Thank you, chairwoman brown. I now recognize mr. Gardner, you may proceed. Mr. Gardner thank you, chairman lipinsk lipinski, the Ranking Member, and thank you for the opportunity to testify today Service Transportation boards key role in enabling amtrak to effectively serve the nation. Strongly support the s. T. B. Needs ieve the board updated authority for Passenger Rail so we can achieve the ontime evels and erformance your constituents deserve. Ongress took amtrak on for the job. Common carrier obligations for assengers and the associated operating losses for passenger service, the freights agreed to whereverrak to operate and whenever it wanted over their lives. Trains with trak dispatching preference over freight and to empower what is the s. T. B. To ensure amtraks access to the rail network. 50 years since the Freight Railroads agreed eagerly to this bargain and yet many of our host railroads fall short in ulfilling some of these key obligation obligations. Mr. Gardner, if youll suspend. On. Need to have your video we need to see you in order for to testify. Mr. Gardner absolutely. Is that better . Mr. Lipinski we see you now. Mr. Gardner congress had to amend the law. 1973, the freights had begun delaying amtrak trains so enshrinedhat congress this promise of amtrak preference into federal law and delays had gotten so bad that congress created a new rocess to set amtrak on time performance and provided the s. T. B. With the authority to o. T. P. Gate poor but for several reasons, these fforts havent remedied the problems. For amtrak and your constituents, thats meant millions of delayed passengers as we rs of impediment try to add trains or start new routes to keep up with changing demand. And clear in the is standards rule, many hosts see supporting our operation not as to the public n but as competition for the use of their infrastructure. Wasnt created to relieve host railroads to support passenger trains. To help them reduce financial losses and ensure that passenger trains can country. Ve the we need this committees help to restore your original deal with the freights. You can provide us, as you have in the moving forward act, a way to enforce of existing rights preference. You can make real amtrak start newy ability to routes and add Additional Trains without arbitrary barriers. An office of Passenger Rail within the s. T. B. And require them to use their pursuit tive powers to ignificant instances of 4 o. T. P. And grant amtrak access to hosts capital and investment requirements. To be clear, amtrak strongly suppo railroads. R freight we want the whole rail network to grow and succeed and we have rail host partners who deliver very good service to am a track. Freights seem to essentially view us and our illions of passengers as an imposition to be minimized instead of a valuable Public Service to be supported. We and the why s. T. B. Must have clear and appropriate authority to support our mission. To say that just this week, f. R. A. And amtrak took an important step in this the publication of the metrics and standards rule. Will empower the s. T. B. To investigate poor performance and help enforce amtraks preference rights which could make a huge difference in train performance. Our c. E. O. Bill flynn recently testified, were hopeful with covid relief we can and your support, quickly restore service and recover from this pandemic. Of ing in motion a new era growth and a chance for amtrak to play a significant role in reduce Carbon Emissions across the country. A rarely heralded fact is that has the Largest Rail Network in the world. It yet, we use so little of for intercity Passenger Rail service. Fundamental reason for this is quick, ility to gain reasonable access to the network and receive Reliable Service law. We are owed under this has effectively blocked our rowth and left much of our nation underserved. Cities like los angeles and nashville atlanta to could clearly benefit from amtrak service. Existing rail lines already connect them. Amtrak trains be serving these and many other similar corridors nationwide . With your help, we can answer his question with a yes by gaining rights and probably s. T. B. Enforcement coupled with of ngterm dedicated source funding for botham track and inner city and Passenger Rail. We can provide the type of rail service er that nearly other developed nation now takes for granted. Want to thank you, particularly, chairman lipinski, for your long standing support leadership or your role throughout many issues affecting amtrak and for your committee. We have always appreciated your support. Thank you very much for it. Answering any to of the questions from the committee. Much. Very r. Lipinski thank you, mr. Gardner. Jefferys jefferies, you may proceed. Jefferie, s thank you mr. Jefferies thank you for me. Ng railroads are diligently on the hand, delivering essential goods across the u. S. While the railroad value to the american tolic has many sides, i want highlight three specific areas. First, railroads have taken extensive steps to protect their employees from coronavirus from the coronavirus throughout required ic with p. P. E. Use, strict social distancing policies, and procedures. Aning our industry is fortunate to employees who does this and deserve rve their their gratitude. And its safe for customers around the economy. As a result of sustained investment and nimble operations, Railroad Service thiss have remained strong year, a reality that has been highlighted by federal officials prominent customers alike. And broad Safety Measures are encouraging. With the overall employee injury 2019 own 12 so far from while the train accident rate is 11 . Third, railroads are playing a key role in help support the nations economic recovery. Businesses and Consumer Behavior has seen dramatic as the his year, such boom in ecommerce or the ramp up in auto manufacturing or even uptick in grain shipments, railroads have flexed operations to meet these challenges. Rail, to passenger Freight Railroads continue to work closely with amtrak and ther passenger partners, adjusting to meet changing needs in the face of unprecedented challenges. Service e passenger operations have been suspended in recent months, freight work ads stand ready to with their partners to restore. Ooking ahead, the expansion of Passenger Rail must recognize amtraks unique position and not rail e growth of commuter with any perception of access rights. Oluntary agreements with privately owned freight rails have proven extremely successful. Ontime performance, the federal railroad final rule ons recommends that schedules must be updated. Engagedlroads have been and remain committed to working towards scheduled modernization with amtrak. Agreed upon schedules are in place and true causes of delay are accurately identified by data, o. T. P. Metrics can be a meaningful tool. Matterndependent subject expert that adjudicates disputes hosts, amtrak and its the Surface Transportation Board does have a productive role to play in this process. More broadly, the s. T. B. Has een active on fronts, freight rail, many of which you heard from our prior witness, regardless of the specifics of proposal, its critical that the board proceed in a manner that is datadriven grounded and sound economic principles. Regulatory environment that promotes investment instead of at stake. Ises is dissuade is at stake. Freight railroads stand ready to solutions. S from helping drive economic fostering infrastructure investment, or addressing environmental concerns, railroads will play a central role. Public policy set forth by congress and federal regulators plays an Important Role in the of robust rail operations throughout the country. Reexamines ittee surface transportation eauthorization next congress, divisive policy measures should be cast aside and the laser ocus should be infrastructure a Infrastructure Network that all stakeholders can support. Thank you. Im happy to answer any questions you may have. R. Lipinski thank you, mr. Jefferies. Otoole. Mr. Otoole good morning, mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I appreciate the picture behind which im sure chairman of zio knows is the shaft lake. Ht passing the i rode that when i was a boy. Nd i passed that very same lake. Now, last year, the average africanamerican traveled more by automobile. Es 2,000 miles by air. Miles. More than 100 and bicycle 26 miles. Carries the trak average american just 19 miles. Few people rode amtrak a lot more than 19 miles and most didnt ride it at all. Contrast, almost everyone realize on the railroads for deliveries of freight. Role of thering the federal government in general, the Surface Transportation Board, in particular, and amtrak, we should remember that one third of by train n miles go but only one 10th of 1 rides amtrak. I love passenger trains. As a see amtraks creation mistake based on erroneous assumptions about the value of the just trains and problems faced by the private railroads. Railroads main problem was money not from assenger trains but overregulation by the federal and state governments. Regulation or not, passenger trains are unable to compete gainst airlines and automobiles. 1958 interstate commerce concluded report there was no way to make passenger trains profitable. Advocates believe passenger train losses were the naer and imaginary. And they had a huge surplus in capacity and would welcome any its of train that covered basic operating cost. Haswell, nthony founder of the National Association of railroad passengers, made it clear in a hearing that he believed passenger trains could be profitable and he to ifically objected government subsidies to passenger train operations. Taking passenger trains off the railroad hands and save them from bankruptcy. 50 years and more than 50 billion in operating subsidies later tpwheerks that amtrak isnt and never will be profitable. Anthony haswell is sometimes called the father of amtrak and hes called amtrak a legendary boon doingle and admitted hes personally embarrassed by the organization he helped create. His prediction of operating subsidies to passenger trains or eliminate any incentive to reduce expenses or increase revenues is proven correct. When amtrak was created, average rail fairs nor passenger mile were two fairs of average airfares. Thanks to airline deregulation, since then inflation adjusted airfares have fallen by 60 even as amtrak fairs for thousands of miles have doubled. Average amtrak fairs exceeded airfares by 1990 despite huge operating subsidies or perhaps as well predicted because those subsidies encouraged inefficiencies. Today counting all subtsdies to both amtrak antiairlines, amtrak spends more than four times as much as the airlines moving someone a passenger mile. The airlines have made themselves so efficient they have tracked well over 100 times necessaryic travel as amtrak. The creation of amtrak didnt particularly help railroads such as the milwaukee road which went out of business after amtrak took over. Instead, railroad revived only when congress pad an act in 1980. One of the effects of deregulation was that railroads shed the surplus capacity they once had that would have been available to passenger trains. Today thanks to more efficient operations, railroads rail routes that once all only a handful of trains per day supports 60, 70, or 80 more Freight Trains day. This leaves little room for amtrak. Displacing a money making Freight Train with a money losing passenger train is especially unfair considering so few people use the passenger trains while so many rely on freight. Passenger trains are pretty, but they are an obsolete form of transportation. Giving passenger trains over freight will hurt more people than it helps. I believe the federal government should end its support of amtrak and allow passenger trains to operate unhindered where they are viable and to disappear where they are not. Thank you very much. Chair lipinski thank you, mr. Otoole. R. Skew tellas skew constitute last. Mr. Skoutelas members of the committee, Ranking Member graves, chair lipinski, thank you for opportunity to testify today. President and c. E. O. Of the American PublicTransportation Association known as apta. I want to thank you, chairman lipinski, and express this deep attitude you have done for Passenger Rail during their time in congress. I do not remember a previous time when Commuter Rail issues have been at the forefront of the agenda than during your tenure. We thank you. Commuter rail is critical to our economy. Creating and supporting more than 200,000 jobs. Prior to covid19, the pandemic, 32 agencies operating as Commuter Railroads safely carried more than 500 million passenger trips a year and ridership had grown over 9 over the last decade. Commuter railroads success in advantages their reach is dependent in part on the Surface Transportation Board and its ability to adjudicate service disputes that come before it. Commuter rail connects people to jobs and opportunity. Each and every day. For Passenger Railroads including Commuter Rail, speed rail as well, access to freight rail road rights of ways is expanding or initiate new service. Commuter railroads are often at a disadvantage when utilizing freight rights of way as they have no priority for such access. As the Committee Considers the surface transportation bill in the 117th congress, apta would like to work with you and our Rail Partners to explore the best opportunities to ensure equitable access for all Passenger Rail on freight rail lines. That said, we are grateful for the inclusion of provisions in h. R. 2, the invest in america act, to enhance the Mediation Authority to ensure that Commuter Rail operators have a fair and equitable process for norbleting Passenger Rail access on freight rail lines. In addition, as part of the fair and equitable process, we believe the s. T. A. Bus ensure any unused capacity on freight rail lines is defined. That the Railroad Owner is fairly compensated for available capacity and a process established to enhance capacity on Freight Railroad lines where there is insufficient capacity. To theand, apta recommends that the s. T. B. Hold a capacity summit to discuss how best to allow for the efficient allocations and use of capacity on freight rail lines for Passenger Rail operations. Last, we note that the stb is operating without a full complement of Board Members and hopeful the senate will approve the pending nominations to the s. T. B. Without delay. Let me turn to safety for a moment. For Commuter Rail operators and the entire public industry, safety a core value. As a nonnegotiable principle and promise to our riders. We are on track to meet the december 2020 deadline to installing the train control. We have devoted tremendous time pane resources to ensure the safety of riders through this implementation and grateful for the support of this committee in getting us to the finish line. Another issue id like to touch upon is Commuter RailLiability Insurance. Agencies are facing rapidly escalating costs to procure necessary Liability Insurance for their operations. With the number of insurers dramatically decreasing over the past several years. Despite Commuter Railroads exceptional safety record, a recent survey about this commuter agencies, reveal theres been a 60 increase in premium costs for the last three years, which is impacting agency operating budgets. There are a number instances where federal law provides backstop to cover losses above liability limits or allows for federal intervention in a constrained insurance marketplace. Apta plans to propose a federal Liability Insurance framework for Commuter Rail in advance of the next surface transportation authorization for this committee to consider. I also want to take this opportunity to discuss Public Transportations continuing need for additional covid19 emergency relief. The 25 billion in cares act funding provide a critical life line to the industry, and enable our industries to serve first responders, hospital workers, and Grocery Store clerks every day. According to the federal Transit Administration, Public Transit agencies have obligated 94 of cares act funds, 23. 4 billion of the 25 billion appropriated. Apta estimates that the additional need for emergency funds is now at least 32 billion. With that additional emergency funding, many Commuter Rail agencies and transit agencies will need to consider cutting services, routes, and furloughing workers. Federal support is critical to ensure that operating agencies, including our Commuter Rail operators, can reposition themselve