Transcripts For CSPAN2 Senate Hearing On Freight And Passenger Rail Service During Pandemic And... 20240712

Order. Thank you all for being here, good morning. Today the committee can means to discuss the status of the National Rail network in the country is 140,000 miles of freight rail in class one railroads over 600 freight railroads and thousands of Companies Using braille to ship products and raw materials, we also have an intercity passenger real service amtrak operating on 22000 miles of the same network including over 500 stations. Todays first panel of witnesses will feature mr. William flynn ceo of amtrak and the executive director of the Development Corporation in Montana Development association who will testify remotely. Todays second panel will include mr. Frank Vice President Global Supply chain on behalf of of the council testifying remotely, mr. Randy, the president and ceo of the association, the chairman and National Council testifying remotely in the association of American Railroad and mr. Dennis pierce, president teamsters real conference testifying remotely. We appreciate everyone including our remote witnesses for accommodating us during this covid pandemic. In 1970 the real Passenger Service act was adopted to relieve our railroads on the common carrier to carry passengers. The statue created amtrak and provided real runs can be used by amtrak to offer intercity passenger real service, returns and compensation that are just reasonable to the railroads, today Amtrak Service includes the northeast, and statesuppore service, is interested in hearing about amtraks decision to cut certaiy service to three times per week, we also do an opportunity to hear more about the impacts of covid19 from passenger real network and amtraks operation, i hope mr. Flynn will provide his perspective on the story Passenger Rail service, this continues to be my top priority, and 2005 Amtrak Service along the gulf coast had to be halted after Hurricane Katrina severely damaged the rock, stop in 15 years, members of congress have worked ever since to restore the service and facilitate Economic Development for affected communities. In 2016 thousands of people came out and stopped along the gulf coast route during an inspection trip to examine the infrastructure and opportunities that intercity passenger real service can provide and we are working to reinstate from new orleans to mobile and i hope to make progress in the coming weeks. With five class railroads and any short lines. Our freight rail system is the key link between markets across the country and shipments of chemical wood and paper projects and agricultural commodities. I hope the second panel of witnesses will share their insight on how the pandemic has impacted operations, service and Overall Network fluency for the disputes between the carriers and shippers. I thank the witnesses for appearing today and we welcome their testimony on these important topics and thank them for their cooperation with the committee and the circumstance of having to reschedule the hearing for some two weeks ago to today. I turned to senator cantwell for her opening remarks. Thank you for holding this important hearing. I do appreciate it and have so much focus on the Airline Sector and whats happening with airlines and i feel like we should be giving ample attention to the importance to the economy so thank you for both panels today to discuss both passenger and freight. I want to join you and your prioritization to returning service to the gulf coast. I might not say the names just like you say them, new orleans and mobile. I believe we should have reestablished service as someone that sees the Service Benefits in the northwest i can tell you its part of an economy and we need to have it established. We have been challenged by the pandemic moving people in the goods is what keeps the economy drawn in the state of washington the importance of the infrastructure getting people and products to market, connecting urban and rural is critical. To keep food on the table and get medical come into the hospitals and First Responders april the firsit brought the fis to the loved ones whove been affected and continue to keep. Workers in the communities across the country including the home state will pay the price if we dont see this aid, tens of thousands and we talk about the transit and what i think about these forced cuts to the profitable routes. The 15 communities. Amtrak is the only means of the economic success in the communities and across the sta state. Mr. Tufts is going to testify from montana. I remember being in Glacier National park. Im a big outdoor person sitting there in the National Park hotel and all of a sudden here comes all these people and im like where are these people coming from. They just got off amtrak. If you dont have Amtrak Service, you are going to have a problem. We obviously are in a pandemic but we dont want to see just what the chair man is talking about. An incident that basically sets the course where the service is curtailed and then it takes 15 years to get reestablished. We dont want to see that so im anxious to hear what we are going to do. I would be increasing service to all of the National Parks because i think it is such a great concept to get so many people if you look at the european models that is what they are doing taking people to the Great Outdoors and all sorts of ways and americans certainly would appreciate that. More than 30 of the workforce in Washington State is already facing furloughs and thousands more employees would see their jobs threatened and local economies would lose billions if we dont get amtrak support to one of the bills. Its vital we get the aid afloat to have significantly increased the investment infrastructure. On the transportation all to ourselves, we need in my opinion to continue to invest heavily in the improvements and that will reduce the ingestion and freight and improve efficiencies. We need to do more on the safety front in addition to the positive control technology and culture means we and sure the trains and stations have appropriate staffing and the workforce isnt being cut just in the name of efficiencies. I want to make sure that the white house or anybody else is and blocking the cdc from implementing the measures that would help us create a stronger safety culture. My colleague from the georgia joined us on a Temperature Check as it relates to the Airline Sector and economies that greatly depend on transportation like florida or the Pacific Northwest. We want to build whatever infrastructure is needed on guidance from the cdc and others to improve the traveling publics safety during the covid pandemic and in the future. With that i look forward to hearing from our colleagues and again thank you for holding this hearing. And we look forward to asking the witnesses on both panels questions. Thank you. Thank you, senator cantwell. There is bipartisan enthusiasm in montana. Senator tester is queued up to say a word or two remotely. Senator tester, are you there . I want to thank you for the opportunity for the most honorable. Im going to move back in a few years and start from the beginning. The opportunity montana. Mr. Chairman, i know there are many people in the community that think theres no opportunity, but i am here to tell you there is. Its alive and well and we are living proof of that. But its more than that. Probably now for the last 20 years right in the middle of the Empire Builders track. Before that he was west of montana and a little town during Economic Development which is also on the line. He served on the Tourism Council and was recently appointed a Climate Solutions council and serves as the vice chair of the board of regions as well as the Montana Economic Advisory Council and a board o board of s of the montana cooperative. They cant afford to lose those services. I pushed for the hearing. Just how tone deaf the policies are when it comes to their effect on the communities. I invited them to come to testify because he has had his boots on the ground literally for decades. Hes been doing it for decades. I have no doubt what hes going to offer, compelling testimony that shows the Committee Just how important it is that we invest in the future. Ive been particularly stunned by the trum trump administratios annual efforts to cut amtrak. The administration started by calling for the end. The Trump Administration fought to end the Long Distance service which would have meant the end to the empire builder in montana. Since then theyve attempted to cut the budget in half leading to where we are today. This is unacceptable and its hurting our economy. Some colleagues refused to hold the administration accountable. There is a bunch of hot air press releases. To get serious about this issue before it is too late. The chair man and the Ranking Member are making this habit and finally, thank you for taking the time to participate in the hearing and bringing montana perspective to this conversation. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator tester. Senator daynes. Thank you for holding this important hearing. And for giving me an opportunity to introduce a fellow montana and. Paul, as senator tester mentioned, is called the heartbeat of the hyaline effect. I was there literally a week ago today. And swear our best man in our wedding grew up there. Its home to one of the amtrak stations along with shelby, in which i thought successfully to restore to that station. In particular the empire building to america. Like paul, im deeply concerned about the impact. Including a democratic member of the committee. I also filed an amendment to prohibit those reductions. As i noted in the letter to the Senate Leadership just last month, Daily Service on the empire builder is essential to providing montana access to healthcare. To visit the communities, wilderness and National Parks. I want to thank you for participating in this hearing today and for bringing an important voice to the conversation. I remain hopeful congress can come together, pass a bipartisan relief bill which i will fight to ensure includes Adequate Funding for amtrak and guarantee on returning staff and Daily Service. Thank you, mr. Chair man. Thank you very much. I think we better take you first. You have been adequately introduced and endorsed. Are you there and locked and loaded. Im here. Your full testimony will be made a part of the record and you are recognized for five minutes to summarize. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member cantwell and members of the committee, i am honored to be with you today to discuss the absolute importance of the service especially as it relates to the historic investment in the critical component of americas transportation infrastructure. I serve as the executive director of the appropriation a federally recognized development district. Our region includes five counties, bordered to the north by the canadian provinces in alberta and saskatchewan and by the missouri river. 17,000 square miles and larger than the landmass of mine individual states. Many of the communities we serve are considered not just rural. And running through it all the empire builder, part of the most successfulon brings outofstate residents for vacations and other purposes that add significantly to the economy. The busiest stop for the empire builder more than 50,000 people annually at that location adding significantly to the local economy that has a sizable Tourism Sector to the Glacier National park, lake. 2019 the amtrak stations in montana served 121,429 passengers who either boarded or disembarked. This level of activity is significant especially for a rural state. According to the passengers association, the empire builder contributed to an estimated 327 million to the economy and the federal government paid approximately 57 million a year to keep it running. 270 milliondollar net positive is a return on investment that is noteworthy and validates the federal governments investment. Regardless of the significant demonstrated in the years passed, Daily Service on this route has been eliminated as of ten days ago on october 19th. Amtrak made the decision to reduce the service to three times per week. This move will obviously significantly hamper the ability of residents to utilize the empire builder as it contemplates travel for personal or professional reasons. While we know the current pandemic this significant cut in service will make things worse. Fewer options available for those individuals and families interested in using the Passenger Rail system. In times like this more negative numbers will come in potentially further justify a and even deepr cuts in the future. We know its difficult to reestablish a service once it has been eliminated. The concern at this juncture is the redemption and service will become permanent and amtrak in our state and elsewhere will be a less reliable travel option for americans. The federal government historically and smartly invested in the countries Public Transportation system. The systems kept the nation moving quite literally. The economic powerhouse that we are as a country attributable in many ways to the investment the federal government has always made in building and maintaining americas Transportation System whether its airports, seaports, the interstate system or Passenger Rail system. The government traditionally recognized the importance of investing the Transportation Systems and keeping the economy on track to assure people and goods get from one location to the next. A safe reliable Passenger Rail system is critically important especially from the community. I strongly recommend your continued investment thank you for the invitation and opportunity to appear here today. But before i make my remarks i want to take a moment to recognize and remember mr. Allen boyd. Allen boyd was the third president and passed away just a few days ago and left amtrak at a better position than when he arrived and we are forever grateful to him for his service to the nation where among others he was the first secretary of transportation. Amtrak delivered record performance and we were excited to see that it was to be another record year however as the pandemic took hold in march the ridership plummeted by 97 . For some context we carried more than 80,000 passengers and by april there were less than 4,000 passengers per day and by way of example, yesterday we had 17,000 passengers. Thanks to the act we manage actd to survive fiscal year 20 but the ridership and revenue are still down more than 80 . We recently updated our forecast for fiscal year 21 and anticipate needing up to 4. 9 billion in total funding to operate and invest in the network to support the partners and address the various congressional priorities such as furloughs and daily longdistance service. Unfortunately, congress hasnt passed the 21 appropriations bill and instead passed the continuing resolution through december 11th. This coupled with no emergency funding is a concern given the dramatic revenue loss during the pandemic. That being said we were pleased to see the house passed their updated heroes act a few weeks ago which included 2. 4 billion. We are hopeful the senate will provide this level of assistance if not more very soon. However, given that nothing is being enacted we must be prudent in addressing the situation at hand. Therefore as we advise we are now adjusting service and workforce levels. Failure to implement the actions would have resulted in the company consuming 250 million each month given the reduced level of ridership and existing level of operations. At this rate, amtrak would be forced to take even more drastic measures and impacts for the companies, employees and network. As you know, we have reduced service on the state to support many months ago at the beginning of the crisis and recently implemented a temporary frequency adjustments to most of the longdistance trains through the month of october but i want to be very clear these adjustments are temporary. There is no plan or agenda to make these adjustments permanent. Many of the states benefit from Long Distance service. We heard from mr. Tuss from montana and both senators from montana and ive heard the concerns very loud and clear. I want you to know that i am and our board of directors are 100 committed to the longdistance network and its future. Weve notified o the railroads these adjustments are temporary and we ask for your help to ensure we have their support for the restoration of the Daily Service of the customers and your constituents as we move forward. In addition until the ridership recovers, we must make difficult workforce adjustments. We cannot continue to indefinitely fund a workforce too large for the number of passengers we now serve. I personally know how hard furloughs can be having grown up in a railroad neighbor family and my fathers and uncles were furloughed over the years during different economic crisis but these workforce adjustments are a central given the lack of funding that we now have. Going forward, we are committed to return furloughed employees to work as soon financially possible and currently taking care of these employees by providing extended nocost Health Coverage during this period. The rail Passenger Service remains one of the safest and most efficient forms of transportation. Once the pandemic uses amtrak is ready to grow and serve large communities and Rural Communities including the gulf coast. We have been working with the railroads for five years on the service and its yet to commend. This has been a long and unpredictable process and i believe it is illustrative dealing with some of the host railroads. Unless the challenges can be addressed by congress we will be unable to serve our country. We hope the committee will consider these issues when it develops a surface transportation reauthorization bill in its invest in america act. Please know im committed to working through this crisis with you, our state partners, labor leaders and other stakeholders to manage the challenges while safeguarding the future. Thank you for your time and support and i look forward to your questions. Thank you very much and lets just summarize during times of january, february of this year how many passengers did you have per month . In 2019 we handled 32. 4 million passengers over those 12 months, so something in the 2. 5 to 2. 7 million a month. And then february hate and i think your testimony gave a figure. The one that is the most striking in the month of april after the full impact of the pandemic, we had 120,000 passengers in the month which would have compared to 2. 7 million or Something Like that. Congress stepped in on a bipartisan basis, bicameral basis in march and provided substantial help. Here we are in the last part of october and you are not anywhere near where you used to be or need to be. Weve benefited from the act we received slightly more than a billion dollars in the whole process and so we are very grateful to that and it made a huge difference in the operation through fiscal year 20. A supplemental request in february was for 2 billion and of course then the pandemic occurred. In may we updated that and requested another 1. 5 billion but at that time we were anticipating we would have returned to a higher level today, something closer to 40,000 than a 17,000. Weve updated that request from on top of the 2 billion supplemental that we have about another 2. 5. In terms of the cares money, has that all been spent . Virtually all of the care money has been spent. Theres another 60 to 70 million but that money specifically allocated or identified over to support the state services and i will likely be consumed fully before the end of the year. Are you as committed as i am to restoring service to the gulf coast from new orleans to mobile . Yes, i am, sir. We talked about the sparsely Populated Areas of the country and in fact new orleans is one of the very popular cities and so is mobile and its also fact that the mississippi gulf coast including harrison, hancock and jackson counties are among the most populous in the state of mississippi so i ask do you see the service being a success . I think you referenced in your remarks at the beginning of the hearing the enthusiasm that existed in the several communities that you had the opportunity and we had the opportunity to tour. So i think twice Daily Service between new orleans and mobile would be a success. I was glad to hear you say that these cutbacks, the kind mr. Tuss talked about and the ones we are concerned about with our longdistance routes in mississippi are not permanent. I just want to give you an opportunity to reiterate that and make sure i understood correctly. What has been done in the recent months and days is strictly temporary based on the covid19 pandemic. A. I mentioned that in my oral remarks a moment ago at amtrak the Management Team and board of directors are clear that these are temporary reductions and we want to restore them to seven days a week service and we are in the business of carrying passengers and its important to all of us that we are able to do that. How close are you to full strength . We are not full strength on our board. We have six voting members of the board and i also serve on the board as well. Thank you very much and i will probably take another round. Senator cantwell has graciously agreed to lift senator tester go before her. John, are you there . You are recognized for five minutes. I want to thank you and the Ranking Member for the courtesy. I appreciate that a lot. I dont know where to start. I will start by making a request to mr. Flynn and then i will have questions in a minute. The request is the service is temporary, reductions are temporary. Could you give me a list of the metrics you are going to use to reestablish the service . We are in evaluating the service on a daily basis. As the pandemic goes away, and it will go away over time. We are not close but we will get there. Everybodys sick of it. I want to know the metrics you will use to determine if the service goes back to the way that it was before the 19th. Thats all i need. I have a question for mr. Tuss and thank you for your perspective on amtrak. We can talk about how it is allowed to be a gateway to the state and bring families, business, tourism. From your perspective as an economic developer, do you expect the cuts to amtrak to have an Economic Impact and how significant do you think that is going to be . Senator, thank you for that question. Having served as you mentioned i know personally how significant this is. Its going to have a significant and a detrimental impact. Folks will not be able to use it like they have in the past. Once the Service Becomes less reliable its a selffulfilling prophecy they are not going to use it because if they cant see their grandkids are Great Grandkids or get to seattle for a doctors appointment they will find some other way and unfortunately the numbers are going to slide further. So as people mov moved to different modes of transportation they tend to stick with what they moved to. If they can depend upon the service to get where they need to go then they will either go to airplanes or buses or cars. For them to come back is a heavy lift. That is to be true, absolutely. And i want to give you an opportunity here to talk about the money because you talked about that creole establishing reestablishing the routes. Jerry foto report the longdiste services and also the discussions about the employee is to be for load and bringing them back. Its going to be very difficult for us to do that. Ive got one minute 20 seconds left. Very briefly, and thank you for the conversation yesterday. But i think this is really important for the consumers to know we are in the middle of a pandemic. Can you tell me how safe amtrak is say compared to Airline Travel as far as the pandemic goes and i would preface by saying the airplane industry has done a good job talking about how the potential is very slim. Could you talk about that from an amtrak perspective . We have implemented a number of protocols to ensure the safest environment that we can for our employees as well as for our passengers. And our communicating the steps be taken to build a level of assurance and confidence so when the passengers are ready to travel they select amtrak. In addition to the social distancing protocols, we benefit from the medical department and fulltime Public Health department as well. Weve strengthened our efforts through a partnership that weve entered into at George Washington university with the school of Public Health who continued to advise us on steps weve taken for the overall Safety Environment of the stations and railway cars. We are working with researchers and professors from Johns Hopkins school of health to study the ai airflow within the cars. We exchange air every four to five minutes we are at full exchange 100 and air circulating every four to five minutes within the cars. There isnt a body of science or research the way they are with the airlines and we expect to be able to communicate the findings of the research as a part of the overall package to convey to the customers and our employees. What weve done and what we believe the environment is and the low likelihood of contracting covid while traveling by train. How soon is shortly, a few weeks . Of those studies are going on now and we have some hypotheses but we are not going to be communicating actual findings unless weve tested them. We are testing by type. Give an estimate. Id really like to get back to you on that i dont want to get ahead of the research. Senator fisher is next. Thank you, mr. Chair man. Appreciate you holding the hearing today. You said in your testimony amtrak will evaluate longdistance service in december when the level of funding becomes clear. Have you identified of the level of funding you might consider make or break for Long Distance . Lee said the total funding including the 2 billion kind of baselevel funding we need 4. 5 billion and weve estimated another half a billion dollars p to 4. 9 just because of the uncertainty on ridership particularly now as we are witnessing a dramatic increase in the cas cases again and the impact that that could have on the ridership levels Going Forward. Could you provide clarity on that and how different our the operations in handling the pandemic for example since it began how have they compared to the northeast corridor door and statesponsored roots in terms of the writers and revenue . During the summer, and i will talk about longdistance first. During the summer the level of ridership something less than 50 of what we would have expected while still operating the full seven day service. As we come into the summer months, pardon me, the winter months particularly ridership by longdistance drops 40 so 40 of 50 and we are looking at a 20 level anticipated. The declines on the northeast corridor door were greater particularly first that carried Business Writers not exclusively but largely. Business travel is on and off dramatically and we are operating at a level of 25 or so on the northeast corridor door including the Regional Services and weve seen equally dramatic dropoffs and of course we operate states and services on behalf of and at the direction of the states for whom we provide services. Some were canceled in their entirety and others were running at reduced frequencies. Similar drops in ridership some the states supportive grounds. You also said in your testimony the leading delay is due to the freight railroad. When you say that they are, quote, leading are you saying they are responsible for all delays or are there some we can also attribute to amtrak as well . I am not saying freight railroads are responsible for all, but in a central part of the legislative body that found amtrak is that amtrak would have a preference and in exchange for that they were allowed to cease passenger operations so its foundational in its document and premise. There are several causes for delays and some of those are amtrak. A locomotive that doesnt operate when its supposed to. There could be issues with the cars or the workforce is out of place and we dont have a locomotive engineer or conductor at the station to operate. The vast majority are delays on the host railroads. Particularly we do not obtain the legislative preference for dispatch. We would be happy to provide a broad array of detailed statistics because we have a requirement to report the delays and the causes and i would be happy to share those with your office. I would appreciate that. Thank you, mr. Chair man. Thank you very much. Senator cantwell. Than thank you mr. Chairman. We referred to the area east of the cascades as the inland empire and consider that going all the way over to montana. When i fly home i can usually look out the window and see where i am just by the geography and understand the terrain but i know it takes a long time to fly over the state of montana. It takes about an hour to fly over the state of montana, may be a little bit more or less depending on whats happening. The reason im bringing this up is because this cohesive region as mr. Tuss was mentioning is also a Healthcare Delivery system. There are not lights, there are not these Rural Communities enough flights yet the region has to cohesively operate economically for healthcare, tourism, all of these issues that allow us to be in agriculture footprint and home to many of the things mr. Tuss mentioned. To follow up on senator testers question, youve released three criteria in evaluating february, 2021 to reestablish the service and it includes Public Health, current performance and future demands. The concerns about the latter two criteria intentionally establishes in my mind and elevated bar for fewer scheduling options and difficulty if you are at this ridership level that may not meet that criteria so if it fails to meet that criteria by february of next year you said you will not restore services until 2022 at the earliest and obviously i cant tell you how much i am taking the position as the Ranking Member one of the first things that was clear to me was the chair mans point about amtraks service to be highpriority but thats because we value it so much in the Pacific Northwest so the starlight and empire builder both. What kind of commitment can you make to us today making sure that the services in montana as you heard people are traveling to hospitals. The region is a region and Amtrak Service is a lifeline so when you cut the services you are basically undermining that entire delivery system. What can you tell us about that . Thank you, senator. Certainly he made some compelling points and an economic point with a level of investment operating as a multiple effect on what the impact is on the economy and in society ultimately and in healte delivery so that criteria we will be looking at youve spoken to them of course the state of the pandemic and right now we are seeing rising cases and its hard to predict what that will look like Going Forward. In terms of looking at the level of ridership we want a perspective on what the demand will look like so weve said we will continually evaluate the services and by february we need to make a decision for restoration in the may to june time frame because it will take that amount of time to requalify the crew and put together the equipment. The number we are looking for to understand in february and through the months leading up to february what it will look like in june and not for a hypothetical seven day service but to the threeday level of service. Its not a perfect science. Im sorry to interrupt i just see my clock ticking down. The point is are you saying you will make a decision in february of next year and that that will be a final decision to an entire next year on whether the service that was cut is going to be restored because if it is then you will base that on the ridership while we are still in the middle of a pandemic and that seems like a hefty penalty to pay not to have that additional service. We will evaluate the service on a ongoing basis. We pointed to february because when we go to recover its probably a 90 day period of time. It wouldnt be a final decision. I just want to be clear if you make a decision in february that it isnt going to be for another entire year. That is not our intention, senator. Senator cantwell, that is a nice clarification and im glad you pursued that. The next senator is another senatosenator from the great amn heartland, senator moran. Its nice to team up with the gulf and Pacific Midwest on a topic of importance to all of us. Thank you for being here and for your leadership at amtrak. Let me begin with a basic question. What is the obligation of amtrak to provide longdistance Passenger Service in america . Amtrak is the innercity Passenger Rail company in the United States. We have two elements established by the fast act, the northeast corridor and the network in the longdistance services as an essential part of the network. Is it fair to say, im putting words in your mouth and i expect you to agree, but id like to know its a priority, an obligation, a requirement longdistance Passenger Rail service be provided by amtrak and i suppose where we are now when you say its a priority and responsibility and obligation particularly in the days of covid when passengers are fewer, how do we make certain we are fulfilling that obligation requirement . Thats the discussion we have been having this morning and i presented in my testimony. The levels of ridership that are falling off so dramatically that running a Daily Service right now without some Financial Assistance through supplemental funding will essentially reduce the company to a very precarious state. It would require taking funds allocated for the Capital Projects that would otherwise go across the network and would require transfers to the National Network which is not provided for under current legislation. Its specifically prohibited and its the kind of management challenge we had and underscores the decisions we have to make to balance the equities we are required to meet. I have your written statement in front of me and im chairing the committee that meets at the same time as this committee. But your indication is because that obligation is so real as it exists that should things begin, amtrak would take additional steps to keep the passengers in the best longdistance running, but they are not good options but because that obligation you would have to pursue. There are not any really good options, thank you, senator. You mentioned Capital Improvements. Some of the funds we have are directly directed to the cash balance we dont have the freedom to put the cash balance anywhere we want because its direction that exists. You would need congress to authorize that money from the Capital Improvements to maintaining longdistance Passenger Service. The congress may direct it but its not something we would recommend. Are you actively engaged in more than educating congress . What actions are they taking to see that Congress Responds to the financial request . We have an ongoing discussion with members of congress with the Committee Staff itself and have been regularly communicating since the outbreak the conditions we are experiencing in the business and impact on the level of ridership the actions we are taking to ensure we have Safe Environments for our employees and writers senator tester was asking how we are communicating with writers for example. We are regularly communicating with congress about the conditions and funding levels. I would offer my services to you in trying to increase the volume of your efforts and magnitude to get congressional attention to this issue. It matters a lot and i want to align myself with efforts of yours and my colleagues to see that the attention necessary to solve the problem. I would ask is there a data study indication that when the service is diminished that the ridership doesnt return and people find whatever alternatives they can. Are you diminishing the chances of your success when the covid s behind us . We touched on that point at a moment ago and i think it was senator tester. He and i are trading positions. Reiterate that. I think the question is whether if we go to three days a week are we setting up a condition where the ridership is going to go somewhere else and not return is how i generally understood the question. Amtrak did attempt to go to three day a week service in 1994. It was part of a fundamental restructuring of the company and it didnt work. A couple of conditions were very different. The ridership was at a much higher level and the implied cost savings that was to be secured was superseded by the amount of revenue that was lost. That is a very different situation from where we are now. The levels now are not even covering the fuel cost of attendance stations et cetera. At the time we announced our three day a week Service Plans back in august we reached out to all of the passengers that had reservations and those were about 9,000 individual reservations and we were able to maintain 6,000 of those in the three day a week service more often than not simply changed one day either the departure or the return date so we were able to retain the 6,000 riders but not all. We also in looking at the schedules that were implemented in the services, ensuring we maintained, activity because often the longdistance train riders are connected from one service or one train to another. Based on the traffic and passenger flow, weve been able to retain about 75 of that, activity so working on all of those ingredients, senator, to ensure we are not pushing the writers to other modes and they will indeed return and we will lead them to return to return ourselves. I will wrap up with two things and i would ask consent a study by the Passenger Association transportation for america regarding the consequences to the Community Economics be admitted to the record. Without objection. I would indicated to mr. Flynn, i appreciate what he had to say. But part of the skepticism that occurs at least with me and maybe my colleagues is at least previous ceos of amtrak were last committed to longdistance Passenger Service. Thats not that long ago and so when the three day arrives it raises concerns that this is another circumstance in which we are just being played, that this is a continued effort to eliminate or significantly diminish the service. Part of that comes from the southwest and one of your predecessors suggestion that we place a significant amount with bus service and it sends signals that theres not a commitment of amtrak. I dont have that feel with you and i appreciate that. Thank you, senator. A statement i touched on earlier, the board of directors also asked me to come they clearly to the committee their commitment as well. Thank you. Thank you, senator. We have intruded on senator udalls time to a great extent. Let me see if i can nail down one thing to follow up on senator moran question on improvements. Could you just briefly tell us what the interplay is between your Capital Improvement budget because actually you travel on 22,000 miles of the rail owned by the freight companies, so where does the Capital Improvement obligation pick up and where does yours leave off vice a versa . We are making the contribution overall to the host railroads as we pay access to them to use the railroad. To underscore what you mentioned in your testimony does amtrak currently have the capability to maintain service on the southwest and other longhaul routes across the country . We have the capability to maintain three times a week service that we have just began operations through the month of october will need additional funding to restore the sevenday frequency route. So let me be clear you have submitted a request due to capital movements between kansas and new mexico . We submitted it total supplemental funding over and above the 2 billion under the continuing resolution. That includes cap work on going the route. Does amtrak have the resources or will you be forced to make additional layoffs in the near future . So to low is difficult for us to do. Slightly over 500 People Management and union to participate in the voluntary separation plan another plans that were laid off in the last several months and we are in the process about 2000 employees but without further Capital Spending, there is a risk of another 2400 furloughs that we have discussed this with labor leadership. That is engineering employees because of lack of Capital Spending to work on infrastructure and engineering process the other 1600 or so would be people who are furloughed unfortunately because the state has advised us they would curtail state services by 65 percent. Are you aware of legislation in congress that gives you the resources you need to maintain longdistance service and we hire employees you laid off to prevent further layoffs . We are aware of the invest in america act that went over and above to provide additional 5 million for those Infrastructure Projects overall. Beyond that senator blumenthal has a trust fund Passenger Rail, amtrak that the only means of surface transportation of a trust fund and the ability of longterm funding for the longterm Capital Projects that would be vitally important to amtrak as well. The house past the heroes act and that is a significant step and to have a bipartisan on this majority that was to work with you to get that done. Thinking mr. Chairman as we run a little bit over. Thank you mr. Chairman. My belief is we absolutely have to pass with significant additional financial amtrak as soon as possible. We are in a crisis is incredibly important we keep those sustainable for the duration constructing a relief package just before the amtrak tickets issue was beginning we wound up with the pandemic hitting us. Just as it was about to begin senator blumenthal it was right after to introduce cancellation fees. We expect concern with the same time anti consumer Business Practices that is all too common in the Airline Industry and have been skyhigh. I believe the temporary waiver is insufficient instead to take a more recent page of the playbook and i say that often but by permanently eliminating change fees and they are finally listening to my advocacy and that they began to recognize eliminating change fees and it generates cold war will and to give consumers the flexibility they need so mr. Flynn where you commit to permanently eliminating all of the change fees . We certainly did temporarily spend the change the that is something we are considering to make permanent we havent reached that decision but with those terms and conditions and Fee Structure was are much more generous and forgiving than what we have seen in the Rail Industry and the point is taken and that is something we will evaluate. People dont know when it will be safe to travel again so they should increase by allowing consumers and i will recommend that to you for those consumer policies that are you sure like to raise with you is a piece of legislation introduced with massive investment to jumpstart the economic wellbeing and the covid19 era must be at the center of any such package so i have done is introduce legislation from massachusetts its called the building of the intercity one the intercity and authorizes 5 billion of annual investment for a total of 25 billion over 25 years it will be accessible to city and states and amtrak and the publications responsible for those across the country. Do you agree we need to pass legislation and then to expand rail in america . Thank you senator. We do need legislation to invest in amtrak and the intercity Passenger Rail the industry has the future plan in place upon the level of funding and that would establish a trust fund with the invest in america act. And they all point to one and which is the need to invest in amtrak and go intercity Passenger Rail. Thank you for your leadership on that. It does have to be part of any infrastructure below we have put together a look forward to working with you mr. Chairman. Welcome to the committee thank you for mentioning just now the intercity Passenger Rail and trust act that my colleague and i would establish a trust fund with five. 4 billion annually and grants and optimizing investments including service in modernizing the fleet and other needs that are so dire across the network and i welcome you before the committee for your committed advocacy to the cause of amtrak your background in transportation and service railroading and with the massive investment and regardless of the outcome with the next Administration Want to ask more specifically about the key aspects of the Gateway Program im very concerned of the Connecticut River and bridges i have serious concern that without Additional Support the Capital Program is in jeopardy and that nec states have been working for years to reserve Something Like the backlog of projects in north america. And with the Gateway Program and what is the current status of the bridge replacement . Thank you senator from bridgeport connecticut and in connecticut last week so the opportunity with those that we are talking about is essential to Intercity Rail Services patrick on Going Forward and the Connecticut River bridge 100 or more yearold structures are vital. But there is a potential and moving forward with these long needed projects to support and if we are continuing for some period of time that will be delayed have a happy to work with your offices and then to give you a better perspective and more detail as you know from your personal experience those bridges are on chokepoints for the entire court or when any of those bridges is out of commission and it is disruptive throughout the court order. Up and down the whole system. And those who are traveling through connecticut so there has to be a priority here. It has to be complete and i would appreciate you focusing on it and giving you the benefit of your additional views and facts because we have a common cause that i believe strongly there is a National Interest in those potential points with those areas of concern so i appreciate your offer and i will take you up on it. 55 Million People live on that quarter 20 or 29 corridors like the washington and boston across the country and on his longdistance routes and that is indeed points of the future and how we can expand to better serve our country Going Forward. Thank you mad Ranking Member and having this very important meeting. So this is our First Encounter and with that tremendous distress the pandemic continues to cause every sector of our economy including amtrak including every other mode of transportation and it was on track so it caused a 97 percent of the ridership in a couple of weeks and unfortunately it is not alone in this and with that ridership and revenues. And the motorcoach industry some are more than others but no one has the devastating impact of covid19. Amtrak has acknowledged with me for low 2000 employees. Due to lost revenues during the pandemic. Is that number correct . Yes senator. It is correct. And passing the heroes that were four. 8 billion on the workforce. The house tried again that included roughly 3 billion for operating existence is that correct . And where the ending of the heroes asked. So they allow amtrak so they could avoid flow the 2000 employees . And what is underway and the frequency reduction by funding at that level would allow us to recall for load employees to restore the services. So compare that with the republicans skinny puzzle one proposal. So how much funding is included to protect the amtrak workforce . There wasnt any furlough. Just to be clear for the skinny bill to become law amtrak would still be forced to reduce services . Thats correct senator. Do you happen to know how much the skinny proposal protects the workers like mechanics and bus drivers and operators . Im not intimately familiar but im not aware of any other transportation funding. I thank you are correct the answer is even though it is unfortunate the colleagues continue to play games and were hopeful to begin negotiating in good faith with the secretary menu chin. So lets talk about amtraks commitment to disability and accessibility for passengers. Im hoping you will affirm the previous commitment on a number of the call acceptability issues and to establish a position on the Senior Executive team to report directly to the ceo to focus on systemwide accessibility and enhancements there was a person on your team . That is ms. Atchison and she reports directly to me and to the point we had a long discussion as we were transitioning the rules for this meeting with you and commitments to the ada obligations overall so i am very aware of them and in addition and to be specifically focused of the station and platform enhancements and commitments under ada as well. Thank you for maintaining that commitment and i hope that will have new policies that go above and beyond those requirements that would help establish amtrak. Thank you for being here today. And to discuss our enhanced policies in more detail. Senator roseman, thank you Ranking Member cantwell in the witnesses for being here today. And then to rely on amtrak to travel to reno and with the affordable means of transportation and and with those medical services them with an average of 85000 and annually with those passengers and they use it to use the nevada healthcare system. And those have been significantly reduced with the transportation and at an alltime high of 3 percent in april and then to isolate. And then across the country so i appreciate the financial difficulty and then to provide funding and then to Passenger Rail service and then to restart so what do you use to support that decision . And number two can you commit and to be as soon as possible in the west. And that Financial Analysis and essentially starting with ridership with the decline in ridership with all those services was dramatic and the ridership level and the revenues that we received that is not even cover what we would call above will cost and did not cover the cost of other services. And the Financial Performance and then to largely inform our decision given the absence of funding beyond the c. A. R. E. S. Act into the various committees and the staff and to recall for load employees in other areas of our network it is our intention to restore longdistance service into that sevenday week operation so imagine to furlough we provided extended health care to load employees and we did that wellbeing for load we do not want employees and then to have that continuation of the cost of care will be part of that decisionmaking process. Then our colleagues to take up funding because to restore the services and then to connect them to the Vital Services after this pandemic is this correct . I try to be clear on that by yes. I yield back my time. Do you have any other members for the panel . I want to ask mr. Flynn for testifying that concludes the first panel. And obviously getting support for the sector of transportation. Thank you very much. So i guess we thought we would start with you mr. Frank some of these witnesses are here if you are in the room please step up otherwise we will call on people remotely. Your testimony and im also appearing on behalf with the trade association in the acc to get a hold is important hearing and with irritation to here today to have corey employee wage and other derivatives to thousands of application and infection and pharmaceuticals and many others. 47000 railcars annually each facility is captive to a single whale character leaving the substantial market power i will state with me on three topics rail service for the current transportation and i was support for progress on reforms. First, on service the roads have based unprecedented challenges during the covid pandemic and with private and public stakeholders have generally worked cooperatively and specifically and then to maintain rail service during this challenging. And then to continue close oversight that the railroads have the location for that is only protected. Then need against unreasonable road crashes is fundamental and paramount 70 percent of acc Members Company meaning it has no effective Market Competition for load service. Congress has mandated that is reasonable that has been an unrealized who did not move commodities and in fact no code shipper has succeeded in a major challenge against the railroad. That is the railroad for years. And those that have significant concern with the difficulty of cases to have burdens in that alternate rate relief we needed to implement. Third, long supported efforts to assemble article on unreasonable road pricing and available to variable cost ratios that is not reasonable. In september 2019 to initiate a notice of proposed rulemaking what the final rate review test 135 days and of the us ca with the Transportation Research board and then to support the boards proposal with the final rate review rules. And in the near term to create a more level Playing Field and to firmly believe the procedure to benefit the longterm health of the oil industry and finally with a full complement of Board Members so thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today. Thank you very much next weekend for mr. Gordon. Thank you for joining us. Im sorry Ranking Member cantwell come i am the chief executive officer of the National Beef association thank you for the invitation to testify at this important hearing. Hours as the nations most broadbased of the cultural trade association. Voted 1886, consist of more than 1000 grain, feed, processing, and other grid related Companies Operating more than 7000 facilities nationwide and handling more than 75 percent of grade and seek. The topics are essential for essential industry. With respect to the covid19 pandemic Us Department of Homeland Security issued guidance designated work with the food agriculture and transportation sector to the continued function of the us economy. Except for ethanol plants the sectors of you as a culture have largely remained open and operational to the pandemic. And to take this opportunity to command to the Rail Industry to provide service and communicate with the customers the pandemic and with harvest underway there was no misapprehension about whether railroads will keep pace with that we all hope will be a robust demand for rail Service Given strong cultural exports and the economy cited american testimony. This stems from two major factors first to read a quickly in the covid economic downturn and the second is the impact of the positions scheduled railroad adopted and with the arbitrary sudden and disruptive changes in the type of service being offered and by reducing crews and Customer Service personnel psr has raised questions whether railroads having of Surge Capacity to respond quickly to increase demand for service. Members already report those trains not meeting plans are loaded trains not pulled from facilities in a timely manner. And then to remain the essential ag sector members believe we are at a Tipping Point to the extent it is reliable and costeffective and reflective of true competition. And there is limited will competition many landmark agricultural facilities are captive to a single world. With the need to earn sufficient revenues to invest in networks and invest in reasonable problems where concern of the lessor may drive down operating wishes to pass on Sustainable Low levels and raising growing questions whether freight words are providing Transportation Service upon request and with the Regulatory Framework to define basic Service Standards for what constitutes the commentary or obligation in the 21st century. That has also been cited by recent studies including the landmark ten and 2015 for the Transportation Research board. And a strong preference for commercial disputes through private sector mechanisms independent my by the Mediation Service to which all seven class one railroads are parties and whose value has been shown to resolve real disputes they have not can agreed to the system thats one reason we commend to make major strides under the leadership of the chairman to create a more workable Regulatory Framework and then to propose a new final offer process with a potentially more costeffective and approach for challenging a reasonable rates. And for congress to give a higher priority to the importance of the failed to real competition of transportation policy. Finally an additional factor that needs to be acknowledged the inherent reluctance to formally challenge the behavior even when justified because they have no competitive transportation alternative to maintain a good working relationship and have a fear of potential retaliation and to underscore the need for more competition with the Regulatory Framework thank you for the opportunity to testify i look forward to your questions. Thank you mr. Gordon and now testifying remotely chairman of the National Cotton council. You are recognize. The committee i am a con grower from georgia and thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the National Cotton council. Representative seven segments of the cotton industry from farmers to textile mills. Would be remiss if i dont talk about the catastrophic effects the covid19 is having on the cotton industry with the iconic American Brands like j. Crew works for others be effect is being felt the textile mills and then to at that level it has worsened since the beginning of the year and the covid19 relief. To the usda to have Cotton Textile mills so to make sure this remains in america there are two distinct commodities. The cotton land which we are familiar with is a 500pound bail and then consumed by the textile mills in us around the world. Three out of 4 bales entering the export market. Movie miss my car and warehouse to the mill is a key component of us cotton industry competitiveness. The cotton gin process and for example from the loading facility in mississippi to have a reliable costeffective trade rail with the scale of interconnection one of the members estimated one. 7 million times were equal to 17000 cars and in addition chairman we would like to thank you for your support of the Memphis Supply Chain Innovation Team to improve supply chain philosophy on velocity the supply chain is home to the five largest and the fourth busiest or challenges within the supply chain and with the quality issues to slow down to a halt 2018 in 201,970 issues that are systemic the most actionable problem to request continued support from the Rail Industry to have critical disruptions in the real house one dash and they were consistent and sufficient on the delivery and the intermodal facility. There have been instances where the that were paid on the rate increase was unjustified to pursue a formal challenge of the rate increase with the Surface Transportation Board we encourage congress to find the right balance to provide a more realistic path to have their concern addressed thank you for the opportunity to present the meeting i look forward to answering any of your questions. Thank you very much now will hear from mr. Jeffries and sir you are recognize. Thank you mr. Chairman thank you for the opportunity to be here today as the nation navigates the covid19 and democrats continue to deliver essential goods to businesses and communities across the us every day the nations reverence provide reliable and Efficient Service to our customers and do so safely let me be clear safety and employee safety specifically is the greatest priority for railroads and their operations since confronted with the covid19 pandemic to take extensive steps to protect employees from the coronavirus because it is a business requiring employees on the job site uses pervasive strike social distancing policies and rigorous procedures are in place our industry is blessed with an employee based on strict adherence to Safety Measures is a daily fact of life and they should be commended for dedicated performance to this challenging time. Potter Safety Measures are also encouraging with the overall employee entry rate down 14 percent year to date over 2019 and while the train accident rate is down 80 percent class one railroads are operating on 100 Percent Service placate at a reliable flexible is a strong as it has been several ways are at or near Workers Service levels and that load administration to the class one carriers for enhanced communication to real shippers during a recent meeting which has representatives with other related industries shipping service is running well with sufficient power as to where traffic to rebound in the time sensitive movements to be a bright spot most recently in the fact that americas great railroads that is no accident levels continue to collaborate with customers and with that Network Planning decades of robust private investment 26 billion that has been the bedrock worshipers count on and capacity to get goods to market smart government policy has been a continuity of real operations with the relevance and in with a sufficient revenues while providing the regulatory backstop. It was one of the most successful bipartisan policy reforms in history with 1000 individuals democrats and republicans including eight former secretaries of transportation in support of the current economic framework. Wellpositioned to drive the economic recovery and then meet the challenges is addressing the covid19 pandemic Infrastructure Investment needs for environmental concerns. They play a key role to address these challenges and i appreciate a seat at the table. Im happy to answer your questions. You are now recognized. 70000 members of the teamsters real the maintenance divisions will appreciate the opportunity to write our views on the network of covid19 and with those considerations for that transportation reauthorization. Turning life upside down including the word industry and the men and women the industry is essential to serve the economy and on top of her stork furloughs despite sharply rebounding traffic and they were lucky enough to afford for low they work far away from home with Unprecedented Health and safety concerns. Family the executive Branch Agencies for Workplace Safety to urge the senate to pass the essential transportation act 3677 every Worker Protection act is not the amtrak panel but i have to make a comment with a commuter through the last fiscal year they are on the brink of another crisis all it has returned we are certain that it will implement one amtrak is a fermenting 25 percent more service and we also looking up under Service Reduction and with that he was act to provide roads the Railroad Industry today is in turmoil in the way not seen in over 50 years. So beyond those capabilities in the written testimony focuses on the psr as my time is limited and effective maintenance and the longterm health. Going from a Customer Service model and with the safety first model. That the employee added value model has been constantly reduced model and if we reinvest to the extraction value model. Across the board costcutting has had historically high unemployment rates. In 2014 and 2019, long before covid it was cut by 17 percent, nearly 30000 jobs lost and a constant state of chaos and needed longdistance trains when they have become the norm. And then to exceed the capacity to accommodate them without operational delays and with that regulated Safety Technology cutting into muscle and bone with that infrastructure and the bottom line with that reauthorization process to investigate whether the Public Interest is being served by psr. And with those operating and scheduling practices we also believe that reauthorization bill at the heart to the industries that cannot replace safety calls. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on a happy to answer any questions that you have. Thank you very much i think that concludes our witness testimony. Thank you all for being here. Mr. Jeffries. And with this memphis facility are you familiar with that . At a high level, yes. Tell us a little more about it. If you dont mind. Im only an hour and a half from their when my hometown of tupelo mississippi and it is quite something to be pulled. So describe that a little bit more for the benefit of our people. In that capacity is large and 90 percent of the cotton in the memphis market as well as all alluded to. And that is a huge market and we about the market so one of the recommendations was inoperable supply and we support that. Without objection that will be entered. While i have you, i thank you made an excellent point, sir, point, sir, about the cost of litigating something. So let me ask you about that. And also any general comments you and other members of the panel would like to make about the new post configurations and expansion of the Service Transportation board. And the other challenges in the economy and that commodity i came about that only had initial calls by 50000 to have that and then to get that adjudicated and then we could exclude the challenges there is three Board Members and five are authorized and so give us your perspective on that dealing with that is that one of your concerns and priorities . Thank you chairman yes it is and has been for many years. We are very pleased the preexisting members of the boards have been extremely active boards have been extremey. Lower the cost of thate think there is a need to do that. That sounds like a great idea. What do you think . Absolutely confirming the two nominees. When it comes to the final review we do not think that is the right path as proposed we dont think the board has authority to have such a proposal. I think what weve done is made a number of proposals to the voluntary Arbitration Program to make them more attractive to the railroads and shippers alike and its an area of shared interest thereby hopefully seeking the same goal. Do other members of the panel wish to weigh in on the issue . We absolutely support the members and i also agree with mr. Gordon the most important thing that has come out of the reauthorization act is the final review proposal which we think will level the Playing Field between the railroads and the shivers. Where is that proposal . Right now the board has made a proposal of rulemaking and working through the process as far as i know. Thank you. Others thank you very much and i think next senator thune just arrived and may need a moment. Senator cantwell. I rely on this little three by five box and it led me down this time. Human error. Technical error. Thank you mr. Chairman and thank you to the panel. Very important issu issues to be discussed here today. Im assuming the shortage is related to congestion. Yes maam. At times we have a problem getting them. [inaudible] we have been fortunate here weve been able to start shipping a lot and then you get into those issues. This points to the freight act we were able to get past and the Infrastructure Investment we were able to open a major project in seattle, federal investment literally just trying to take that off of a high five and get it to the port. Its only a few miles. The bridge itself is probably three blocks, but the economic benefit of alleviating that congestion so we do need to continue to make the freight investment across the board. I want to ask mr. Pierce and also mr. Gordon we just heard the Rate Adjustment might be better but i listened to what you said and you said we need a better definition of basic service because we are still going to come up short is that correct . I think our concern is the railroads are increasingly indicating what the level of service will be based on the desire to meet the operating ratio goals so its reduced the number of switches into different facilities and its resulted in soybeans being shipped in long merchandise trains words taking twice as long as twice the cost unit trains used to be. I dont know what we do about this but im pretty frustrated with it across the sectors that is just because you have information and it says it is more costeffective doesnt mean you are serving everybodys purpose by making the decisions that way and i definitely think as you said given the duopoly or a dont even know if it is a duopoly that minimal choice i just know this im a big supporter of being able to ship products outside of the United States so i want the infrastructure and cost schedule to do it. Speaking of the precision do you believe the current Regulatory Regime is i know you mentioned the safety issue but what about fair pay and working conditions overall . You mentioned some of these closures and things of that nature. Are we falling prey to the same thing where somebody can say how effective that information is being costeffective but then who is getting served under those . One of our concerns is the reductions we have seen that have taken the elasticity out of the network. We saw that early on when Service Started to rebound and members were not able to bring locomotives out of storage. Its no doubt in our mind that we are understaffed with the efforts of up to 10,000 and they are still furloughed and waiting to go to work. We think the railroads need to be more proactive to prepare the rebound that we all hope to see. I definitely think dupont taught us a lot and that is the accident that we have their. We need a workforce that is well skilled and knowledgeable about awareness in addition to the technology we are implementing. As the chair man showed, you can have technology and nobody in the back has to write a note to one of us but at the same time, human error or just interface with that technology could mean some challenges. So look, to me this is important for the United States of america. I personally believe that better trade policy and i believe in shipping things. We have a growing economy, 95 of those outside of the United States, one of the barriers is to provide affordable transportation to get the product to the market. A lot of them come through the ports. Weve got to get this right and i hope that we will both for the workforce and for the prize to get the products to the international markets. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator cantwell. Let me make it clear that the human error was almost entirely on my part. Senator thune, you are recognized. Thank you for holding this important hearing today on the Nations Network and we all know the pandemic has posed challenges to the railroads and disrupting supply chain and ways we couldnt have imagined a year ago but thanks to quick action emergency measures were put in place early on to keep critical supplies moving when americans needed them the most. The reauthorization act provided the board with independent authority needed to facilitate greater coordination between the railroads which has proven indispensable to the pandemic. The board has also taken several positive steps to resolve disputes between railroads and shippers in a more successful manner that i hope will build on the success of the act in creating a thriving and reliable network. So i appreciate the perspectives of the panelists here this morning on the longlasting effects of the supply chain as well as the path forward in a postpandemic world. Mr. Jeffries, you mentioned that theyve made efforts to expedite shipments of critical supplies and respond to the pandemics. Can you describe some that have been made to the networks this year . I would start by not only talking about the changes this year but the long Term Investments theyve made in the years leading up. The immense amount of investments and modernization of how operating plans are developed and Network Planning. It allowed for a system that where our customers were faced with a dramatic decrease in traffic, we could adjust the operations to meet the needs and operations to add the product to the line to get from point a to point b. One of my colleagues talked about the designation of the employees and other transportation employees being deemed Critical Infrastructure operators. That certainly helped us to continue to deliver for america. And so, i think that one thing that you will see coming out of this is the criticality of being able to provide that nimble operation that we live in a just in time the society and when you look at the type that is some roaring back not only the Agricultural Sector that is continuing to do really well but the intermodal sector has performed very well as the ports have ramped back up with domestic intermodal as well and a lot of that is moving by rail because its demonstrated an abilitinability to compete with highway traffic to get from point a to point b in a timely manner. Do you see some of those changes being more permanent as opposed to temporary . I would say that the investments that have occurred will continue and number two, that railroads have absolutely shown an interest in the need to compete for the intermodal traffic. Absolutely that will continue to be a big role. Mr. Gordon, like you im pleased to see the increased export with the volumes expected to reach record highs in a such a challenging year this is great news and it presents an opportunity to support producers with an increased focus on the infrastructure. You mentioned in your testimony that members are concerned about the potential issues as the harvest season begins in earnest are there certain areas you believe Service Issues would be most acute . That would depend on the individual operations. We are starting to see some issues in the upper plane states where thereve been some delayed shipments going in. I got an email from one of the members saying one of the carriers may be three to four weeks behind on getting cars to bring wheat into the mill so we are starting to see these as the agriculture ramps up with the harvest right now. Its going to require a lot of strong communication between the railroad and shippers and receivers and the nimbleness as mr. Jeffries indicated respond promptly, so its going to be how each carrier kind of mobilizes both its crews and locomotive capacities to meet this increased demand. And there is a mutual dependency we need to make sure that it mister jeffries, could you speak to have a Real Industries prepared for the harvest season in light of the pandemic . In south dakota we see historically high yielding commodities like corn and soybeans which is good news for producers and prices which have been historically low are still historically low but seem to be trending in the right direction. I was in south dakota in the rural area of the state, awaiting movement. Could you talk a little bit about how your members intend to manage the harvest . Thank you. Grain across the board is one of the bright spots year to date and it has been strong all year but as we get into a peak season we anticipate increase in volumes, not to sound repetitive. You are familiar with the immense investment that has occurred in the past 10 years on the main lines to make sure throughput is there for peak season. It comes down to constant communication with customers, we know it is coming and you know there will be a lot and it will happen, customers and carriers need to forecast to the best of their ability when these shipments need to go, the Surface Transportation Board, as hiccups pop up communication allows us, communication, investment, we will get the job done. Appreciate the outreach to shippers so there is good understanding of what the pipeline looks like and allows everybody to plan better. Thank you, mister chairman. Senator fisher . I have to begin by asking mister pierce. I am a locomotive engineer, grew up in seward. You are working for burlington in the 70s, my grandfather worked in the ground house, glad to see you have that. With other parts of the economy, weve seen something but dropped in the pandemic but now recovering as you mentioned in your testimony. There is some consensus railroads responded well, to the shippers needs we are seeing this year. Railroads communicated well. Going forward what actions, service and communication with shippers as it relates to accurate delivery time . Thank you, senator. It comes down to open and consistent lines of communication between customers and carriers. Thats done on a 1on1 basis but also through broader venues, the National Green card counsel or other use as well and i think as you mentioned the depths of the dip in rail traffic earlier in the year, approximately 30 persons the traffic has come back not to the level we hoped it would but by working with customers to get off forecast for what they are seeing coming into the last quarter railroads are positioned to time the bringing back of manpower, locomotives online to ensure capacity is ready to go as customers need it. I am sounding like i am a bit repetitive here but it is about back and Forth Communications so everyone is on the same page in expectations. Shippers and railroaders have concern with precision schedule railroading, vote for different reasons. Mister pearson, expressed concern about safety impacts, shippers have raised concern about changes and uncertainty about railroad transportation. Can you address these concerns about psrs impact on efficiency . Certainly. The term psr is used a lot these days. One of the core tenets, looking to utilize your assets to the fullest extent possible, creating an efficient optimized railroad, any industry looking to that at any time but looking at our safety numbers not only longterm trajectory and safety showing demonstrable benefits for the past decade plus but even year over year, these are rates adjusted for traffic volumes that we have seen year over year decreases and employee casualties and injuries, yearoveryear decreases in various other incidents so when we look at the trends safety numbers are headed in the right direction. Are we where we want to be . Of course not. We have incidents in the system and no one is happy and so we are at a time with 0 incidents. When we look at the safety numbers the data bears out the fruit there. On the surface when you look at macro level and weve heard positive comments about Railroad Service throughout the pandemic and venues in your prior question positive comments about real service writ large, doesnt mean there arent pickups here and there, packages that pop up but when they do it is important communication takes place, those can be addressed in a manner accordingly. By and large when you look at the data out there railroads are performing well on the service side and safety numbers are continually headed in the right direction. My time is up. Thank you. Thank you. Senator blackburn. Thank you all for being here for the hearing today. Welcome, we are happy to have you with us and appreciate that you would join us for this hearing. In your testimony you talked a little bit about Memphis Supply Chain Innovation Team. I want you to go back to that for the record and give an interview, an overview of the goals that have been set forth by that team and how that flow of cotton product is going to work. You mentioned the seed. Lets talk about that innovation. If we have rail traffic, if we see an increase in products, domestic and export market it is important that we be a little bit more precise and it is part of the solution we are looking for. We appreciate your leadership on this issue. The Memphis Supply Chain Innovation Team came up with the biggest impact to movement in this area would be better utility and utilization and their recommendation was to come up with an interoperable chassis, and lack of that interoperability, provisions of chassises or your concern at the time and i will tell you the memphis area especially for cotton is very vital and i sat on the port authority, we just completed omega rail to the memphis area so far rail is so important that getting those chassises to put on the rail to get to domestic markets. And intermodal providers, if we go overseas, have an issue where we split on shifts or miss the rail impacts, the sale becomes a bigger issue and it could get to the federal maritime commissions so we recommend the chassis thing and get together and collaboration between agencies. Thank you so much for that. Mister jeffries. Lets talk about maintenance projects. You talked about regulatory requirements and cutting those regulatory requirements for the Infrastructure Project approval and improvement throughout the country and we realize the importance and the cost of compliance is a major cause for all companies. Talk to me how you would see fast tracking maintenance projects so that as we bring production back mister crumble talking about chlorine and the imports and exports there but if youre going to do this you have got to fasttrack this so talk a little bit about what can be done and what recommendations you would have for fast tracking these maintenance projects. I ought to talk about the immense amount of private investment railroads put back into their networks and recently that has been 26 billion per year and a big chunk of that is how you frame to, core maintenance, replacing rail, replacement of other existing assets and even on a rightofway doing work every day these replacement projects require we navigate fairly significant reviews and related bureaucratic mechanisms to update the infrastructure so there is something straightforward that can be done in the intention was to take on some of these, whether it is a categorical exclusion to the section 106 preservation act requirements and we are not talking anything unprecedented but providing the same categorical exclusions the highway system gets, routine replacement and maintenance. We think work can be done there and when we are looking at simple things, one decision on environmental reviews, shot clocks, reducing redundancy, streamlining existing decision processes, not eliminating making things work more efficiently. I think shot clocks on the federal Government Agencies are a good thing. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you, senator blackburn. Lets hear it for shot clocks, associate with senator blackburns remarks. Getting back to human error it seems i did not have the mike on when i entered a letter into the record so let the record reflect that during my exchange with mister fountain immediately after my exchange with mister fountain i asked unanimous consent be added to the record a letter to Michael Corey from me dated november 19th, 2019, and unanimous consent was granted so the letter will be entered into the record. Lets conclude here, mister jeffries. You say in your testimony something i think i agree with and wants to emphasize. Page 3, policymakers should provide Passenger Railroads with dedicated funding they need to pay for expanded capacity when required. Let me expand on that. I want you to have, i want the freights to have all the capacity they need. To that extent, we have chrissy grants and build grants also. Do policymakers have everything in place to give the freights all the capacity they need . I would say at a regulatory level, railroads, we talked about the balanced regulatory system that allows them to invest in their networks. We are able to do that. Senator blackburn, we had a discussion about putting that private money to work in a more efficient manner. There is work to be done. You bring up a good third leg of the stool, the need for public and private to Work Together publicprivate partnerships, whether the create program in chicago, there are projects, the long bridge from the potomac into virginia. Numerous projects with a pot of private money ready to be put to work, the funding to match that and do these projects to benefit the public and private so for example the committee, the christie Grant Program specified for rail is exactly that, providing tools to tie together with the privatesector money that is available to achieve a mutually desired outcome. It is a matter of taking advantage of the programs to be successful. The covid19 pandemic has hit Passenger Rail hard. The increase in shipping by retail has increased from members. Overall traffic is down 10 but the consumer traffic has come back pretty strong in the last quarter and is year over year over where it was the last year. It has been reiterated today in testimony for the record and written testimony and testimony, i think your position is that shipping goods in america, rail is safer and greener than other forms. When you look at the data, rail is the safest method and most environmentally friendly. Less co2 emission. We are interested in this committee advancing all forms of transport tatian, we love the trucks and barges and waterways and our friends in the Airline Industry but i am convinced that the more goods we can ship, on americas highways. Does that stand to reason . You look at the data i wont argue with that assessment. We agree about the value of shifting goods from highway to rail when talking about congestion and other issues but we need a healthy integrated transportation network, intermodal. I dont want to prolong this hearing. I am reading a fascinating book, the new map that deals with energy and getting it from place to place involving a lot of things but points out the container is him revolution was a game changer in the it was a game changer for your members too. It certainly was. As you looked at rail traffic intermodal has grown substantially over the years in leaps and bounds the largest traffic really is moving these days. You have been very patient. You want to respond to anything . I agree with mister jeffries. I would point out large transportation is the greenest of all forms of transportation. I wholeheartedly agree we need all 3 modes of agriculture to make our products move to market. You ended your written testimony by discussing positive train control and it is good news with regard to your members, you are 100 there. Is that right . We are operating 100 of required miles and remaining interoperability is that the only thing the remains in the entire issue, interoperability issues . I am referring to the class one progress. I am tangentially aware there are some commuter is racing to the finish line. Im not intimately involved in that to be honest with you but i can tell you from my members standpoint that we are up and running on 100 of required miles. One moment. Let me get back to my script here. I want to thank everyone for working with us and expanding on the testimony. You have done well and ive learned a lot and other members have. The hearing record will remain open for two weeks during this time senators are asked to submit questions as soon as possible but no later than wednesday november 4th i will be clear eyed. On the receipt witnesses are requested to submit written answers to the committee as soon as possible but by no later than wednesday november 18th, 2020. I conclude the hearing with the thanks of the committee. This hearing is now adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] coming up live tuesday cspans Campaign Coverage continues with joe biden speaking in georgia, home of fdrs little white house, at 3 00 pm democratic Vice President ial candidate Kamala Harris campaigns in reno, nevada. Mike pence speaks to supporters in greenville, south carolina. On cspan2, the hill hosting event pharmaceutical supply chain. 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