May 2018

The House Appropriations Committee held their markup of the THUD bill Wednesday afternoon. In the end, Rep. Fleischmann (TN) did not offer his Twin 33 amendment and the committee voted to include the language below into the committee report accompanying the bill:

Twin-trailer truck length.—The Committee urges the Department to promptly report to the committees of jurisdiction any updated findings on the impact of increasing the length of twin-trailers from 28 feet to 33 feet.

This report language was modified before it was agreed to by most of the parties lobbying both sides of this issue.

We still expect the Senate Appropriations Committee to mark up their THUD bill either June 5 or 6. We expect that the base bill will be clean but that there may be an attempt at a Twin 33 amendment there, as well.

Here is an interview with CSLRA member Nate Kaplan (GoRail) and CSLRA Vice President Steve Murray on the radio station KAHI afternoon news with Casey Freelove, discussing CSLRA’s April 2018 trip to Sacramento.

Click here.

An article in Railway Age by Joseph A. Boardman…

Having spent much of my productive life at the state and federal levels observing, studying, regulating and then leading a rail management team, I am appalled with what increasingly appears a unilateral violation of the public trust by Amtrak’s current leadership to dismantle our interconnected, intercity rail passenger network, beginning with hollowing out of its long-distance passenger train service.

Amtrak is not a privately held corporation whose fate is to be determined by a few individuals behind closed doors. It was created by the people and for the people and is funded by taxpayers who help to supplement Amtrak’s farebox revenue. Amtrak provides a cherished public service, with opinion polls repeatedly validating support for its existence and even expansion.

Read the rest of the article