“I consider myself a Keystone person,” Fink said while looking out over the yards. “I was born in Pennsylvania. All the generations of my family lived there. Seeing the generational connection with the railroad yesterday was just great. The people in central Pennsylvania are fantastic.”

Fink’s personal history is deeply woven into the iron and ties of the Northeast. As the son of the late David A. Fink, his roots run straight through the industry’s most transformative eras.

“I’m a fifth-generation railroader,” Fink said. “My father and generations before him lived this life. In fact, I’m the only Fink male that hasn’t worked for the legacy Pennsylvania Railroad, though I did spend some time working for Conrail for a little while early on.”

The Pennsylvania Railroad collapsed due to post-World War II industrial decline, heavy government overregulation, strict tax burdens, and intense competition from federally funded highways and commercial aviation. Once the largest publicly traded corporation, the “Standard Railroad of the World” fell from absolute dominance into bankruptcy in just over two decades.

Two years after merging with the New York Central Railroad in 1968 and becoming Penn Central, the former giant declared bankruptcy in 1970. At the time, it was the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history, sending shockwaves through the entire American financial system and bringing freight transportation in the Northeast to a near-total standstill.

To prevent a complete economic collapse, the federal government stepped in, and Congress passed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973, which nationalized the bankrupt northeastern lines.

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This government intervention directly resulted in the creation of Conrail in 1976, keeping the vital tracks moving until the system could be stabilized and eventually returned to private hands.

Before taking the helm at the FRA, Fink spent decades steering regional freight operations as the president of Pan Am Railways. That experience on the ground shaped his view of the unsung heroes of the American economy: the short line and regional railroads.

In Altoona, the railroad is not a relic of history — it is a modern-day economic engine. The sprawling local rail yards and maintenance complexes anchor the regional labor market, providing thousands of high-wage, skilled manufacturing and engineering jobs that sustain local businesses, schools, and families.

The presence of heavy industrial hubs, like the Union Tank Car facility, generates a massive regional economic multiplier effect. Every primary railroad job supports multiple secondary jobs across central Pennsylvania, from the local steel suppliers and specialized tool manufacturers to the diners and main-street shops that feed the workforce.

This deeply rooted industrial ecosystem keeps the community vibrant, ensuring that the wealth generated on the tracks stays directly within the local neighborhood.

While massive transcontinental networks grab the headlines, Fink was quick to point out that the final mile of the American supply chain relies entirely on smaller, local operations.

“Short-line railroads are absolute economic lifelines,” Fink said. “People look at the big cross-country freight lines, but it’s these short lines that handle the critical first and last miles. They are the ones pulling cars off the main lines, delivering lumber to local yards, and servicing the small-town factories that keep our domestic supply chain moving. Without them, the entire system grinds to a halt.”

Nationwide, short-line railroads form a sprawling web that connects rural America to global markets. These regional carriers operate nearly one-third of the country’s total freight rail mileage and serve as the exclusive link for the thousands of agricultural, chemical, and manufacturing facilities that lack direct access to major lines.

By keeping heavy freight on the tracks and off the highways, short lines save billions of dollars in public road maintenance costs while providing small-town businesses with the competitive shipping rates needed to survive in the global marketplace. That regional connectivity faces massive shifts as the industry prepares for unprecedented consolidation.

The proposed $85 billion merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern aims to create the first true coast-to-coast, single-line freight network in U.S. history, spanning a 52,215-mile network.

It would integrate western and eastern lines through midcontinent gateways, and it is under rigorous regulatory review for possible traffic impacts and industry consolidation.

Fink said the evaluation seeks to ensure the protection of consumer welfare without snarling traffic.

“We’ve seen what massive industry consolidation did 30 years ago with the traffic snarls of the late ’90s,” Fink said, adding, “With the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern merger on the table, our focus at the agency is clear: Any evolution in our infrastructure must actively strengthen supply chain resilience and, above all else, advance a strict culture of safety.”

Following the Big Boy ceremony, Fink went to tour the Union Tank Car facility on the other side of the Altoona yard. The plant, an old Pennsylvania Railroad repair facility repurposed for modern tank car maintenance, was celebrating its own milestone with a custom-made, American-built tank car.

Fink remarked on the pristine condition of the historic shop floor, signaling a deeper desire to bridge the gap between Washington regulators and the mechanics in the trenches. He intends to bring pipeline and hazardous materials safety teams back to Altoona to learn directly from the workforce.

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“We need to have days where we come in and talk about the boots-on-the-ground stuff that we up in the government don’t always see,” Fink said.

“How do you know a weld is bad? How do you inspect a car properly? These tank cars are looked at regularly, every 10 years. That meticulous, hard work is why we have a remarkably safe railroad system. I want to keep making it safer by putting the right technology into the hands of the people who know these tracks best.”