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FOR RELEASE
07/15/2024 (Monday) [PDF Version]
No. 24-29
Contact:
Michael Booth
202-245-1760
FedRelay 1 (800) 877-8339
The Surface Transportation Board today announced that it will hold an in-person public hearing on September 16 and 17, 2024, to gather information about recent trends and strategies for growth in the freight rail industry.
The Board requests the attendance of executive-level officials from Class I railroads. The Board also invites and welcomes testimony from industry analysts, other rail carriers, rail customers, rail suppliers, labor organizations, and other interested parties who can contribute to the Board’s understanding of how the industry has grown and intends to grow in the future.
Freight rail is critically important to the Nation’s economy, and the Board has an interest in the health and growth of the industry, as well as in rail customers’ need to move their goods efficiently and reliably. While the Board recognizes that some shifts in volume may not be primarily within the control of rail carriers, the Board has observed that over the past ten years carload volumes have not grown, and have in fact decreased. The Board wishes to explore how industry participants are strategizing and innovating to reverse this recent trend and achieve freight rail growth. The Board is also interested in shippers’ plans or desire for future use of rail, factors that may affect shipment decisions, and what rail carriers are doing and can do to increase shippers’ use of rail. This hearing presents a chance to discuss opportunities for growth in the freight rail industry, as well as the challenges and effects associated with a failure to grow.
The public hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. ET on September 16 and 17, 2024, in person in the Hearing Room of the Board’s headquarters, located at 395 E Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20423. The hearing will be open for public observation and will also be available for public viewing on the Board’s YouTube channel.
Any person wishing to speak at the hearing must file with the Board a notice of intent to participate (identifying the party, proposed speaker, and amount of time requested) no later than August 14, 2024. Written testimony from hearing participants, and written comments by any other interested persons, must be submitted by August 16, 2024.
The hearing notice, in Growth in the Freight Rail Industry, Docket No. EP 775, may be viewed and downloaded here.
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