Introduction

OnTrackPennsylvania, or OTPa, is a multi-stakeholder, comprehensive endeavor committed to the effective utilization of railroads and highways within a balanced freight transportation system. OnTrackPennsylvania's plan for advancing optimal freight transportation will pilot a new paradigm for public/private collaborative transportation planning, and will create and implement a strategic business plan for optimal freight transportation in Pennsylvania. The goal of this business plan is to maximize the effective use of all surface transport modes in order to strengthen commerce, attract and keep jobs, create a cleaner environment, and deliver a higher return on transportation investment in the Commonwealth.

OnTrackPennsylvania’s 8-point plan

1. Make freight transportation a cause the entire state can get behind
2. Reconnect shippers, planners, and policymakers to the value of rail transportation
3. Alter or reverse the marketplace forces that are damaging transportation efficiency
4. Measure and compare the total costs and impacts of each transport mode, and of the entire system as a whole
5. Establish a set of land use codes specifically for commercial development and freight transportation
6. Stimulate the rail, trucking, and waterway industries to establish a comprehensive, coordinated, business plan for growth
7. Employ new and innovative methods of applying public- and private-sector funding for transportation system improvements
8. Institute a new, permanent stakeholder think-tank to ensure ongoing collaboration between the public and private sectors in the implementation of this business plan

The intertwined crises of population sprawl, environmental degradation, uncertain fuel supply, and economic instability have finally brought to light the impact of transportation in our society. With this knowledge has come the awareness that the state’s transportation system faces urgent policy needs that must be addressed quickly and wisely.

If any meaningful change is to be effected, the state must adopt a comprehensive approach to transportation policy that addresses Pennsylvania’s specific needs relevant to commerce, land use, the environment, and communities. This approach can be accomplished with a strategic business plan for Optimal Freight Transportation in the Commonwealth. OTPa’s plan advocates the establishment of new metrics that will allow us to measure, for the first time, the total costs, benefits, and impacts of our current transportation system, and will inform the goal-setting process in developing a growth-oriented business plan for the entire system.

An optimal transportation system…

• Enhances Pennsylvania’s attractiveness to new business
• Makes shipping easier and less expensive for existing businesses
• Expands freight capacity while lessening congestion
• Augments and leverages limited public sector dollars
• Moves goods with the smallest carbon footprint
• Makes the best use of land to limit industrial sprawl

OnTrackPennsylvania is grounded in a number of perspectives and principles which set it apart from other initiatives. First, OTPa acknowledges that there is a detrimental overreliance on competitive capitalism that extends to all levels of government and throughout the transportation industry. Competition very often leads to domination of the marketplace and of the actual regulation of the marketplace which then leads to the suppression of planning for the common good. Preserving competition in the marketplace, therefore, is an incomplete regulatory principle that must be augmented with thoughtful collaboration if we are to produce an optimal, sustainable transportation system.

Our multi-faceted challenges and limited funding resources call for new ways to interact in business and government, whereby the power of collaboration sits effectively alongside the power of competition. In the absence of this, the nation has seen a shrinking of its rail network, particularly direct rail service, and increased truck traffic where we can least afford it: in our urban centers and rural communities. The marketplace is delivering a transportation system that uses more land and generates more carbon emissions at a time when we must have commercial activity, aligned with industrial policy, that together support our sustainable future.

Second, OnTrackPennsylvania considers freight transportation a generator of benefits, not as a public burden. Freight transportation generates growth and productivity, if designed holistically—it opens new markets to commerce and presents new opportunities to geographically distinct populations. Without a plan for freight transportation, we incur substantial long-term costs, as markets, resources, and populations are isolated and handicapped. With population and freight demand increasing, it is important that we return to the public-private investment-oriented strategies and thinking that so successfully funded transportation development in the 19th century.

Third, while there is no shortage of intelligence in the public or private sectors, OnTrackPennsylvania recognizes that there are few existing means for gathering and applying this intelligence. As a matter of fact, the process of collaboration faces institutional barriers and legal and regulatory prohibitions owing to a system geared to competition—and mistrust. As a result, many promising efforts, studies, and plans are never fully implemented.

All of this is what makes OnTrackPennsylvania unique. The remainder of this document will describe each of OTPa’s action steps.