Commuter Rail CEOs Meet with Key Congressional Committees

Commuter rail CEOs, led by Catherine Rinaldi, chair, APTA’s Commuter Rail Committee and president, New York MTA Metro-North Railroad, met with House and Senate authorizing committees to discuss commuter rail legislative priorities Dec. 7. They met with the bipartisan staffs of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

The CEOs discussed their innovative efforts to restore ridership and key legislative priorities, including:

• Fully funding the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s public transit and passenger rail investments in the FY24 Transportation Appropriations bill, including Capital Investment Grants, Railroad Crossing Elimination grants, and Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail grants.
• Providing specific funding to commuter rail agencies for PTC operations and maintenance costs under the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program.
• Ensuring costs associated with any enactment and implementation of S. 576, the Rail Safety Act, are not borne by commuter rail agencies.
• Addressing issues associated with obtaining passenger rail liability insurance.

The APTA members noted that during the past year, 32 commuter rail agencies provided 308 million trips across 9,200 miles of track. Commuter rail contributes billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, and two thirds of commuter rail spending flows to the private sector. Commuter rail agencies directly employ 32,000 workers and create and support a total of 190,000 public- and private-sector jobs.