Jamie Foster

2017 California Short Line Railroad Association Sacramento Visit!

The date for our 2017 “Lobby Day” visit to Sacramento will be Wednesday, April 5, 2017. Please join us in this important meeting and annual visit with state legislators! Meeting Details and Registration.

Hotel Information and Reservations:

Embassy Suites Sacramento Riverfront Promenade for the nights of April 4 and 5, 2017. You may book into the CSLRA room block in the following ways:

1. Go to www.sacramento.embassysuites.com and make a reservation using the group/convention code: CSL.

2. Call (916) 326-5000 and ask for the CSLRA-CA Short Line discount rate.

3. Book with this link.

Reservations will be open until Tuesday, March 14, 2017.

SUBJECT: Executive Director Don Norton

Dear Members of the California Short Line Railroad Association,

The Board of Directors of the CSLRA are pleased to announce the appointment of Donald (Don) G. Norton to the position of Executive Director. Don was selected from a well-qualified pool of candidates and the Board believes that Don will do an excellent job steering the association into the future. Don recently retired from the Pacific Harbor Line where he was employed as the Director of Marketing and Administration. Prior to his 18 year railroad career, Don spent 23 years with the United States Navy, retiring as a Captain. He has played an active role in the CSLRA for many years, showing a keen interest in the tough California legislative and regulatory arenas.

The Board has tasked Don with continuing the strong legacy of the CSLRA while reaching out to the industry in an effort to grow the association. We encourage each and every member of the association to reach out to Don directly with any concerns, needs or comments. He can be reached via email at ExecutiveDirector@CSLRA.org or by phone at 310-863-4573.

Please join us in congratulating Don on his new position.

Sincerely,
The Board of Directors of the California Short Line Railroad Association

Kennan H. Beard III, President
Steven Murray, Vice President
Kimia Khatami, Treasurer
Barbara O’Neill, Secretary
Jim Bertram, Director
Dave Buccolo, Director

We wanted to highlight three transportation infrastructure initiatives pending in Sacramento as we head into summer – Senate bill SB-X1-1 (Beall), Assembly bill AB- 1591 (Frasier), and some extensive language proposed by the Governor’s office that is not currently included in proposed legislation.

When CSLRA met in Sacramento in April, we had the opportunity to meet with Senator Beall for 45 minutes and much of the discussion was about his transportation bill. Senator Beall has asked the CSLRA if we could provide him with a list of freight rail infrastructure projects that if funded through his bill would benefit short lines within CA.

We are now asking CSLRA member short lines and holding companies for some basic information on any projects they can identify that seem suitable for funding. Since the transportation infrastructure initiative language currently in play mentions grade crossing improvements and trade corridor improvements, projects that fit those labels would be particularly useful. Anything that improves the efficiency or capacity of a freight rail route, such as increasing clearances to handle double stacks, more or longer passing sidings, signalization upgrades, etc. would be good. Projects that could be started soon after funding was provided and which provide incremental efficiency/capacity improvements without costing huge dollars are especially desirable.

If you can identify any projects for the list to be shared with Senator Beall, please provide the following basic information on each one: project name, project location, short project description, and approximate project cost. This information is requested by June 17th in support of a possible follow-on meeting between CSLRA and Senator Beall.

Please forward your potential projects to calshortlinerailassoc@gmail.com

Sincerely,

CSLRA: www.cslra.org | calshortlinerailassoc@gmail.com