AAR Takes To The Airwaves
22 Jul 2008
AAR Touts Benefits of Freight Rail As "Best Option" During Web Cast
During a July 21, 2008 Web cast of OnPoint, AAR President and CEO Ed Hamberger made the case that freight rail really is America's best option for transporting goods across the country.
In the segment, "Transportation: Railroad lobby touts freight rail as best option for cleaner, more affordable goods movement (OnPoint, 07/21/2008)," Mr. Hamberger delivered the industry's message of fuel effeciency, environmentally friendly operations, employee safety, and state-of-the-art technology combining to create the world's greatest freight rail system.
"What we're trying to do is raise the level of consciousness about the importance of freight in general, but freight by rail specifically," he said. "We move, on average, one ton of freight 436 miles on one gallon of fuel... At a time when people are trying to figure out how to deal with $140 barrel of oil, how to fight global warming, they should be aware of the option of moving freight by rail."
When moderator Monica Trauzzi asked about the system's infrastructure, Mr. Hamberger responded that the industry invests an average of 40-cents per dollar of revenue back into the system, but more is needed.
"The industry needs to spend about $145 billion between now and the year 2035 in capacity expansion, not to maintain or replace what we have, but new capacity," he said. "We believe that it would be sound public policy for an investment tax credit to incent the railroads to spend even more than they already are spending and to explore public/private partnerships where the public would pay for the public benefits that it receives from moving freight by rail."
"This is not a bailout. This is not a subsidy," he continued. "This is a partnership where the public recognizes that congestion mitigation, clean air, energy independence are public benefits and, therefore, is willing to put some money in a partnership with the railroads, put some money into new capacity."
Mr. Hamberger also used the plaform to dispell the myth that railroads are exempt from antitrust laws. When Trauzzi said, "Railroads are exempt from U.S. antitrust laws and there's a push to include rail under those laws now. Is there a lack of competition among freight railroad providers?"
Mr. Hamberger replied, "Definitely not. There's plenty of competition, not only between and among the railroads, but also with the other modes of transportation."
"Railroads are not exempt from antitrust laws," he said. "Railroads are covered by the basic antitrust laws which govern price. We cannot get together and determine price. We cannot allocate markets."
"The legislation that is kicking around Capitol Hill really overstates what it's trying to do and the issues that it's trying to address are already covered by the Surface Transportation Board," Mr. Hamberger said. "So we don't believe that the legislation is necessary."
OnPoint is a production of Environment & Energy Publishing, which features comprehensive, daily coverage of environmental and energy politics and policy.
Click on www.eenews.net/tv/video_guide/826 to watch the video.
Click on www.eenews.net/tv/transcript/826 to read the transcript of the interview.