NRC active as 110th Congress completes final work

Railway Track and Structures, July, 2008 by Manny Ramirez

As the 110th Session of Congress scrambles to complete its work before the November elections, multiple pieces of rail legislation are in play. The NRC is actively involved in Washington, D.C., representing our members and pushing for the good of the railroad industry. We are advocating for the expanded use of NRC contractors and suppliers to effectively stretch limited capital dollars as far as possible. We are working on railroad safety legislation, Amtrak and intercity passenger rail authorization, and the Class 1 and shortline railroad investment tax credit bills.

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Safety legislation

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a rail safety bill (HR2095) and the Senate is working on a companion piece of legislation (S1889). One of the key aspects of these bills is that they would expand the Hours of Service regulations to signal contractors.

Section 21101(4) of title 49 of the United States Code, which deals with HoS, currently states, " 'signal employee' means an individual employed by a railroad carrier who is engaged in installing, repairing, or maintaining signal systems."

HR2095 would strike the clause "employed by a railroad carrier" from the definition of signal employee, thus including contractor employees engaged in signal work under the Hours of Service Act.

The NRC opposes this change as an unnecessary fix to a problem that does not exist. There is no evidence that safety will be improved by adding this burdensome regulation to contractors and, in fact, we believe that the main result would be to increase contractor costs, which then get passed on to the railroads. Less maintenance would then get funded and that is counter to the goal of promoting safety.

Currently, signal contractors throughout the country are performing work safely and cost effectively every day. They have been a crucial component of the recent rapid growth in the railroad industry and operating and maintenance improvements. Federal government policy should be to encourage the contracting industry, not make it more similar to in-house rail labor unions by adding unnecessary regulations.

The NRC is also concerned by a section of both bills that would mandate (in the House version) or study (in the Senate version) the issue of certifying certain classes or crafts of employees of carriers and contractors, including conductors, car repair and maintenance employees, on-board service workers, rail welders, dispatchers, signal repair and maintenance employees, or any other craft or class of employees that the Secretary of Transportation determines appropriate. The NRC, of course, supports comprehensive employee training and all major railroads and contractors already have such programs. However, if the government becomes. However, if the government becomes involved in these training programs, they will become less effective, more bureaucratic and slower to respond to shifts in industry best practices.

Amtrak

Both the House (HR6003) and the Senate (S294) have now passed Amtrak and intercity passenger rail authorization bills. The two bills will be reconciled in a Conference Committee before being sent to the President.

While not perfect by any means, the basic structure and direction of the bills is an improvement over past policy, or lack thereof. Congress in beginning to recognize the need to push reform and private competition to improve intercity rail service in America. In the Senate version, an increasing percentage of the annual capital grants to Amtrak are redirected to the states as matching grants to encourage them to invest in rail service and to take control of certain operations. This percentage starts small at three percent, but rises to 33 percent by 2012. The House bill sends even more of the money directly to the states. The NRC supports this policy.

There are also sections of the bill dealing with bringing the Northeast Corridor up to a state-of-good-repair, authorizing funding for the beginning of the national high-speed rail program and encouraging states to competitively bid out the opportunity to operate train services in their communities, allowing private operators to enter the intercity rail market. Private operators such as Herzog and Veolia are already operating very successfully in the commuter rail market throughout the country - the intercity market is a natural extension.

The NRC will continue to be actively engaged with these bills as they enter conference and will zealously guard the interests of the contractor and supplier communities. For instance, one labor-backed amendment proposed to the House bill had suggested that any new intercity passenger rail or high-speed rail projects established by this bill should be forbidden from contracting out any inspection, maintenance, renewal, rehabilitation, row, c&s, dispatching, etc. The NRC teamed up with commuter rail authorities, who were also threatened by this counter-productive amendment, and stopped the effort for now. But we will stay on guard for this or any other similar measures.