Archive -- Passenger and Freight Railroads Unite

The title of this meeting is 'Passenger and Freight Railroads Unite'.

This title expresses the theme of the meeting, that is to bring together freight and passenger railroads and other experts to look at the relationship between them to solve ongoing issues between these parties through informal discussions.

This event is being organized by Dan Elliott who served as Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board from 2009 to 2017 and then went into private legal practice at the Conner & Winters firm. Based on his experience at the Board, Elliott came to believe that freight and passenger railroads need to talk more about how the national rail system should operate to be most efficient and effective.

The goal is to bring everyone together to talk about the best way for the rail system to operate. In many circumstances, the freight railroads own and control the track that the passenger railroads operate on and in others, the passenger railroads have control. These shared track scenarios lead to disagreements about who should be able to go first when they both simultaneously need to run over the same route. It seems as if there is insufficient discussion in this town between the relevant parties. If these parties talked to each other directly rather than past each other through the press and trade shows, maybe we could fix some of the issues that have been fought over by these railroads.

Complete Information, Registration & Agenda

The following key transportation professionals have agreed to address the group:

• John D. Porcari, President, Advisory Services, WSP; former US Deputy Secretary DOT
• Dan Richard, Chair, California High Speed Rail Authority; Advisory Board Chair, US High Speed Rail Association
• Michael Lestingi, Director of Office of Policy and Planning, Federal Railroad Administration
• Michael Barron, CEO, United Rail, Inc.
• Doug Allen, CEO, Virginia Railway Express
• Arthur Guzzetti, Vice President – Policy, American Public Transportation Association
• David Kutrosky, Managing Director, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority
• Matthew Tucker, Executive Director, North County Transit District
• Jim Mathews, President and CEO, Rail Passengers Association
• Ray Chambers, President, Association of Independent Rail Passenger Operators
• John Robert Smith, Chairman, Transportation for America
• Frank Patton, Founder and Chairman, Great Lakes Basin Transportation
• Myles Tobin, General Counsel, Brightline
• Lou Thompson, Principal, Galenson, Thompson and Associates
• Emil Frankel, Senior Fellow, Eno Center for Transportation
• Robert Gallamore, Senior Consultant, Charles River Associates, former Director, Transportation Center, Northwestern Kellogg School of Management