WASHINGTON, D.C., September 25, 2023 — Today, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) congratulates all recipients of the Fiscal Year 2022 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) grant awards and celebrates the unprecedented number of short line railroad proposals selected for funding. Forty-seven of the seventy projects selected by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) were put forward by short line railroads or their partners and are designed to invest in short line infrastructure to help these railroads better serve their customers and communities. This round of grant funding is the most successful ever for the short line industry.
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 11, 2023 — As Congress focuses on critical, must-pass legislation as it returns from Congressional recess, over 1,500 local government leaders from across the country sent a letter to Capitol Hill asking policymakers to oppose any increases in truck size or weight, including heavier single-trailer trucks.
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 10, 2023 — The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) today announced a record number of member railroads (383) qualifying for a Jake Safety Award, and also a record number (350) noted “with Distinction” for zero reportable injuries in 2022. ASLRRA member railroads posting zero reportable injuries has increased by 130% to 350 from 152 railroads in 1999 when the “Jake with Distinction” award was first bestowed.
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 20, 2023 — Today, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) announces its newest Member Discount Program provider, ISB Global Services (ISB). ISB will provide ASLRRA members with a suite of employment background screening products that will allow railroad and supplier members to be confident that they are obtaining appropriate and accurate information, while being compliant with privacy legislation.
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 16, 2023 — On May 17, 2023, short line railroad industry representatives will visit 176 Congressional offices to personally voice their concerns and share their views with their elected officials. More than 150 individuals from Class II and III railroads, suppliers, and supporting association staff members will be in Washington, DC to tell their story. This year’s Infrastructure Week is May 16-May 20 — dozens of organizations will be hosting and organizing scores of events to celebrate.
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 11, 2023 – Today Chuck Baker, President of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA), representing the nation’s short line freight railroads, testified before the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, in a hearing titled, “Getting Back on Track: Exploring Rail Supply Chain Resilience and Challenges.” In his testimony, Chuck Baker explained the critical role that short lines play in the supply chain, and the many ways that Congress can assist in addressing the challenges of freight rail network fluidity and safety.
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 10, 2023 – Today, the Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance the Railway Safety Act (S. 576), which will now be considered on the Senate floor. In response to this action, ASLRRA President Chuck Baker made a statement acknowledging forward progress on issues that are concerning to short lines, but cautioned that any policies affecting the railroad industry will have repercussions throughout the supply chain and ensnare short lines.
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 1, 2023 – On Thursday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted to implement its In Use Locomotive Regulation. The rule mandates an incredibly abrupt, dramatic, unrealistic, and counter-productive forced shift of all locomotives in California, including all small business short line locomotives, to Tier 4 and Zero Emission Locomotives.
NEW ORLEANS, April 3, 2023 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association is pleased to honor Raul Guerrero, a track inspector at the Texas North Western Railway (TXNW), as the Association’s Safety Person of the Year, and Austin Milton, Director, Safety & Training, The Indiana Rail Road Company (INRD), as the Safety Professional of the Year. These awards recognize a career-long safety focus and honor leaders who hold their companies and their peers accountable to and for each other. ASLRRA recognized both individuals for their decades-long dedication to railroad safety at its Annual Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans, Louisiana this morning.
NEW ORLEANS, April 3, 2023 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) is pleased to announce the 2023 Schlosser Distinguished Service Award honoree is Jack Dale Parliament, former president of the D&I Railroad who was actively involved with the Association for over two decades. The award, named for former ASLRRA Chairman Thomas L. Schlosser, is the highest individual honor bestowed by the ASLRRA, recognizing an individual for his or her long-term, significant service to the ASLRRA and the short line industry. Parliament, who passed away in October, was honored posthumously this morning at the ASLRRA Annual Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans, Louisiana.
NEW ORLEANS, April 3, 2023 – Four new members have been selected by the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association to join the Short Line Railroad Industry Hall of Fame. Pete Claussen, Bruce Flohr, Edward Lewis and Richard Robey will be inducted at the 2023 ASLRRA Annual Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans on April 3, 2023. Lewis, who passed away in 2015, will be honored posthumously.
NEW ORLEANS, April 3, 2023 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Business Development Awards. Kiamichi Railroad, Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad and the Strasburg Rail Road Company each demonstrated innovative and successful business-building initiatives that will lead to significant increases in shipping volume and additional benefits for the customer and the community. The awards were presented this morning at ASLRRA’s Annual Convention and Exhibition in New Orleans, Louisiana.
NEW ORLEANS, April 3, 2023 – Pacific Harbor Line (PHL), an Anacostia Company, is the recipient of two of ASLRRA’s annual awards, the inaugural Environmental Award and the Veterans Engagement Award. The Association recognized PHL for these achievements this morning at its Annual Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans, Louisiana.
WASHINGTON, March 23, 2023 – The American and Short Line Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) today announced the progression of Matt Walsh, Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Development, Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services Inc. to fill the ASLRRA Board Chairman position vacated by Watco’s Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Stefan Loeb, who has accepted a position at Norfolk Southern Railway. Walsh currently holds the position of Vice Chairman for the ASLRRA.
WASHINGTON, December 16, 2022 – ASLRRA strongly supports H.R. 9581, the Short Line Railroad Relief Act, a bill that would authorize emergency disaster relief funding resources for short line railroads through the USDOT. Current federal programs fail to provide small business short line railroads with immediate relief after natural disasters, but do offer disaster relief benefits to other transportation modes, such as highways and transit.
WASHINGTON, November 29, 2022 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) supports Congressional action to avert a shutdown of the nation’s freight rail system.
WASHINGTON, September 15, 2022 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) congratulates the Class I carriers and rail labor unions in reaching a tentative agreement early this morning, ending the uncertainty of the past several weeks.
WASHINGTON – August 2, 2022 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) released the following statement in response to today’s introduction of the Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act by Chair of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Donald M. Payne, Jr. (D-NJ), Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Chair of the House Committee on Agriculture David Scott (D-GA), and Chair of the Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Jim Costa (D-CA). The legislation will reauthorize the Surface Transportation Board (Board).
WASHINGTON – July 27, 2022 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) is disappointed with the Train Crew Size Safety Requirements Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) released by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today, calling the proposal ill-conceived, ill-timed and unnecessary.
WASHINGTON – June 29, 2022 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) today awarded a record number of Jake Safety Awards, including twenty member railroads being recognized as President’s Safety Award winners. The Jake Award program recognizes member railroads for above-industry average safety performance during 2021. Of the 364 Jake Award recipients, 332 member railroads will be honored “with Distinction” recognizing their FRA reportable injury-free performance in 2021.
WASHINGTON – June 2, 2022 – Today the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced the selection of grant recipients for the Fiscal Year 2021 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program. Many short line projects were among the recipients, and an ASLRRA-member short line – the Lake State Railway Company in Saginaw, Michigan – was the location chosen by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg today to officially announce the awards.
ST. LOUIS – May 2, 2022 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has announced its selection of two individuals for their decades-long dedication to railroad safety. ASLRRA is pleased to honor Nathaniel Mazo, General Manager, Ohio Division, OmniTRAX as the Safety Person of the Year, and Ross Grantham, Chief Operating Officer, Pioneer Lines as the Safety Professional of the Year. The awards were presented today at ASLRRA’s Annual Conference & Exhibition in St. Louis, Missouri.
ST. LOUIS – May 2, 2022 – As the supply chain continued to experience pandemic-related disruptions through 2021, short line railroads sought ways to capitalize on opportunities presented in the wake of truck driver shortages, changing customer buying patterns, and manufacturers challenged to keep plants running in the face of uncertain supply. From a strong field of submissions, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has selected three 2022 Business Development Award winners: the Allegheny Valley Railroad, CRANDIC Rail, and the Union County Industrial Railroad. These member railroads were honored for creative use of their unique operations to deliver value to shippers; utilizing partnerships with development authorities, Class 1s, and shippers to capture business opportunities; and driving economic success for shippers and the communities they serve. The awards were presented at ASLRRA’s Conference & Exhibition in St. Louis, Missouri.
ST. LOUIS – May 2, 2022 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has selected George Betke, Chairman, Farmrail Systems and Walter Rich, former Chairman, Delaware Otsego Corp (posthumously) as the 2022 Short Line Hall of Fame inductees. The inductees were honored at ASLRRA’s Conference & Exhibition this morning in St. Louis, Missouri. The Short Line Hall of Fame recognizes exceptional leaders and entrepreneurs who paved the way for the growth and impact of the modern short line industry.
ST. LOUIS – May 2, 2022 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has presented LTG (Ret) Richard F. Timmons with the 2022 Schlosser Distinguished Service Award. The award, named for former ASLRRA Chairman Thomas L. Schlosser, is the highest individual honor bestowed by the ASLRRA, recognizing an individual for his or her long-term, significant service to the ASLRRA and the short line industry. Timmons was presented with the award this morning at the ASLRRA Conference and Exhibition in St. Louis, Missouri.
WASHINGTON – April 26, 2022 – The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) announces its newest Member Discount Program provider, Spark Training Solutions, a railroad software technology provider. Spark Training Solutions serves Class 1 and short line railroads with custom safety, regulatory, and compliance training solutions. Their solutions help railroads and contractors to find the most effective strategies to manage their company, Part 219, and other DOT-regulated drug and alcohol testing programs.
WASHINGTON – March 16, 2022 – Today, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) submitted comments and written testimony to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) for a hearing concerning Docket No. EP 711 (Sub-No. 1), which is a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on reciprocal switching first introduced in 2016. Chuck Baker, President of ASLRRA testified at the meeting on behalf of short line railroads. He was joined by David Clarke, retired director of the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Doc Claussen, chairman of ASLRRA's Board of Directors and vice president of ASLRRA member Gulf and Ohio Railways.
WASHINGTON – March 9, 2022 – Today and tomorrow, more than 350 railroad industry employees will meet virtually with 220+ Congressional Offices, exercising their first Amendment right to petition their government and tell their story. The annual gathering of freight rail professionals, known as Railroad Day on Capitol Hill, has been held for nearly twenty years. Railroad Day is the one time each year that the entire freight rail industry, including Class I railroads, short line railroads, railroad labor, railroad suppliers and contractors, and railroad customers meet with their elected officials together as one unified force.
WASHINGTON, January 12, 2022 - "His confirmation comes at a critical time for our industry, right on the heels of passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) – a game-changing measure that provides vast new opportunities to help rebuild and bolster our short line freight rail network through such programs as CRISI, INFRA, RAISE, RRIF, PIDP, and the new grade crossing separation program."
WASHINGTON, November 6, 2021 - “Today marks a historic victory for the short line industry, the economies we support in large and small towns across America, and the thousands of industrial, manufacturing, energy, and agricultural customers we proudly serve daily. The passage of the IIJA brings an end to the Groundhog Day announcements by several administrations that the time to do an infrastructure bill is now, and instead ushers in an era of building that infrastructure."
WASHINGTON, September 14, 2021 - The American Short Line Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) congratulates Vancer, who has been selected as the 2021 Veterans Engagement Award winner for focused and sustained efforts to recruit and retain veterans for employment, and for the company’s efforts beyond their workplace in supporting skill development for military veterans and their families.
WASHINGTON, September 1, 2021 - Despite the challenges of operating during a worldwide pandemic, short line railroads continue to create value for customers, the communities they serve and the U.S. economy.
WASHINGTON, August 10, 2021 - In response to today’s Senate passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act by a vote of 69-30, The American Short Line Railroad Association (ASLRRA) provided a statement to the media.
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2021 - Today, the Senate took action to advance the bi-partisan infrastructure proposal that includes the Surface Transportation Investment Act (STIA). The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA), representing the nation’s 600 small business freight railroads and hundreds of railroad suppliers, strongly supported the Act following its introduction on June 10, 2021.
WASHINGTON, July 1, 2021 - Opportunity Remains Going Forward to Produce a Rail Title of Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill that Benefits Short Line Freight Railroads and Supports the Key Role Short Lines Can Play in Growing the Economy, Protecting the Environment, Improving Transportation Safety, and Reducing the Congestion and Maintenance Burden of Heavy Freight on Highways.
WASHINGTON, June 16, 2021 - Legislation will support the U.S. freight transportation network and the growth of small business railroads.
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2021 - Bill Rises to the Moment for the Country, Supporting the Key Role Short Lines Can Play in Growing the Economy, Protecting the Environment, Improving Transportation Safety, and Reducing the Burden of Heavy Freight on Highways.
WASHINGTON, June 7, 2021 - “We recognize the need for a large and transformational infrastructure investment to support the American economy and protect our environment long into the future, and believe there is an opportunity right now to accomplish this long-held bipartisan goal.
WASHINGTON, June 2, 2021 - The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) today announced the recipients of the Jake Safety Awards, including nineteen member railroads being recognized as President’s Safety Award winners.
WASHINGTON, June 2, 2021 - The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) welcomes Zachary M. Radford as the Association’s Assistant Vice President of Congressional Affairs. He will report to ASLRRA’s Vice President of Congressional Affairs Tom Lynch.
WASHINGTON, May 26, 2021 - "ASLRRA welcomes the bipartisan, unanimous U.S Senate Environmental and Public Works (EPW) Committee report out of their portion of the surface transportation reauthorization bill.”
WASHINGTON, April 7, 2021 - The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) announces its newest Member Discount Program provider, ORR Safety. ORR Safety is an ISO 9001-registered distributor of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and related services to the industrial market.
WASHINGTON, March 10, 2021 - ASLRRA member Caren Kraska, President and Chairman of A&M Railroad, provides testimony during a hearing entitled, “Full Steam Ahead for Rail: Why Rail is More Relevant Than Ever for Economic and Environmental Progress.”
WASHINGTON, February 18, 2021 - Leaders of three railroad members of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) met with Representative Donald J. Payne, Jr. (D-NJ, 10th), the new Chairman of the powerful U. S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials via Zoom.
WASHINGTON, January 21, 2021 - The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) had the opportunity to share short line freight industry challenges and opportunities, safety initiatives undertaken, and the many ways that short line freight railroads are responding as part of the nation’s critical workforce during the pandemic with National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Member Jennifer Homendy and members of NTSB staff via Zoom call recently.
