WASHINGTON — Questions raised by Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin Oberman and other board members Wednesday, during the second day of a hearing over Amtrak service on the Gulf Coast, pointed to the key issues on which the case will likely be decided.
Following Wednesday’s conclusion of the public-comment portion of the case, which featured testimony by chief executives from Amtrak, CSX, and Norfolk Southern, the hearing will resume March 9 with the parties to the dispute presenting their cases to the STB.
The second day of the hearing regarding Amtrak’s right to establish two daily round-trips between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., also featured thoughtful guidance from ex-Norfolk Southern and Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman, following testimony from more than 40 individuals on Tuesday [see “First day of Gulf Coast hearing brings significant new information,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 15, 2022]. Wednesday’s session also made clear the topics the board wants addressed.
Two, in particular are worth noting: Capacity and train length, and drawbridge openings and improvements.
Capacity and train length
Oberman referenced evidence from CSX showing trains at Gentilly Yard, east of New Orleans, had to be assembled on the main track, “resulting in multiple hours of delay,” he says. “That has nothing to do with Amtrak trains.” Noting that CSX has paid over $30 billion for stock buybacks and shareholder dividends, he said he wondered “if Amtrak disappeared tomorrow,” why CSX hasn’t spent to solve the infrastructure problems outlined in its report. He also noted there are other portions of the RTC [traffic modeling] report that refer to infrastructure limitations for freight service.”
This, he said, is “no determination as how this case should be decided involving Amtrak,” but raising the issue makes it clear the STB will take a hard look at whether public funds are being asked to pay for overdue freight improvements.
A 3-minute response from CSX CEO Jim Foote, which began, “It’s called a pandemic,” clearly didn’t sit well with Oberman, who responded, “You’ve spent $6 billion less on capital than stock buybacks over the past 11 years.”
Board member Robert Primus added, “I want direct answers, and I don’t think we’ve got them.” The newest board member, Karen Hedlund, asked that CSX analyze in the March hearing “the additional benefits to the fluidity of your system from the improvements you are requesting that be made on behalf of Amtrak.”
In the hearing’s afternoon session, Oberman questioned the absence of any information in the RTC study on the impact of adjusting CSX’s current train lengths, given that only three passing tracks on the 144-mile New Orleans-Mobile route are more than 10,000 feet long. “What would be the impact on freight service if trains were only run long enough to fit into existing sidings today, and only be extended once new sidings were built?” he asked. “I would like CSX to enlighten us, if you can, on what kind of improvements could be made by making operational changes.”
Bridge openings and improvement timelines
The STB chairman also zeroed in on the disconnect between the RTC modeling study’s constant reference to random bridge openings and the need to take bridge tenders to and from their work locations by hi-rail vehicle — while CSX is in the process of converting the bridges to remote operation, and has not acknowledged that the Coast Guard could be involved in scheduling bridge lifts.
Oberman noted he can’t “order anyone to do anything,” but said that before March 9, he would like “all parties to go arm in arm to the Coast Guard and report back to us on what you’ve learned. What is their willingness to work out a schedule and how long will it take?” He also asked CSX to determine when the remote process will be complete. The information that the railroad was working on remote operation was not provided by CSX, but by Transportation for America’s John Robert Smith during Tuesday’s hearing.
Oberman and Hedlund also asked Amtrak attorney Jessica Amunson at the afternoon session about the timing and scope of infrastructure improvements Amtrak might be prepared to make other than those CSX is suggesting. Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said, “We stand ready to make improvements” in the morning session.
Moorman’s insight
Earlier, former Norfolk Southern and Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman pointed to successful agreements between his two former employers in adding service to Norfolk, Lynchburg, and Roanoke, Va., and on North Carolina’s Piedmont corridor, as examples of “win-win” collaboration. Without that, he says, “a neutral party needs to step in.”
The essential requirements, Moorman says, are that both parties must be willing to work together, be totally transparent, acknowledge where delays exist even if no passenger trains are added, and not simply come up with a list of projects.
When he was at Amtrak in 2016, “and CSX said it was $2.4 billion [for the improvements necessary for passenger service] to go from New Orleans to Jacksonville — I say this with all due respect to my CSX friends — that was laughable.”
Regarding New Orleans-Mobile improvements, Moorman says, “There is some number. I don’t know what it is, but there is a process and tools” to decide what is necessary. One is RTC modeling, but he says, “We use the model to accomplish Amtrak’s on-time performance and reasonable freight train operation with the idea to spend the least we can to accomplish what we need to.”
The dispute between Amtrak, CSX, and Norfolk Southern came to the board last year, when Amtrak asked the board for a ruling allowing it to launch passenger service, given its inability to reach agreement with the freight railroads [see “Amtrak asks STB to require CSX, NS to allow Gulf Coast service,” News Wire,” March 16, 2021]. The freight carriers contend the passenger trains will be highly disruptive to their operations [see “CSX, NS say Gulf Coast passenger service would ‘devastate’ freight operations,” News Wire, Nov. 4, 2021].
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