Welcome to OnTrackAmerica and a new future for North American rail transportation.

Across the continent, there is a growing awareness of the critical need for progress on the overall efficiency and productivity of our major infrastructure systems.  To that end, many voices call for increased coordination of transportation planning between government and the private sector.

OnTrackAmerica answers that call by providing a platform for objective, non-partisan consensus building among all stakeholders in the rail industry and government.

The purpose of OnTrackAmerica is to create a rail transportation system that serves more of our growing national needs by better aligning private-sector business plans with thoughtful public-sector policies. Through our work in railroad finance and government consulting we have encountered many individuals with exceptional knowledge and commitment. However, if we are to see real growth occur, we are seriously in need of coordination across sectors, borders, agencies, organizations, and departments.

We have designed OnTrackAmerica’s consensus-building efforts to confront the conditions that currently hinder rail growth in these areas:

Government policy and financing

• We lack a rail transportation growth plan that our country can rally around.
• Wall Street investment is not oriented to long-term investment and growth.
• Government financing programs are developed without the ongoing consultation of private-sector investors and funding sources.
• The regulatory environment is continually uncertain, failing to provide a stable foundation for increased private-sector investment.
• Federal tax credits are legislated without sensible requirements for expanded investment and increased service by beneficiaries. 
• As new developments (e.g., ethanol) hit the market, private-sector investment and government incentives proliferate without a coordinated, continental plan.
• Federal policies, regulations, and funding programs are not tailored to smaller rail industry projects and companies.

Economic development and land use planning

• Coordination between state departments of economic development and transportation is minimal.
• State support for individual railroads does not integrate town, county, and private-sector support into a comprehensive development plan.
• State funding is authorized for specific improvements (e.g. track upgrade) without a logical plan for overall service growth.
• Few states have created directories of available land and unoccupied buildings along railroad rights-of-way.
• Available lands along railroad rights-of-way are not set aside via purchase, purchase options, or other innovative incentive programs.
• The limited land that is available is being developed without rail service in mind.
• Factories, warehouses, and distribution centers are still being built without rail service planned into their location and construction.
• Port facilities are developed in competition with other ports, when coordination of complementary services would make better use of limited resources.

Rail industry dynamics

• Tremendous resources among rail industry stakeholders are squandered on efforts to lobby against other stakeholder groups—a mismatched approach for such an important national resource as railroads.
• Many branch lines are deteriorating due to a variety of factors, including lack of coordinated private- and public-sector support.
• Rural and urban direct-rail service is diminishing as the industry consolidates to high-volume facilities and mainline corridors.
• Customer needs are often met with resistance rather than collaboration, motivating many shippers to use the more user-friendly trucking industry.
• Class I staff levels are at an historic low, relative to volume, making increased attention to existing and new customers more difficult.
• Customers who need to start out with smaller volumes are discouraged from using rail.
• Moving certain major commodity groups such as aggregates and C&D waste faces a lack of capacity, commitment and coordination.
• Numerous stakeholders (e.g., banks that own railcars) are forced to submit to industry dynamics set by Class I railroads, rendering their investment less stable and less profitable, thereby suppressing their contribution to industry growth.
• Rail labor and management have yet to achieve a culture of mutual respect and consideration.

Policymaking process

• Railroads are underappreciated by government policymakers as a path to economic revitalization.
• Continental transportation planning has not transcended our national borders with Mexico and Canada.
• Academic experts and many other knowledgeable industry observers are not effectively integrated into the policymaking process.
• Excellent academic research, studies, papers, and reports are minimally coordinated and disseminated.
• Worthwhile, well-considered perspectives that run counter to the business plans of the dominant industry players are typically marginalized.
• Communities are not invited early on into the rail growth planning process.
• The public’s long-dormant appreciation of railroads has not been stimulated to the level of a national commitment.

OnTrackAmerica has been founded to address these conditions as a nation and a continent.  Join us by contributing to this crucial conversation:

• Respond to this blog with your thoughts and insights.
• Help fund this important mission by making a tax-deductible financial contribution.
• Introduce us to others who might participate in this large-scale endeavor, by emailing or calling us (at 215-735-0511) with your suggestions.

We will address these challenges by spearheading unprecedented leadership, collaboration, and cooperation among the many hardworking individuals in the rail industry, business, academia, government, and the community. We will publish regular blog articles to explore these issues, and host structured dialogues, in person and online, to assemble the best of our collective thinking. 

Our many discussions with staff and members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and state governments, have established their readiness to embrace the outcomes of this innovative approach.

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