WASHINGTON — The House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials has announced plans to hold a hearing on freight and passenger rail issues and the state of the railroad industry this Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025.
The hearing, entitled “America Builds: Examining America’s Freight and Passenger Rail Network,” is set for 10 a.m. ET in room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building. More information, including a link to a live webcast, is or will be available here.
While the event is announced as addressing both freight and passenger rail, no passenger officials are on the current witness list. Scheduled to appear are Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jefferies; American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association President Chuck Baker; Joe Daloisio, chairman of the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association; and Jared Cassity, alternate national safety and legislative director of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD).
The hearing will be the third in a series with the “America Builds” theme. The full House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on the overall transportation system on Jan. 15, when it also held an organization meeting that saw U.S. Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.) installed as chairman of the rail subcommittee [see “Rouzer to head …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 16, 2025]. The Subcommittee on Highways and Transit will hold a hearing, “America Builds: Highways to Move People and Freight,” on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
Passenger rail is just a convenient option for some while for others it is the only option in areas that other modes consider not profitable enough to serve or those without the financial means to afford it even if available.
1) The NE corridor is not a good example to talk about freights delaying passenger trains.
2) I don’t know about you but I’m only sitting around an airport for 2 hours and often less, provided my domestic flight’s not delayed–but Amtrak can also be delayed.
3) Downtown Boston to downtown DC would normally have to be about 5 hours to compete time-wise with the airlines. However, Amtrak NYC to DC already has an edge going from downtown to downtown.
This is my two cents. I would love to see passenger rail traffic be a viable option so that you don’t always have to get on a plane for those short trips. As an example, Boston to Washington DC, which on Rail currently takes 8 hours and you can fly in two, but you do have to sit around the airport for another 2-3 hours, so you only gain 3 hours.
Also gets us back to our roots long before there were airplanes, and you end up with more leg room and you can get up easier to stretch the legs.
Right now, because Amtrak doesn’t own most of the track rights, they are subject to the freight trains schedules which really needs to be addressed.