RBMN Iron Horse Rambles Resuming in 2025
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ASLRRA will induct Ron Batory, K. Earl Durden and Henry Posner III into the Short Line Railroad Industry Hall of Fame on April 8 at the Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in Denver, Colorado. Durden, who passed away in 2010, will be honored posthumously.
Created in 2020, the Short Line Railroad Industry Hall of Fame recognizes short line railroad visionaries who through their dedication, commitment, and achievement best exemplify the qualities of innovation, entrepreneurialism, perseverance, and service that have advanced the short line railroad industry.
“The short line industry is one of the All-American success stories, built over more than 100 years by hard working entrepreneurs, who saw potential where others did not. The Short Line Railroad Industry Hall of Fame recognizes extraordinary contributors to our history. This year’s inductees, Ron Batory, Earl Durden and Henry Posner, are a unique class of leaders – three individuals who not only transformed small railroads into significant economic contributors, but each in their own way advanced the industry through dedicated leadership and advocacy,” said ASLRRA President Chuck Baker. “Their contributions have changed our industry for the better, and we look forward to honoring each of them at our Annual Conference in April.”
Ronald “Ron” Batory spent nearly five decades working for railroads before he became the fourteenth administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. Batory got his start in 1971 at the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad Company. He then held positions at the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, Chicago, Missouri & Western Railroad Company, Southern Pacific Transportation Company and The Belt Railway Company of Chicago before being appointed president and chief operating officer of the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), a position he held until his retirement in 2017.
After retiring from Conrail Batory was nominated and confirmed to lead the FRA. Since the conclusion of his tenure in 2021, Batory has continued to be active in the railroad industry, serving in advisory and governance roles for railroads and rail-related businesses. Batory is also the Edward A. Burkhardt Chair in Railway Management and executive director to Michigan State University’s Center for Railway Research and Education, and December 2024 he was confirmed as a member of the Amtrak Board of Directors.
K. Earl Durden spent over a decade in other positions, including four years of service in the U.S. Air Force, before joining the rail industry. His first railroad position was vice president, general manager and director of the Chattahoochee Industrial Railroad, which was owned by the paper company at which he had been working for several years.
Durden founded Rail Management Corporation and Rail Switching Services, Inc. in 1980, owning and operating 16 short line railroads across the U.S. until ASLRRA member parent company Genesee & Wyoming Inc. acquired them in 2005. As a short line railroad owner, Durden played an instrumental role in the development of ASLRRA as it exists today, supporting a merger of the American Short Line Railroad Association and Regional Railroads of America in 1997. Durden was also influential in the legislative arena and worked tirelessly to get the first 45G short line railroad tax credit passed.
Henry Posner III is a self-described life-long railway activist who has been involved in a variety of rail-related initiatives beyond management. He held different rail-related positions throughout college before entering the operating department at Conrail. In 1987 Posner founded the Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) with Bob Pietrandrea, which has invested in many freight and passenger businesses in the U.S. and overseas. One of RDC’s first U.S. investments was in the Iowa Interstate Railroad, an ASLRRA member of which Posner is chair.
Posner is passionate about education and teaches an undergraduate course on rail deregulation at Carnegie Mellon University. He serves on the Transportation Research Board’s Agriculture and Food Transportation Committee and is co-chair of the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Passenger Rail Advisory Committee. Posner is also chair of the Posner Foundation, which supports organizations like rail safety education nonprofit Operation Lifesaver, and is president of the EBT Foundation, formed to purchase and restore the East Broad Top Railroad in Central Pennsylvania.
Click here to learn more about each of the 2025 honorees and view previous years’ hall of fame classes.
ASLRRA has filed joint comments with the Association of American Railroads (AAR) in response to the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) concerning track geometry measurement system (TGMS) inspections.
The comments call on the FRA to withdraw or substantially modify the proposed rule because it imposes arbitrary and unjustified requirements, some of which would be impossible to satisfy. ASLRRA and AAR ask the agency to consider proposing a performance-based TGMS rule that would promote safety and encourage innovation by pairing a TGMS requirement with reduced visual inspections; providing a more reasonable and balanced approach to the required frequency of inspections and time for remediation; and allowing railroads to implement TGMS without the addition of the costs and inefficiencies that would be imposed by the current proposed rule.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has made some updates to its online Grade Crossing Toolkit, which the agency launched in Fall 2024.
The Grade Crossing Toolkit is an interactive website providing users with effective highway-rail grade crossing safety measures. The site is meant to allow individuals to access information tailored to their specific needs and situations. For instance, users can search for measures based on incident type, type of problem or type of strategy, or they can look to categories of action such as education and training, warning devices, public communication and risk assessment.
Under each measure, the toolkit provides a description, reviews notable practices, advantages and drawbacks and provides other resources such as sample images, references and links to related measures.
The Grade Crossing Toolkit accompanies the similarly formatted Trespass Toolkit, which was updated in July 2024 and is meant to help those working to address trespassing incidents on railroad property.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) Hazmat Committee has reviewed Appendix 1 in Circular Number OT-55-R and made changes based on definitions provided by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).
The committee added two hazardous materials response codes (HMRCs) and proper shipping names to Appendix 1 / Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) and High-Level Radioactive Waste (HLRW). The additions are 4929149, Radioactive Material, Type B(M) Package and 4929151, Radioactive Material, Type B(U) Package.
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) discusses agency performance under its Customer Service Plan in the January edition of its Question and Answer (Q&A) series.
The Customer Service Plan establishes timeliness standards that say how long the RRB should take to decide to pay or deny a railroad retirement annuity, unemployment or sickness benefit. As part of the plan, the RRB is expected to issue a public report explaining how well it meets its timeliness standards.
According to the Q&A, the RRB’s fiscal year 2024 performance met or exceeded 2023 performance in multiple areas, and overall the RRB met or exceeded all the customer service performance goals set for 2024 except in the area of disability decisions and sickness benefit applications.
In order to understand the environmental impact of railway ties, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) commissioned a study of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of different railroad tie materials over the lifecycle of the tie.
According to the FRA, railroad ties are the second largest source of GHG emissions after direct emissions from locomotives. Researchers evaluated existing studies regarding emissions from all stages of the rail tie lifecycle, including manufacture, operation and disposal, for timber, concrete, steel and plastic composite ties.
The study suggests that concrete ties have the highest upfront cost but the lowest lifecycle GHG emissions. Timber is the lowest cost option but produces higher emissions due in part to the disposal process. Both steel and composite ties can be recycled and reused but their costs make them less competitive with timber and concrete.
ASLRRA has long sought cleaner methods of tie disposal than landfills, which the FRA notes is a source of GHG emissions. For example, the Association has requested the ability to use worn timber ties as a fuel source for boilers and appropriate power plants. This request was recently denied by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ASLRRA and the Association of American Railroads submitted formal comments expressing opposition to that decision.
There were no conclusive results from analysis of existing literature to note the total lifecycle emissions of each material, due to the different ways previous studies were conducted. However this report does compile the benefits, drawbacks and environmental impacts of the four materials evaluated and offer recommendations for additional research.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has issued a final rule that establishes more stringent standards for newly-built freight cars used in the U.S.
In a press release the FRA says the new rule requires freight cars to meet strict manufacturing requirements, being made, put together or substantially transformed only in a qualified facility by a qualified manufacturer. Components coming from a country of concern or state-owned enterprise are restricted, and any sensitive technology or essential sensitive technology components cannot come from a country of concern or state-owned enterprise.
Rail car manufacturers must certify their cars comply with the new standards, and noncompliance will result in civil penalties and an inability to supply freight cars to the U.S. rail system. The new rule goes into effect on Jan. 21.
ASLRRA’s Legislative Policy Committee (LPC) has held elections for various positions including for an LPC representative on the ASLRRA Executive Committee and Board of Directors and the LPC chair and vice chair.
The Association congratulates Bob Ledoux of the Florida East Coast Railway, who was re-elected to his position as LPC representative on the executive committee and board. He joins Iowa Interstate Railroad’s Joe Parsons, who is in the middle of his first term in that role.
ASLRRA also congratulates Laura McNichol of Watco and Jeff Van Schaick of Jaguar Transport Holdings, who were elected chair and vice chair, respectively, of the LPC. McNichol succeeds former chair Ledoux. ASLRRA thanks Ledoux for his leadership of the LPC and his work to advance causes important to the short line industry.
In a post made on Dec. 21 on social media forum Truth Social, President-elect Donald Trump announced his decision to nominate David Fink as administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. Soon after the announcement, ASLRRA President Chuck Baker issued a statement supporting the choice of Fink.
Fink previously led Pan Am Railways, guiding the company through its acquisition by CSX in 2022.
“David will bring a fulsome understanding of the entirety of the unique, interconnected U.S. freight rail network,” said Baker “As the CEO of short line railroad Pan Am Railways prior to its sale, David was an active and respected participant in our Association. Under his leadership, Pan Am was an industry-award-winning company. He has extensive experience interacting with all of the relevant stakeholders in the rail industry.”
The new 119th Congress has been sworn in and convened, setting the stage for a busy year. On Jan. 3, the House elected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) for a second time as Speaker of the House, and on Jan. 6 Congress certified President-elect Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory.
In anticipation of the transition to a new administration, ASLRRA’s government affairs team met with Skip Elliott and Ben Kochman, members of the Department of Transportation transition team, just before the Christmas holiday. ASLRRA staff discussed regulatory and legislative priorities for the short line industry, focusing on topics such as fair and balanced regulatory action and expediting the award and processing of Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant investments.
Meeting discussions also touched on regulations pending in other federal agencies that could have a significant impact on short line railroads, including the California Air Resources Board (CARB) In-Use Locomotive Regulation waiver pending at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and cybersecurity regulations proposed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Regarding legislative issues, ASLRRA staff discussed the modernization of the 45G short line infrastructure tax credit, support for the CRISI grant program and ways to improve it, opposition to truck size and weight increases and support for the Short Line Safety Institute (SLSI).
Recognizing the achievements of those in the short line railroad industry is one of the joyous parts of ASLRRA’s Annual Conference and Exhibition, and ASLRRA will honor the 2025 class of Short Line Railroad Industry Hall of Fame inductees during the event’s general session on April 8.
ASLRRA will also recognize other award winners during the general sessions on April 7 and 8, including the Schlosser Distinguished Service Award winner, the Safety Person of the Year and the Safety Professional of the Year and ASLRRA members receiving the Business Development Awards, Environmental Award, and Veterans Engagement Award. As a reminder, the Business Development Award, Environmental Award and Veterans Engagement Award are still accepting nominations.
Beyond the awards ceremony, there are many other aspects of ASLRRA’s Annual Conference that make it the must-attend event for short line and regional railroad employees, suppliers and industry stakeholders. In response to attendee feedback, the Expo Hall will be open for additional hours, offering networking opportunities with vendors who can solve business issues. Industry- and subject-matter experts will provide valuable information over three days in over 40 hours of education sessions. Optional special events add more time to connect with other industry professionals, and engaging keynote speakers will share insight during general session presentations.
Register today for the conference and join industry colleagues in celebrating these individuals and organizations for their accomplishments. Early bird rates for the conference expire in one week, on Jan. 15.
Attendees are also encouraged to book lodging in ASLRRA’s hotel block before rooms are sold out. Click here to go to ASLRRA’s event lodging page for information regarding room availability, rates, booking deadlines and direct links to each hotel. Some hotels offer government rates, which can be booked by contacting Amy Westerman.
The New York State Department of Transportation is accepting applications for the Passenger and Freight Rail Assistance Program (PFRAP), which will award $101.8 million to rail and port projects across the state.
Applications are due April 7. Eligible applicants include railroad companies, and funding can be used on various capital projects for the improvement of rail assets and public port facilities. Applicants can submit up to three PFRAP applications, though there is a limit on the size and number of awards.
Last year several ASLRRA members received grant awards through PFRAP, including Finger Lakes Railway Corporation, Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad Corporation, New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway, Rochester & Southern Railroad and others. Several members received more than one award, and funding will go to rail and bridge upgrades, reactivation of track to service new customers, purchase of lower emissions locomotives and more.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) recently announced grant funding for rail projects in their respective states, many of which benefit ASLRRA short line members.
PennDOT approved $55 million in funding for 30 rail freight improvement projects through the Rail Transportation Assistance Program (RTAP) and the Rail Freight Assistance Program (RFAP). The projects include those being completed by both private rail operators and rail-served businesses.
Eleven ASLRRA members will receive grant funding directly to complete different kinds of work including replacing track, upgrading ties and rail, rehabilitating bridges and culverts, conducting track surfacing and more. Three other members will benefit from funding awarded to rail line owners or shippers.
The members receiving funding are:
KDOT will award $13 million to 14 rail projects in Kansas through the Rail Service Improvement Program (RSIP). Both railroads and shippers received funding, and some railroads received more than one award for different projects.
Four of the five railroads receiving RSIP grants are ASLRRA members: the Cimarron Valley Railroad, Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad, Kyle Railroad Company and South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad. Of these grant recipients, the Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad and Kyle Railroad Company were awarded two grants each, while the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad received funding for three projects.
What are the latest ways Association members can engage with ASLRRA? What is ASLRRA’s most recent call-to-action? Below are some of the different types of information the Association would love to gather.
Discounted rates will soon expire for the hotel room block for ASLRRA’s FRA Drug & Alcohol (Part 219) and DER Roundtable training seminar, which will be held February 25 to 27 in San Diego, California. Attendees are encouraged to secure their lodging and register soon, before all spaces are gone.
To help employees of small railroads attend industry training, ASLRRA offers the Doug Golden Scholarship and the Jake Jacobson Memorial Scholarship. Both scholarships are meant for employees of railroads earning $10 million or less in annual revenue.
The popular drug and alcohol training seminar features subject-matter experts from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and ASLRRA, who will cover all sections of Part 219 and its requirements for railroads and contractors and offer attendees an opportunity to discuss rule requirements and practices with their industry peers.
The third day of the seminar will include a short line designated employer representative (DER) roundtable with presentations and discussions tailored to DERs, enabling collaboration, networking and sharing of best practices.
Registration is also open for all of ASLRRA’s other training seminars scheduled for 2025. Use the links below for more information about these events.
As an exclusive ASLRRA Preferred Provider, Loram offers discount pricing on its Aurora Track Inspection Technology featuring state-of-the-art imaging technology that scans track to reveal the specific condition of every tie along the way, pinpointing potential problems and marking their exact location.
A comprehensive tie inspection using Loram’s Aurora technology provides a detailed report that enables a railroad to streamline capital maintenance programs and helps ensure industry compliance, while helping plan repairs efficiently.
All ASLRRA Member Discount Program Preferred Providers are carefully vetted companies committed to providing discounted pricing, special offers and guaranteed exceptional services on a range of industry-specific products and services. Visit the Association’s Member Discount Program page to view all Preferred Providers and learn how Loram’s Aurora Track Inspection Technology can make railroad operations safer and more efficient.
Kathy Keeney, Danialle Lovik and Amy Westerman attended the National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association (NRC) Annual Conference and the NRC- Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA) Exhibition this week in Marco Island, Florida. They helped staff a booth at the NRC-REMSA Exhibition, where they shared information about ASLRRA with event attendees. Sarah Yurasko also attended the conference, which featured participation from the League of Railway Women, an organization of which Yurasko is president.
Amy Krouse attended the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting this week in Washington, D.C. Krouse serves as Secretary of the TRB’s Freight Rail Committee (AR-040) and is a member of the State Rail Transportation Joint Subcommittee (AR 040/AR 010/AR030).
JR Gelnar traveled to the CSX Annual System Production Startup Meeting in Jacksonville, Florida. He and other members of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Fatality Analysis of Maintenance-of-way Employees and Signalmen (FAMES) Committee spoke about their work to the over 1,100 CSX employees in attendance. Committee members explained the makeup and purpose of FAMES and discussed its recommendations, with a focus on information about working safely around roadway maintenance machines.
Chuck Baker was featured in Progressive Railroading magazine’s December issue, talking about the outlook for short lines in 2025. According to Baker the plan is “full throttle ahead,” with short lines continuing their efforts to deliver carload growth by pursuing every bit of business possible.
Above left: (L to R) Kathy Keeney, Sarah Yurasko, Danialle Lovik and Amy Westerman take a photo in ASLRRA's booth at the NRC- Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA) Exhibition this week in Marco Island, Florida.
Above right: Amy Krouse poses for a picture with the TRB sign at the TRB's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
ASLRRA’s webinars feature an impressive lineup of subject-matter experts helping attendees understand a variety of issues including federal regulations and requirements for short lines. These webinars are available as on-demand recordings for ASLRRA members, accessible any time online. Look for the following titles in ASLRRA’s On-Demand Webinar library:
Visit ASLRRA’s webinar homepage and log in to view all the on-demand offerings in the Association’s webinar library.
The Tennessee Transportation Assistance Program (TTAP) at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville has published its course list for 2025, which includes several railroad classes.
TTAP will offer a Railroad Track Inspection and Safety Standards course March 10 to 14 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Three courses will be offered in May, all in Knoxville, Tennessee. They are Basic Railroad Track Maintenance on May 12 to 13, Railroad Track Design on May 14 to 16, and Railroad Bridge Inspection on May 19 to 21.
Information about each course and links to registration are available on the course calendar website.
Certain TTAP courses, such as the track inspections course, are considered eligible training events for ASLRRA member employees seeking scholarship funding through the Doug Golden Scholarship program. Individuals who attend the training must also be employees at ASLRRA-member small railroads earning no more $10 million in revenue annually in order to qualify for an ASLRRA scholarship. Awards of up to $1,200 help cover costs related to registration fees and event travel and lodging.
Click here for a calendar of industry events.
Views & News is published by American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.
Please contact Mariel Takamura, associate editor, with questions or comments.
