“Due to our rail network, farmers in the Midwest and Ohio River Valley markets can get their products to Washington ports [and] on to the international markets in just three to five days”

[OPENING REMARKS] [Q&A]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, spoke of the need for additional resources to support future economic growth, and also the need to enhance safety features at today’s Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, Freight, Pipelines, and Safety, hearing titled “On the Right Track: Modernizing America’s Rail.”

The hearing explored avenues for meaningful funding for freight and passenger rail programs, and regulatory and policy reforms in the context of the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization. Witnesses were Ian Jefferies, President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of American Railroads, Peter Gilbertson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anacostia Rail Holdings Company; on behalf of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, Husein Cumber, Senior Advisor, Brightline Holdings, and Clarence Anthony, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, National League of Cities. Below are Sen. Cantwell’s opening remarks and her Q&A with witnesses.

Sen. Cantwell Opening Statement

“Thank you, Chairman Young, and thank you to you and Senator Peters, for having this important hearing today, and to our witnesses. I'm glad that we're having such an important hearing at such an important time.

“In my state, rail is critical. 1.3 million people, and over 100 million tons of freight, over $30 billion, travel by rail in Washington state every year. So, as Congress begins to consider a Surface Transportation Reauthorization, we need to do three things. Increase rail investment, including rail crossing investment, to move products quickly and safely.

“I like in your testimony, Mr. Anthony, how you say that safety starts with the Commerce Committee. I think your subhead is ‘Rail Safety Starts and Ends with the Commerce Committee.’ Thank you for that, that's very important. And also, you had a subhead ‘Rail Safety Impacts Small Cities Disproportionately in Clear Trend Lines of Hazardous Incidents.’ So again, shows you what is at stake when it comes to safety. Our poor, smaller towns just don't have the ability to respond and East Palestine showed that.

“[Second], strengthening safety requirements to prevent derailments, which have more than doubled in the state of Washington in the last decade. We've obviously had increase in traffic, but we've also had increase in derailment.

“And [third], continue robust funding for passenger rail programs and Amtrak.

“I do like that in, Mr. Gilbertson, in your testimony, calling out the short [line] system. Obviously, we need to continue to have improvements. These are the backbones of moving a lot of product, a lot of agricultural product, to get to ports as well.

“So, ports in the state of Washington export over $19 billion worth of agricultural products every year. $19 billion. Of this, $11 billion worth of those products such as soybean, wheat, corn, come from other states.

“So, we're basically doing the work of getting this Midwest product to international destinations. That includes delivering product from Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and Missouri, and I got to believe Indiana, although it's not on here, but I got to believe, Mr. Chairman, there's something…that we deliver.

“Due to our rail network, farmers in the Midwest and Ohio River Valley markets can get their products to Washington ports [and] on to the international markets in just three to five days. That is why we want to make sure that we don't see the congestion or the cancelling [of trains].

“Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we made critical investments in the supply chain. We increased rail capacity at the Port of Kalama, one of the largest grain exporters on the West Coast, which will increase efficiency by 20 to 30 percent.

“And we are rehabilitating the Washington State grain train, which carries 20 to 25 percent of Washington's wheat each year, allowing the line to move heavier cars at twice the speed. And the next bill must increase the investment in freight if we're going to keep U.S. products moving.

“Just this past week, we had a tragic reminder, though, about why rail safety is so important. In my hometown of Edmonds, Washington, a person was killed on the tracks, and I offer my condolences to the family and loved ones of that individual.

“As a result of this tragedy, the freight train stopped on the tracks for two hours. And you might think, ‘Well, what is that?’ Necessarily [stopped], for sure. But it just happened to also block the Edmonds Ferry. So, our crossing right there…stopped the ferry, a big part of our highway marine system, from delivering passengers [who were] unable to disembark, [and] throwing off the ferry schedule.

“In fact, earlier this week, the Seattle Times ran a photo of ferry passengers climbing across the stopped train to get to the docks. So, it just shows you the complexity of the interface of at-grade crossings. This is so incredibly dangerous, and the people were just trying to get to [the] dock or just enjoy the waterfront, not realizing how perilous this really was.

“That is why I created the three billion dollar Railroad Crossing Elimination Program in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, along with my colleague, Senator Blunt, to try to address these at-grade crossings and allow cities to not be as managed from a top-down DoT process, but have this come from the bottom up so communities could try to help themselves. I think the program has definitely been over-subscribed.

“The need for funding is great. Since 2021 FRA has received $4.5 billion in eligible applications for the [Railroad] Crossing Elimination Program, nearly three times the funding that has been made available so far. So, as we discuss the next Surface Transportation [Re]authorization, ensuring this program is fully funded, I think, should be a priority.

“We must also do more to prevent trains carrying hazardous materials from derailing in our communities, and this is critically important to the State of Washington, where 1.6 billion gallons of crude oil are transported by rail through our communities and across the state.

“In February, I wrote to Chairman Cruz on the second anniversary of the East Palestine derailment, urging him to advance legislation to ensure that we've learned the lessons from this tragedy. The Rail Safety Act, which was authored by, now Vice President Vance, and passed out of the Committee last Congress with bipartisan support, included important provisions that could have prevented the tragic disaster in East Palestine, and will improve the safety of crude oil trains in the state of Washington. I think this should be part of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization.

“And finally, when it comes to Amtrak and the I-5 Corridor, this service is critical to helping what we believe will be 750,000 fans visiting Seattle to move around the region at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“So, this issue is critically important, and thanks to federal investment in passenger rail at Amtrak Cascades, we will get new passenger rail cars next year to improve the reliability of that experience. The next bill must also ensure Amtrak and states receive predictable funding so we can have the long-term capital investments in passenger rail.

“So, I look forward to working with both of you, and with Chairman Cruz, and how Congress can support rail, freight and passenger and ensure safety in our cities and towns.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”

Sen. Cantwell Q&A

Sen. Cantwell: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Gilbertson, these infrastructure investments are critical for competition for our many different agriculture products that we grow and export.

As I mentioned in my earlier statement, a lot of it comes from the Midwest [heading] to Asia through our ports. Ports of Longview and Kalama and Vancouver exported 9 million tons of corn, eight [million] metric tons of wheat, 7 million metric tons of soybeans. Again, $6 billion, so we want it to get there.

…how do investments in the rail crossing and short line [railroads] help improve that competitiveness for farmers, and what happens if we lose the billion dollars of investments that we've made so far?

Mr. Gilbertson: Well, the short lines are critical to that agricultural supply chain. And as you know, the state of the art is a grain car that will hold 100 tons, 286,000-pound car, and some of the early, some of the short line spin offs could not handle a car of that weight. So that essentially precluded these railroads from participating in that supply chain.

We have an example of our Northern Lines Railway, which is in Minnesota, originates grain shuttle trains that go to the Pacific Northwest ports, and that infrastructure had to be improved to handle those heavier cars. Had we not done that, we would not be a participant in that business to your ports.

Sen. Cantwell: So, if we didn't have the billion dollars, we'd be less competitive?

Mr. Gilbertson: Correct.

Sen. Cantwell: Okay. I mean, I could be advocating that we should double the number, because that's, I see some nods in the audience, because that's how much the competition is, and that's what we have to do to get product to the destination.

And so, I'm a big fan of increasing infrastructure investment. That's one of the reasons I'm happy that we're having this hearing, because we know what we've delivered so far. We know that it helped. But yet, we're in this environment where we're challenged, tariffs, cost on infrastructure, all that makes it…so let's at least get the infrastructure investment right.  

Mr. Anthony, we have one city, Washougal, which is one of the busiest BNSF lines in the nation, over 30 trains transporting 50 percent of all rail freight that moves through the state of Washington, basically bottle-necked in this town. And because of that, literally traffic was backing up on Highway 14. It was just ridiculous.

So, we ended up getting money to improve that, and these improvements have made things a lot better. But we know that we have a demand for this at-grade crossing problem. And what do you think we should do to increase…I mean, I think you could basically increase it three times and probably still have a very good economic impact. I don't know what other people say about this. Everybody's affected by it.

Mr.  Anthony: Well, first of all, I guess that's a good problem to have in some ways for some communities, but it has to be planned and coordinated with the local governments within the region.

As it relates to the safety concerns that we would have on that is engaging the community to make sure that the first responders, and the medical professionals, and the families that are trying to take their kids to school, that they don't have two to three, four hour blocked intersections, which really has impacted the lives of residents in and out of the region.

The stories that we're hearing of residents crawling through trains to get to their jobs, having to go two miles to another medical facility because they can't get to the existing one. So, all local government is saying is that we want to partner with the rail industry to make sure that the artificial intelligence and other information that they're using to plan includes access and information loaded in that system from local communities.

Sen. Cantwell: So, you support more money?

Mr.  Anthony: 100 percent.

Sen. Cantwell: Okay, I just want to clarify that.

Mr.  Anthony: 100 percent.

Sen. Cantwell: I need you to say...

Mr.  Anthony:  Yes, we support more money.

Sen. Cantwell: I mean, I've talked about this issue so long in my state that someone visiting one of my neighbors stopped me on the street and said, “Do you know what happens in California?” I said, “No, what?” and they said, “Literally, the trucks can't deliver the product to the port…”

Mr.  Anthony: Right.

Sen. Cantwell: …And they're outside, the train is blocking [traffic]. Literally, people will get out of their truck and walk to go put their timecard in to show that they showed up on time, and then walk all the way back and get back in their truck.”

So, this is, you know, beyond this community problem. This is about us being very competitive. We worry about this because we have Prince Rupert, Vancouver, British Columbia, and somebody can make another choice.

So, this is about making this investment. So, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I do like, I just will say for the record, I like your comments on full understanding of what is being moved through the communities. That requirement of communication between city leadership and railroads and first responders is critical. So, thank you for that testimony.

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