with Chairman Oberman has been the highlight of my career. His work to lead the railroad industry out of the service crisis was extraordinary. While at the same time he achieved final consensus on a historic new regulation on reciprocal switching. His leadership will be sorely missed.”
“Marty’s incisive analysis, collaborative spirit, and boundless energy will be greatly missed,” STB Member Patrick Fuchs said. “He has approached public service with a powerful sense of fairness, passion for reform, and commitment to understanding the practical effects of government action. At the Board and throughout his career, Marty has championed transparency and proactive problem-solving. On a personal level, he is a wonderful friend, and I have greatly enjoyed our many debates and deliberations. I am immensely grateful for his years of service to our country.”
“Without question, Marty was the right Chairman at the right time,” STB Member Primus said. “His leadership and tenacity guided the Board through a tumultuous service meltdown as well as a myriad of difficult cases that came before the Agency. Marty elevated the voice of shippers and rail labor and never missed an opportunity to remind the Class Is of their public responsibility to provide consistent and reliable service on a safe and resilient network. Though he is departing the Board, Marty’s impact will be felt for many years to come.”
“I want to express my gratitude to Marty for his exemplary leadership and dedication to the Board,” STB Member Michelle Schultz said. “In his role as chairman, Marty embraced challenges and passionately sought solutions. He worked tirelessly to bring a thoughtful approach to many complex issues. Marty deeply valued collaboration and consensus and I believe the Board and the nation’s network are better because of it. I will miss working with him and his friendship but know that he will enjoy his well-deserved time with his family.”
Commentary
“The STB had stayed away from passenger rail until recently, having become involved with that side of railroading with the ‘Second Battle of Mobile’ in 2022, which I covered in its entirety, including the preliminaries and the continuing aspects of the story,” comments Railway Age Contributing Editor David Peter Alan. “As a lawyer myself, I was particularly impressed by the way Oberman handled the often bitter and highly adversarial proceeding that closely resembled a litigation, despite its venue before an administrative agency.
“In my reporting on Round 8 of the slugfest, headlined Score One for Oberman, I complimented him by saying, ‘He did not favor one side over the other, but criticized both and called for them to come back with more information’ about operations and infrastructure on CSX and NS. I praised Oberman for his even-handed approach and his professionalism, both there and in an interim report posted on May 13 of that year. While he had never been a trial judge, Oberman understood the flavor of the courts in his home city of Chicago. He said, ‘If this were an old-fashioned Cook County courtroom, I’d take you both into chambers and get it done.’
“Perhaps Oberman’s greatest contribution to the STB that might continue after he retires is his strong commitment to the public interest. As I quoted him in my May 27, 2023 report, ‘I also want to underscore that, while this proceeding has proceeded in the nature of a trial with formal sworn testimony, examination and cross-examination, as I have expressed and I think others have, too … from the very beginning, that the STB has a strong duty to consider the public interest. And this is not like, in my view, simply private litigation between two parties. It is to a large degree, but it’s our duty, in my view, to watch out and protect the public interest.’
“During his time on the Board, Oberman exemplified the ‘active senior’ who could call on his life experience, while staying sharp enough to get the job done, especially presiding over a sometimes-temperamental legal battle.
“I’m sure that I join all of us here in wishing him well in retirement, but I must express my disappointment that I will not be able to watch him in action again.”
“We’re going to break new ground today and do something that, in prior years, we would never have considered—pay tribute to a government regulator. Yes, shocking,” comments Loop Capital’s Rick Peterson. “Martin J. Oberman retires today as Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board. Not a bad way to end a career. We first met Marty, and the other Board members, at the April 2022 STB hearings on rail service, where they were friendly and effective hosts. Long-time readers will be aware of our exasperation with the maddening spate of service meltdowns in the industry since 2014, which has triggered more than a few tirades in this report. Our paths invariably crossed at the service hearings because, in Mr. Oberman, we discovered a likeminded individual and fellow rail service vigilante. The fact that he was also Chairman of the STB was pretty convenient.
“For a regulator, the Class I railroads are extremely difficult cats to herd due to their concentrated market power and effective lobbying, which they’ve had more than a century to fine tune. Marty apparently missed the sticky note on his new desk letting him know the railroads are actually the ones in charge, as plainly evidenced by their innate institutional arrogance. WE ARE TRANSPORTATION COLOSSUSES THAT BESTRIDE THE EARTH … oh no I’ve fallen into a ditch. I’ll be right again in 18 months.
“Nowhere was this more comically visible than Mr. Oberman’s string of pitched battles with Union Pacific, which reached peak popcorn during the spat over UP’s excessive use of embargoes. Emergency use only? Hell no, we’ll use them for lane balancing. Nice try Uncle Pete. Marty’s obsession with the embargoes drove the company nuts, but guess what—UP uses a ton fewere embargoes these days. That’s a win for the Big O and customers.
“It wasn’t all fun and games. You could almost pick the moment he became aware that Wall Street had long ago put the railroads in an operating ratio lockbox from which there is no escape. He desperately wanted them to take it to the trucks, win, grow, and quite literally build America, but was instead confounded when confronted with uncourageous CEOs more worried about job security if their ORs drifted three points above the industry average. This was when the happy grandpa with the bow tie became Dark Marty, T&E tracker, who then hit the afterburners on the bully pulpit. His speeches were the highlight of every industry conference, and he was usually right.
“During Mr. Oberman’s Chairmanship we were often asked what we thought of him, and the answer was always the same: He was the right person in the right place at the right time. The 2022 service hearings were in response to Class I meltdowns eight through 11 since 2014. What did prior iterations of the Board do in response to meltdowns one through seven? Not much. It was the Oberman Board that finally said enough is enough, and this repeating pattern of service chaos needs to end. The last time the STB spoke so decisively was the merger moratorium in 2000 in response to a different sort of chaos.
“The reality is that the STB is charged with promoting good rail service but doesn’t have tangible power to do much about it. At least during Mr. Oberman’s tenure the railroads knew the STB was watching, engaged, and wouldn’t hesitate to name and shame any players that dropped the ball and let the team down.
“We were lucky to have him, but we’ve now lost him to the golf course and the grandkids. We hope they enjoy lectures on inadequate freight rail service.”
