Freight vs. passenger rail

By KAYLA GUO

05/22/2023 10:00 AM EDT

Presented by

With help from Alex Daugherty and Tanya Snyder

— The Biden administration wants to fundamentally reshape passenger rail. Freight railroads could derail that vision.

— American Airlines and JetBlue must unwind a merger after a federal judge in Boston ruled in favor of the Justice Department in a rare win for DOJ.

— The House Transportation Committee will mark up its supply chain package, which includes 18 bills on issues from commercial driver's license exams to environmental reviews at ports.

IT’S MONDAY: You’re reading Morning Transportation, your Washington policy guide to everything that moves. I’m your host, Kayla Guo. Send tips, thoughts, song lyrics and recipes you like to [email protected]. Find us on Twitter @kaylaguo_, @alextdaugherty and @TSnyderDC.

"She's Amtrak and ain't coming back / She's Amtrak and ain't coming back / She took everything she wanted in an old gunny sack / She's Amtrak and ain't coming back."

A message from Regional Airline Association:

When it comes to aviation safety, how you train and what you train on matters. More pilots fail new-hire training than a decade ago because the 1,500-hour requirement does not ensure relevant experience. Pilots spend months away from training flying small, slow, single-engine aircraft in clear weather, and skills deteriorate. Academic flight training and simulation have advanced, but FAA's structured training pathways have been static since 2013. Safety means following the data. Learn more here.

FREIGHTS VS. AMTRAK: Democrats want to transform passenger rail in America, with $66 billion in infrastructure law funding to do it. But President Joe Biden's vision for rail — a much bigger network that offers a reliable alternative to gas-guzzling cars — could fall apart unless freight railroads, which have been hyper-focused on their own profitability, play ball. Your MT host has more.

— Expanding passenger service outside the Northeast Corridor will mean running on freight track — but freights have fought expansions in the past, and hashing out how much Amtrak will have to pay to access freight lines can take years. And as the administration seeks to meet the infrastructure law's new mandate to expand passenger rail, freight railroads could drag out that process and ultimately make it Congress’ problem to resolve.

"There's very little motivation again on the side of the freight rail people," said former Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.). "There has to be something to bring them to the table, and it isn't, you know, being good neighbors."

— Railroads have had "productive conversations" with the Biden administration about how the infrastructure law's "priorities can be best implemented to balance the need to move more goods and people over rail," a spokesperson for the Association of American Railroads said. Projects are more likely to succeed "if all parties are at the table from the beginning of the process. This path must not be seen as a barrier, but rather a means to achieve what we all want — the long-term success of passenger rail service and a healthy freight rail system that powers the nation's economy."

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AA AND JETBLUE LOSE: In a much-needed win for the Justice Department under the Biden administration's aggressive campaign against anti-competitive practices, American Airlines and JetBlue must unwind a partnership that lets them cooperate on flights throughout the Northeastern U.S. after a federal judge in Boston ruled in favor of the DOJ, which argued that the merger would lower competition and raise fares. Josh Sisco has more.

— Federal antitrust prosecutors have lost three out of five merger trials under the leadership of Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, so this win gives the DOJ a boost in its still-pending suit against a merger between JetBlue and Spirit.

T&I TO VOTE ON 18-BILL SUPPLY CHAIN PACKAGE: The House Transportation Committee plans to mark up its supply chain package this week, with at least 18 bills on the table addressing topics, including foreign ownership of U.S. marine terminals, the rules for commercial driver's license exams, environmental reviews at ports and more. Truck drivers could finally get relief from the scarcity of safe truck parking — a major priority for the industry — and foreign shipping exchanges could be subject to more scrutiny, targeting Chinese business practices that U.S. agricultural interests argue are harmful. Tanya has the full list.

PARTISAN FISSURES: Not all of the bills have bipartisan support. Democrats have rejected past iterations of some of the bills offered, including one requiring DOT to promote the infrastructure law's apprenticeship program, which allows drivers between the age of 18 and 21 to drive trucks on the interstates. They’ll also oppose two bills that would allow heavier trucks, one of which allows automobile transporters up to 88,000 pounds and one launching a 10-year "pilot" program under which states could allow trucks up to 91.000 pounds on interstate highways. The current limit is 80,000 pounds.

OPPOSITION TO BIGGER TRUCKS: Law enforcement, labor unions, safety groups, the rail industry and local governments have all voiced their opposition to the inclusion of that bill, citing heavy trucks’ higher crash rate and saying a 10-year "pilot" — lasting the length of two normal surface transportation authorizations — is not a pilot at all. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), one of the sponsors of that bill, said allowing trucks to carry more cargo lets drivers do in one trip what would otherwise take two, lowering emissions and streamlining the supply chain.

A message from Regional Airline Association:

BLET WINS PAID SICK LEAVE: Norfolk Southern and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen reached an agreement to provide the railroad's engineers with seven days of paid sick leave, plus the ability to use two days of PTO as sick leave. This is the first time engineers at a major freight railroad have successfully secured paid sick leave, and the agreement applies to roughly a quarter of Norfolk Southern's unionized workforce, according to a union press release Friday.

— Norfolk Southern, like several other major railroads, has reached agreements with individual unions on paid sick leave in the months since the issue almost prompted a rail strike that would have paralyzed the national freight rail system. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw had demurred when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tried to get him to commit to providing paid sick leave — one of the changes DOT is seeking — during a March hearing on the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

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DEAL REACHED: American Airlines pilots reached a tentative labor deal on Friday, a week after voting to authorize a strike. Details of the agreement weren't immediately made public and will need to be ratified by the union's 13,000 pilots, but the package will likely include significant raises. United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and FedEx pilots are still in negotiations, though it is unlikely that a labor dispute will result in a work stoppage during the summer travel season because airline workers and their employers must exhaust bargaining options and Congress has the ability to intervene. Pilots at Delta Air Lines reached a labor agreement in March.

DRONES IN THE HOUSE: Two House Transportation Committee members introduced the House companion to a Senate bill, S. 307 (118), that would standardize the approvals process for beyond visual line of sight drone operations. The bill, H.R. 3459 (118) is a top priority for drone interests in this year's FAA reauthorization. Reps. Rudy Yakym (R-Ind.) and Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced the House bill, which Small UAV Coalition Aviation Counsel Greg Walden said "will increase efficiencies by providing structural reforms to the FAA certification and approval process."

WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN? A group of Georgia Democrats introduced a bill today that would require the FAA to conduct a study of children's safety needs at airports and on planes. Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) said the study would help answer questions about the safety of holding children in-flight, which the NTSB has long argued against (though the solution of buying a ticket for young children would make flying more expensive for families). Williams said she held her young son while flying, "but I always worried what would happen if we hit turbulence."

"The Kids Fly Safe Act will be the first comprehensive study of child safety in the domestic aviation industry so we can make flying safer for everyone — no matter their age," Williams said.

A TRADE HEADACHE: The Biden administration faces a complex steel and energy trade puzzle with potential national security implications as it pushes forward with a new industrial policy that is ramping up nationwide demand for transformers — a key power grid component in extremely short supply. And that shortage is only expected to be exacerbated as laws like the IRA push investments into EV charging stations and other power-hungry sectors.

— But the only U.S. producer of the specialty steel needed to make the units, Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs, says it won't ramp up production unless the Biden administration puts additional duties in place, Doug Palmer reports. The Biden administration so far has resisted that course, but is calling for Congress to provide billions of dollars to spur domestic transformer production.

— "American Airlines is doubling down on DFW Airport with $1.6 billion extension." Dallas Morning News.

— "Fleet-focused Chevy Silverado EV to debut with 450-mile range." Automotive News.

— "Hertz apologizes after refusing rental to Puerto Rican." CNN.

— "Metro's Potomac Yard Station opens, anchoring a quickly growing neighborhood." DCist.

A message from Regional Airline Association:

Special interests are on the Hill denying a pilot shortage that has devastated rural communities, seeking to block critical safety evolution with misleading charts and statistics, while pushing the most experienced pilots out of the flight deck through an unscientific retirement mandate. Why? Some hope a large moat around the career will drive wages – in a profession where first year pay averages $100,000 and top earners make $590,000 per year – even higher. Let's be clear: airlines propose to strengthen—never erode—pilot training. When it comes to the value of flight time, the FAA said this when it wrote the rule: "The FAA was unable to find a quantifiable relationship between the 1,500-hour requirement and airplane accidents and hence no benefit from the requirement." Academic flight training courses, flight training devices, and simulation technology have seen tremendous advancements, and should complement flight time for a higher level of safety.