Railway Track & Structures - January 2009 - (Page 16)

NRCChairman’s Column NRC to focus on safety and legislation in 2009 Manny Ramirez Chairman The National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association, Inc. 500 New Jersey Ave., N. W. Suite 400 Washington D. C. 20009 Tel: 202-715-2920 Fax: 202-318-0867 www.nrcma.org info@nrcma.org As the NRC begins its activities in 2009, we will direct our efforts towards two main goals: 1) We will focus on maintaining and improving the safety of railroad contractors and railroad construction. 2) We will actively influence and direct federal legislation coming out of D.C. that affects the rail industry. On the safety issues, we will ensure that all NRC contractors and suppliers are well informed about the latest happenings in the rail industry. The NRC will continue to play an active role in the FRA’s Railroad Safety Advisory Committee process, focusing on medical standards, bridge safety, positive train control, track standards and roadway worker protection issues. We will work with Congress and the FRA to make sure that the implementation of the rail safety legislation that was signed by the President in October 2008 proceeds sensibly. We will continue to offer a Roadway Worker Protection training program, jointly managed with CANAC, to our members. And we will move forward with the production of additional railroad safety training DVDs. The DVD effort has been led by John Zuspan of Track Guy Consultants and Stanley Beaver of Balfour Beatty Rail. So far, the NRC has produced six separate 16 Railway Track & Structures January 2009 Safety Training DVDs: • Safety with Railroad Hand Tools • Safety with Railroad Power Tools • Safety on Freight and Industrial Track • Safety Around Railway Maintenance Equipment, Part 1 • Safety Around Railway Maintenance Equipment, Part 2 • Safety Around Transit Track As Zuspan says, “Safety is the Number One priority of all people who work on or around railroad track. The consequences for doing it wrong or halfway can be fatal. Today’s workers are much more tuned into safety concerns than in the past and, in turn, our safety record on the railroad has become better and better every year. We continue to strive for that zero accident milestone.” On legislative issues, the NRC recently met with the Transportation Transition team of President-Elect Obama to lay out our goals and concerns. Currently, we are focusing on getting rail infrastructure investment included in any stimulus or economic recovery legislation. We are confident that rail transit investments will be included in this legislation and are hopeful that freight rail investments can be included, too. Specifically, the NRC is making the following recommendations for rail infrastructure investment in the Economic Recovery Legislation: • Invest up to $32 billion over two years into rail transit capital grants, focusing on shovel-ready commuter rail, subway, metro and light-rail projects as identified by the American Public Transportation Association • Adopt the proposed Freight Rail Infrastructure Capacity Expansion Act (25 percent tax credit for new rail capacity) • Extend the Short Line Railroad Rehabilitation Tax Credit through 2015 (expires December 31, 2009) and raise the credit cap from $3,500 per track mile owned to $10,000 per mile • Appropriate $100 million over two years for capital grants for Class 2 and 3 railroads, as authorized by the 2007 Energy Act (P.L. 110-140) • Leverage additional private investment by improving the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan program by setting an interest rate of one percent on all qualified rail infrastructure investment projects • Invest $1.4 billion in Intercity Passenger Rail Projects, focused on the 50plus shovel-ready projects in 16 states, as identified by the 31 Member State DOTs of the States for Passenger Rail Coalition The key lobbying event for all NRC members and other interested people to attend is the Railroad Day on Capitol Hill event. It is being held on Thursday, February 26, in Washington, D.C. Railroad Day meetings will be taking place all day on Febuary 26, followed by the Legislative Reception and Dinner that night. To register, go to: www.aslrra.org/ meetings seminars/2009_Railroad_Da y_on_Capitol_Hill The headquarters hotel is the Grand Hyatt at 1000 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005, http://grandwashing ton.hyatt.com. To book a room, call the Grand Hyatt at 202-582-1234. Mention ASLRRA or “Short Line Railroad Association” for the discounted group rate. The hotel room cut-off date is January 27, but the rooms will likely sell out prior to that. NRC members are strongly encouraged to participate. Railroad Day on the Hill is an annual tradition, held in conjunction with the ASLRRA, AAR, REMSA, RSI and the RTA. The event provides railroaders, railroad contractors and suppliers an opportunity to tell our story about why railroads and rail infrastructure are important for your member of Congress to focus on. We will be advocating for railroad tax credits, fighting against harmful industry regulation, pushing for sensible implementation of the rail safety legislation and discussing many other issues of importance to the industry. As always, I conclude by asking you to keep the men and women in uniform, as well as their families, in your hearts and prayers. www.rtands.com http://www.nrcma.org http://www.nrcma.org http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - January 2009 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Railroads Continue to Budget Major Capital Projects Battling Brush and other Vegetation Steel Mills Increasing Metallurgical Quality of Rail Steels Products and Literature People Calendar Advertisers Index Sales Representatives Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - January 2009

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