BLET First Vice President Mark Wallace did not mince his words when he testified at the Surface Transportation Board’s public hearing that focused on the lack of growth and poor service in the freight rail industry.
“To be clear, today’s rail service problems and lack of customer growth is not the result of the pandemic or any other outside influence, but by the Class I carrier’s inept management of their operations,” Wallace said during his September 16 testimony.
STB Chairman Robert Primus called the hearing to learn from industry experts regarding how freight railroads intend to grow their operations in the future.
Wallace said that the growth of the industry “has been intentionally stymied” by rail management through implementation of the Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model. “This culture of profits over safety, customer service, and the lives of railroad workers continues to be exposed as the industry networks are clearly not healthy,” Wallace said.
Speaking for BLET, Wallace refused to accept excuses for poor performance stated by railroad executives. Wallace attributed the industry’s sluggishness to the widespread use of PSR. “The Carriers will undoubtedly deflect and deny that their operational plans are based on PSR, but make no mistake about it, if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s a duck.”
He concluded: “The Class I carriers will not change voluntarily and that’s why we urge the Board to continue to hold them accountable and act when necessary. BLET desires a healthy and profitable industry. That requires the Class I carriers to shift towards a long-term growth strategy that will give shippers a reason to return to rail or increase their current service. The current model isn’t working for the customers we serve or the employees that we represent.”
The two-day hearing was livestreamed on the STB’s YouTube page and can be viewed here. A clip of First Vice President Wallace’s testimony is available here.