Looking at the current state of NRC: RT & S interviewed NRC Chairman Rick Ebersold and President Ray Chambers about events in 2004-05 and what they see in the future for the association

Railway Track and Structures, May, 2005

Beyond that specific issue, the NRC is neutral as to exactly how the Amtrak situation should play out. In general, however, we are very supportive of a strong intercity rail passenger service and are lobbying for billions of dollars for passenger infrastructure and equipment. This country needs to make a large investment in rail service as a third mode for the movement of goods and people, just as it has done for the road and air industries. Train service, both freight and passenger, needs to be fully funded. The exact mechanisms of that funding are still to be determined, but it is clear that a large federal commitment will be needed. States can be good partners as far as providing a local match and managing the projects, but this is a national issue that needs a national solution.

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We do believe that there should be a reform policy that can spur a revival of intercity passenger rail in this country. There should be maximum participation by private companies in rail passenger operations. We believe the states should be given greater responsibility for operating corridors that are not part of the long-distance national system or the Northeast Corridor. We believe there should be a major capital program of track infrastructure upgrades and rolling stock acquisition that would be run through the states on an 80-20 match (similar to the highway program). Clearly, a new generation of public-private partnerships will be the key to a freight and passenger rail renaissance.

RT & S: Are there any other new developments in your safety training program besides the new pricing system and offering it on CD-ROM that you mentioned earlier?

Ebersold: Yes, there have been two major victories. Our NRC goal is to become the premier source for safety training in the railroad construction industry. We invested a lot of money in a very-aggressive and sophisticated, user-friendly, Web-based safety training program. The courses were designed and are maintained by CANAC Inc. In addition, they were reviewed by the Federal Railroad Administration to make sure they are in compliance with the agency's regulatory safety standards. The overall program is state-of-the-art in our industry. In the past, the RWP course (FRA CFR 214, subpart C) had been offered at $25 per employee, per year, and was available in English and Spanish. This program will continue to be available via the Internet, but it is now also available at no charge to our members via a CD-ROM in both languages.

The first major victory that I mentioned is that the ASLRRA has agreed to endorse this training method and recommend to all of its 400-plus railroad members that they accept this training and not require any other duplicative training programs. This is a win-win situation for everybody involved and will save both NRC and ASLRRA members time and money as we cut through red tape to get skilled contractors to work building and maintaining our nation's vital rail infrastructure.

The second major victory is that BNSF generously donated several pieces of rail equipment to the NRC Railroad Contracting Equipment Auction. The proceeds from this equipment go directly to the NRC Safety & Education Training program, which will allow us to continue to strengthen our efforts to make the industry safer for everyone.