The Biden administration will find it hard to stay on track when it comes to climate change goals if competition laws aren’t relaxed, railroad experts say.
Representatives from the Association of American Railroads told the Washington Examiner that while the industry prides itself on being the most energy-efficient way to move freight, an executive order signed by President Joe Biden unfairly singles out railroads.
“There are significant concerns within the rail industry that this will have big impacts on our operational efficiency and network fluidity,” AAR Assistant Vice President Jordan Stone told the Plugged In podcast.
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The biggest shortcoming of the 2021 order was encouraging the Surface Transportation Board to move forward with what’s known as “reciprocal switching,” Stone added.
The switching rule requires railroads to trade off cargo with other locomotives that they would otherwise be able to move themselves, “adding even more difficulty.”
“Just [to] be honest, everybody in the freight transportation space right now is struggling in terms of supply chains. Railroads right now are having significant workforce shortages and are working diligently to hire up,” Stone said.
But not all legislation approved by the Biden administration has been negative, he said. Sections of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, largely considered to be a successor to the 2015 FAST Act, reauthorize the Federal Railroad Administration without “excessive regulations.”
“I can’t say enough how great it was to see that Congress was able to come up with some bipartisan solutions that didn’t overly regulate the rail industry and impose standards that could harm our ability to compete,” Stone said.
Railroads can move freight an average of 500 miles on 1 gallon of fuel, about the equivalent of 100 trucks, according to AAR’s assistant general counsel, Theresa Romanosky. Stone added that if even 25% of freight traveling at least 750 miles moved exclusively by rail, it could reduce greenhouse gasses by 13.1 million tons, or the equivalent of 2.6 million cars per year.
Investors and stakeholders alike see the benefit of the shift, Romanosky said.
“You can see that reflected in the investments that they’ve been making and the research and development that they’ve been working on with respect to lower- or zero-emission locomotives,” she said.
The AAR representative outlined several projects the railroads are working on to make the locomotives more energy efficient, including battery, electric, and hydrogen-powered locomotives, as well as the implementation of automated track inspections and wayside detectors and the development of biodiesel engines.
AAR represents around 140,000 miles of railroad in the United States, enough to wrap around the world 5 1/2 times.
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The pair highlighted how the railroad industry touches every part of the economy and gives the U.S. an edge when it comes to moving goods and services efficiently.
“We have the world’s best free rail system in the United States, and we’re proud to have it that way,” Stone said.
Plugged In, hosted by former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Neil Chatterjee and energy reporter Breanne Deppisch, brings on key players, from lawmakers to federal employees to industry experts, to keep our audience up to speed on the latest energy issues facing the country and the planet.
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