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American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) and Association of American Railroads continue to explore an alliance under which the two organizations would work more-closely together to achieve common goals, according to ASLRRA's bi-weekly newsletter released May 20.
ASLRRA's ad-hoc committee members April 23 met with AAR representatives to discuss the alliance, at which time the parties targeted six objectives that would provide mutual benefits:
• Achieve short-line infrastructure funding, including an effort to secure Congressional approval of Railroad Track Modernization Act of 2001 (S. 1220/H.R. 1020), which would appropriate $350 million a year for three years for short-line track projects;
• Repeal the federal 4.3 cents per gallon diesel-fuel tax, including a
short-line grassroots effort to maintain the repeal as currently included in a House-passed energy bill;
• Substitute locomotive performance standards for mandatory
inspection, which would replace existing mandatory (daily & 92-day)
locomotive-inspection requirements through appropriate waivers;
• Promote locomotive remote controls, including the technology's safety and productivity benefits, and combine efforts to forestall any legislative, regulatory or legal attempts to prohibit its use;
• Support public relations efforts, including an integrated communications plan supporting rail as the country's economic backbone, rail's role in the preserving the environment and the industry's contribution in alleviating
congestion; and
• Increase short-line participation in industry security planning, such as having a role in AAR's Surface Transportation Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which addresses both cyber and physical-security warning and incident response.
ASLRRA committee members and AAR representatives plan to meet July 10 to further discuss and refine the objectives.