Francis Patrick (Frank) Mulvey, a Democrat who served on the Surface Transportation Board (STB) from May 2004 to December 2013, died Oct. 18 at 81.
Among just six Ph.D. economists (of 117 members) to serve on the 138-year-old STB and its Interstate Commerce Commission predecessor, Mulvey was a career-long student of freight and passenger railroads. His half-century impact on rail transportation policy was substantial.
Nominated and renominated by Republican President George W. Bush to his twice Senate-confirmed STB post, Mulvey previously distinguished himself in high-level transportation-focused positions at the General Accountability Office, Department of Transportation and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Mulvey prepared for his transportation career with degrees from New York University and the University of California at Berkeley. He earned his Ph.D. in transportation economics in 1974 from Washington State University where his doctoral dissertation was entitled, “The Economic Future of Amtrak.” Post-doctoral research papers included, “The Northeast Corridor High Speed Rail System,” “Amtrak: An Experiment in Rail Service,” “Amtrak: A Cost-Effective Approach,” “Amtrak Versus Intercity Bus,” and “Amtrak: The First Decade.”
Mulvey’s interest in Amtrak never waned. When House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chairperson James Oberstar (D-MN) suggested during a 2000 informal discussion that a larger civilian version of the military’s 24-passenger vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft (the V-22 Osprey) might compete effectively with Amtrak on short-haul routes, Mulvey, then an Oberstar aide, feigned surprise but didn’t deny agreement. In 2010, Mulvey sparred with Amtrak President Joseph H. Boardman, saying he preferred riding a “more customer-friendly” bus between Washington, D.C., and his native New York City.
Following completion of his doctoral studies in 1974, Mulvey taught undergraduate economics courses at Bowling Green State University, Wheaton (Mass.) College, Northeastern University and the University of Maryland.
Helping to pay his college tuition, supplement his educational scholarships and increase stingy college instructor wages, Mulvey drove taxi cabs in San Francisco and Boston and worked as a claims adjuster for two insurance companies. Unpretentious to the end, he was simply a regular guy with a blue-collar lunch-pail work ethic, no matter the task. He was born May 5, 1944, in working-class Astoria (borough of Queens) New York.
Mulvey’s interest in, and aptitude for, public policy formulation, review and repair took a propitious turn in 1978 with congressional creation of the National Transportation Policy Study Commission (NTPSC), which recommended liberalizing freight-rail economic regulation and imposing full-recovery user charges on rail modal competitors. Mulvey served as economics consultant to the NTPSC, whose members included relatively new lawmakers Oberstar and Bud Shuster (R-PA), both of whom rose to chair the T&I Committee. (NTPSC general counsel was future Association of American Railroads President Edward R Hamberger.)
From 1985 to 1999, Mulvey served as assistant director of the non-partisan congressional watchdog U.S. General Accountability Office. Among his accomplishments was lead writer of a 10-year assessment of partial railroad economic regulation (the 1980 Staggers Rail Act), concluding that “the law’s freedoms enabled railroads to become more competitive and more responsive to the marketplace.”
In 1999, Mulvey was appointed Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Rail and Transit at the Department of Transportation. T&I Chairperson Oberstar hired Mulvey in 2000 as the Rail Subcommittee’s Democratic staff director. He departed in 2004 for the STB.
A year into his STB post—the 25th anniversary of the Staggers Rail Act—Mulvey disagreed with then-STB Chairperson Roger Nober, who proposed the agency itself critique how it determines railroad revenue adequacy. Mulvey preferred the task go instead to the National Academies of Sciences Transportation Research Board (TRB). “Having the STB perform the analysis is like having the guy who builds your house come in and do the inspection on completion,” Mulvey said.
The TRB subsequently concluded the STB’s annual revenue adequacy determination “serves no constructive purpose,” and “its persistence prolongs the misguided view that a single yes/no indicator of railroad profitability should be used to regulate rates.” In 2015, TRB suggested, as an alternative to annual revenue adequacy determinations, a periodic assessment of industrywide economic and competitive conditions—a suggestion the STB has not adopted.
Mulvey’s peak achievement was in defense of the STB’s decisional independence. When Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) requested a private meeting to discuss a pending STB matter in 2008—interpreted as political pressure—Mulvey declined.
Serving his second term, Mulvey was ripe to be named permanent STB chairperson following the January 2009 inauguration of Democratic President Barack Obama (by tradition, in place of President George W. Bush’s Republican choice of Charles D. Nottingham, who would remain on the Board). Instead, Obama waited until August to name as permanent chairperson newly confirmed STB member and Democrat Daniel R. Elliott III. Mulvey’s defending the STB’s independence by snubbing Durbin may have cost him the permanent chair, as Durbin was understood to exert considerable influence over fellow Illinoisan Obama’s picks below Cabinet level.
Following retirement from the STB, Mulvey provided consulting services to Norfolk Southern. In 2020, he co-authored, with rail shipper attorney Michal F. McBride, “Railroads’ Common Carrier Obligation”—an analysis, with recommendations, published in the Journal of Transportation Law, Logistics and Policy.
In a Nov. 2 Washington Post published obituary, family members recalled Mulvey as “a fast talker with a quick wit and an endless appetite for learning.”
Former STB Chairperson and Republican Ann D. Begeman, who served with Democrat Mulvey on the STB, told Railway Age:
“I had the pleasure of knowing Frank since he served in a key transportation policy position at the GAO and I was a Senate Commerce Committee staff member. Frank volunteered to swear me in [at the STB], which I will never forget, in part because he read the entire script without pause, leaving me frantically trying to recall and repeat each word he had just read.
“Frank was a proud intellect and anyone who met him quickly came to appreciate his expertise and strong will in sharing his convictions. You might come to regret trying to discuss with him whether interchange commitments were paper barriers.
“What I appreciated most during my service with Frank was his ability to recognize gifted staffers and help mentor them. Today, one of those staffers is STB’s general counsel, and another moved to a top career position at the Federal Railroad Administration.
“His love for his wife Petra was shown each and every time he talked of her, as was his love for his family. He helped to remind people that it is possible to work hard and fulfill your role while also caring about the people around you. And it’s the latter that will matter the most upon reflection,” Begeman said.
John J. Brennan, who was Republican staff director of the House Rail Subcommittee for a time while Mulvey was the Democratic staff director, described Mulvey as “a learned adversary, but never an enemy. We engaged in many spirited discussions but never had an acrimonious word. His sharp mind helped make legislation stronger, and more likely to pass. He understood that arguments are best won though intellectual persuasion. He was a throwback to a less polarized, more civil time,” Brennan told Railway Age.
Elliott said of his fellow Democratic board member, “Frank was an absolute pleasure to work with at the Board. His broad knowledge about economics were a great help and his insights during Rail-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council meetings were invaluable.”
William H. Huneke, who served as STB chief economist during the years that fellow-Ph.D. Mulvey was at the agency, recalled admiringly, “Frank insisted that the STB hire more economists. It was always a pleasure to work with him.”
Mulvey is survived by his wife of 51 years, Petra; son, Conor; daughter-in-law, Tanya; and granddaughter, Daria.
A memorial gathering honoring Mulvey will be held Dec. 13 at 11 a.m. at Joseph Gawler and Sons, 5130 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.
