On Wednesday, June 18, the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, Freight, Pipelines, and Safety convened for a hearing entitled, “On the right track: Modernizing America’s rail network.” Members called on several witnesses to provide insights on the state of the freight and passenger rail network, and strategies for meaningful policy making in the context of the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization. While the hearing touched on many issues in rail policy, the opening statements and discussion centered around four main themes: investing in technology, emphasizing rail safety, federal rail investment, and engaging in regulatory reform.  

Witness List 

• Ian Jefferies, President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of American Railroads 
• Peter Gilbertson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anacostia Rail Holdings; on behalf of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association  
• Husein Cumber, Senior Advisor, Brightline Holdings 
• Clarence Anthony, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, National League of Cities 

State of the U.S. Rail Network Today 

The United States boasts the largest rail network in the world, at around 135,000 miles of track. According to Ian Jefferies’ testimony, U.S. freight railroads move 1.5 billion tons of freight yearly and contribute $233 billion in economic activity. Every dollar invested in railroads generates $2.50 in economic value. On the passenger rail side, Amtrak had a ridership of 32 million passengers in 2024, which was a 15 percent increase from 2023.  

There have been several advancements across the railroad industry in recent years. On the passenger side, Amtrak expanded service to add additional service to its Borealis route between Chicago and St. Paul, two new daily Cascades trips between Seattle and Portland, and the introduction of the Floridian serving Chicago to Miami.  

An influx of federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) saw several passenger rail projects receive grants from discretionary grant programs, including a $1 billion federal grant for the S-Line project, which is expanding passenger rail service between Raleigh and Richmond. Brightline West, a private venture seeking to provide passenger rail service between southern California and Las Vegas, received a $3 billion grant from the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) program. These grant awards are examples of many projects that received awards from the $66 billion in advance appropriations for rail in the IIJA.  

Among the railroad sector, the short line and regional railroads in particular received a significant boost in federal funding. The CRISI program is the only federal program in which short line and regional railroads are eligible for federal funding. In the FY23-24 round of funding alone, short lines received $1.2 billion across 81 projects.  

The funding from the IIJA also went towards rail infrastructure improvements. The Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program was awarded $4.7 billion in FY23 under the Federal-State Partnership program. The Baltimore and Potomac tunnel going under Baltimore, Maryland is the oldest tunnel on the Amtrak Northeast corridor, and a consistent bottle neck for Amtrak and MARC commuter trains, as trains must operate at or below 30 mph due to its tight curvature and deteriorating structure. Under the project, the new 4-mile Frederick Douglass Tunnel will replace the B&P tunnel with a wider curve to allow for higher speeds and new surrounding rail infrastructure. 

Main Themes of the Hearing 

Rail Technology 

In his opening statement, subcommittee chairman Todd Young (R-IN) made clear that investments in technology were a worthy policy objective for the committee. The chair began his line of questioning with an invitation to the witnesses to speak about how advancements in technology are improving railroad safety and efficiency. Jefferies described the role of technology in track inspection. Automated track inspection uses sensors and cameras mounted on locomotives or railcars that monitor the track condition as a train moves along. According to Jefferies, using this technology allows the railroad to accurately inspect the track while revenue trains are in service rather than closing a section of track so that a person can manually inspect the track.  

Responding to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA)’s inquiry on electrification, Cumber described the advantages of investing in railroad electrification. Under electrified power, trains can accelerate faster, have a higher tractive effort (the pulling power of the locomotive), and can handle higher grades when compared to diesel-powered trains. Brightline West, which will provide passenger rail service between southern California and Las Vegas, will have trains powered by overhead-wire electrification (catenary).  

Rail Safety 

Members and witnesses alike discussed rail safety as an important component of future rail policy. Several Senators, including full committee ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), and full committee chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) asked the witnesses about various topics within rail safety. According to Cumber, Brightline is working on grade crossing improvements throughout its Florida network and aims to have zero grade crossings on its high-speed southern California to Las Vegas route. Railroad grade crossings are spaces of direct interaction between cars, pedestrians, and the railroad and can be places where dangerous accidents can occur.  

Responding to Chair Cruz’s question on cargo theft, Jefferies noted that information sharing between the U.S. departments of Transportation, Justice, and Homeland Security is a valuable tool that increases the safety of trains and helps combat the threat of rail cargo theft.  

Anthony noted that community engagement is key to rail safety. Trains pass through cities and towns, and Anthony made it clear that having partnerships with city and community leaders ensures that they are part of the rail safety conversation.  

Federal Investment 

Democrats on the subcommittee referenced the IIJA’s investment in rail throughout the hearing. Subcommittee ranking member Gary Peters (D-MI) praised the IIJA as responsible for the numerous advancements in freight and passenger rail in Michigan. Responding to Sen. Peters’ questioning, each of the witnesses echoed similar sentiments regarding the advanced appropriations in the IIJA dedicated to rail. Gilbertson and Anthony pointed to the ability for short line railroads and cities to plan for major rail projects knowing that funding is available for multiple years.  

Gilbertson expanded on the impact of federal funding on short line railroads in response to Sen. Cantwell. Some short line railroads use older tracks that were once branch lines or unprofitable lines for major railroads. The older tracks may not support the weight of a standard 286,000-pound railcar loaded with a bulk product, like grain. If the short line cannot handle that grain car, a trucking company may move that grain, rendering the short line unable to participate in that market. The ability of short lines to access funds through the CRISI program gives them the chance to conduct major projects to rehabilitate tracks and bridges and bring their lines to the industry standard.  

Regulatory Reform 

Several Republican members, including Sens. Cruz, Young, and Bernie Moreno (R-OH) urged regulatory reform as part of modernizing the rail network. Jefferies said that rail regulations should be outcomes-based, not prescriptive. According to Jefferies, one of the issues with rail regulations today is that they are based on current conditions. Jefferies described the following example: inspection technology may advance to a point where railroads are using more AI and automated inspection techniques than manual inspection, but the regulation may require only manual inspections. According to Jefferies, regulation locks the industry in the present. From the Republican members’ point of view, the regulations stifle the industry’s ability to innovate.  

Takeaways 

The opening statements from the chair and ranking member set the stage for the main topics of concern for members of the Subcommittee. Republican members were focused on improving the efficiency of railroads through technological advancements (although Sen. Markey (D-MA) was focused on electrification, a valuable component in rail technology) and regulatory reform. Democrats emphasized the role of continued federal investment in rail, particularly continuation of the advanced appropriations of the IIJA. All members of the subcommittee urged rail safety to be at the forefront of rail policy going forward. On the freight rail side, there was little discussion about Precision-Scheduled railroading (PSR), a policy aimed at improving efficiency by using fewer resources (locomotives, trains, crews) to move goods from point to point. Critics of PSR suggest that because of the policy, trains have become very long. Longer trains block railroad crossings for longer periods of time. Longer trains potentially increase the burden of responsibility on train crews. Class I railroads have been strong supporters of PSR, so members were less likely to bring it up to not create an environment to critique the policy.  

Regarding passenger rail, there was a sense that passenger rail is a valuable service, but the representation of Brightline (a private passenger rail company) and not Amtrak on the witness panel is an indication that Republican leadership is interested in what value private passenger rail can bring, more so than Amtrak. In fact, Sen. Moreno made it clear that he did not see the value in the federal government owning Amtrak and would much rather have passenger rail solely in the hands of the private sector. (Ed. Note: This is at a time when there is unusual agreement between the Administration and Amtrak itself on its budget – see article elsewhere in this week’s issue.)

 Brightline in Florida is providing higher speed inter-city passenger service between Miami and Orlando and moved 2.8 million passengers in FY2024. Compared to Amtrak services in Florida, Brightline moved more people, with Amtrak’s ridership in Florida in FY2024 at 989,000 passengers. While Brightline served more passengers in 2024, Amtrak has more stations in Florida, given that it operates three different long-distance routes that go through Florida. The private passenger rail model in the U.S. is fairly young and currently exists in one place. High ridership and well-maintained stations with amenities are markers of success for Brightline’s model in Florida, but it is currently the only example in the U.S. Alongside this positive performance, Sen. Lujan reminded the committee that safety incidents involving Brightline are markedly higher than those of Amtrak. 

There have not been any significant rail incidents or developments that necessarily warranted the hearing being held now. Rather, the hearing comes at a time when Congress is gearing up for the 2026 surface transportation reauthorization. Holding a rail hearing provides members an opportunity to hear insights from the industry about what is important for rail policy and inform them about what to include in the upcoming reauthorization.