In an Administration placing what many Americans allege to be cranks, hacks and questionables in leadership posts, Fuchs’ credentials are top tier—undergraduate and graduate degrees (University of Wisconsin) heavy in economics, political science, statistics and transportation management. His real-world experience, despite relative youth, is equally impressive—helping formulate regulatory policy at the White House Office of Management and Budget, then graduating to the Senate Commerce Committee, where he drafted various rail-related bills, including revised language defining STB’s mission.
With the President’s alter ego and First Pal—chaos enforcer Elon Musk—orchestrating a woodchipper approach to reducing the federal government’s footprint, expect Fuchs to pursue significant agency reform. Such is a de rigueur essential to avoiding his head being counted among others tumbling from the Presidential guillotine.
“There will be streamlining and reorganization to make us faster and more transparent,” Fuchs promises. His “customer focused” approach will “create internal deadlines and inform the public at every step the progress including when they can expect a decision. For small transactions and line sales, this will allow for capital budget planning and efficient allocation of resources.” Fuchs also is exploring use of artificial intelligence to boost productivity.
Few rail regulators, Fuchs included, previously earned a meaningful business, railroad or shipper pedigree. His remedy? Arrive early; stay late; read, mark and digest the entirety of pleadings; recruit private-sector experts as key staff; be an information sponge; learn from errors; don’t lecture (“my job is to follow the law”); be tactful; and perform at the speed of business.
“Without regulatory certainty, stakeholders can’t efficiently run their own business,” Fuchs says in a rare (among bureaucrats) understanding that investment capital is a coward—that it retreats, to the disadvantage of all stakeholders, where uncertainty lurks. His no-fly zone encompasses a trio of “do nots.” Do not micro-manage carrier strategy on capital investment, headcounts and operating-ratio; do not frequently and unnecessarily summon to Washington rail officials for unfriendly grillings at the expense of their running a railroad; and do not retain in perpetuity reporting requirements where data is not being used.
Manifestly, Fuchs is not a laissez-faire advocate. The STB’s mission, he says, “is to ensure customers, particularly those with limited transportation options, have access to markets on reasonable terms so that, like railroads, they can invest, grow and prosper.”
Where railroads abuse market power or flub-the-dub on service, Fuchs prefers a competitive-based market remedy over command-and-control. Assuming he finds a voting majority, this could mean introduction of improved transparency measures such as changes to the STB performance metrics. Fail them, and a second railroad may be granted access to a sole-served shipper facility. “As a general matter, markets and competition are the more efficient regulator of rates and practices,” Fuchs says.
High among specific tasks awaiting Fuchs’ leadership are reducing the complexity of large cases and establishing an improved voluntary arbitration process.
At six-feet-five-inches tall and topped by an ink black head of hair, Fuchs is an imposing figure, but with a polite demeanor and modest attire familiar among Midwesterners. His incongruity is a rapid-fire speech pattern, but without the usually associated New York brashness.
Fuchs’ career path was influenced by his small-business-owner father. “My dad spent a lot of time on the road, and as a kid I often rode with him listening to news radio and discussing politics and current events—and the Green Bay Packers. If you can’t recite the historic roster of Packers’ quarterbacks, you’re not a true fan,” he says. Alas, he married into a family with season tickets. How about that?
Wilner is author of “Railroads & Economic Regulation, An Insider’s Account,” available from Simmons-Boardman Books at https://www.railwayeducationalbureau.com, 800-228-9670.
