That representation Transportation Safety issues along with my Ranking Member senator cantwell let me welcome our Signature Panel of witnesses and thank them for this hearing. Well hear from the department of transportation including neil szabat ron brinks and straygur of the federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and deputy minister of traffic and safety. Welcome to each of you. Fixing americas surface transportation act of 2019 better known as the fastback rasterized the administrations responsible for ensuring the safety of our surface transportation paid sns and fra. Identifying issues this committee should consider as we prepare for reauthorization. The fastback places a greater focus on our nations Multimodal Network that includes establishing the emperor Grant Program. This program and others such as formerly tiger grants are critical to improve our nations transportation infrastructure. I hope the winces will provide the committee with an update on efforts to improve our infrastructure and how grants are being utilized. Congress considers in the fastback daikon look forward to working with senator cantwell and other distinguished work members on both sides it out to the enhanced reauthorized amtrak and continue to enhance our freight and Passenger Rail network Innovative Technologies across modes through corrugated Research Development and appointment. Event Highway Safety initiatives focusing on her Multimodal Network through programs. Mr. Cantwell and i are fully committed to working to improve our coastal and inland ports. Safety is a top priority for this committee and for the department of transportation but with 37,000 highway deaths in 2017 more must be done. Sadly death happened in carson airport. Last month they were introduced the hot cars at with senator blumenthal and senator cantwell to prevent deaths of children left and unattended vehicles. In my state of mississippi loaned there were at least 18 such tragedies. The strategy should be addressed to me to protect logical improvements and enhanced education efforts. The hot car accident moves in the right direction protectality will be a key part of solving transportation challenges. Let me take a moment to congratulate secretary chao for efforts to prepare for those challenges and emerging technologies including advancing the safe testing and deployment of Autonomous Vehicles. At such time as Autonomous Vehicles are pervasive on a rose theres a need for Truck Drivers to move our nations good. I know the ncsa is working on a Pilot Program to meet this need by his vetting the feasibility of allowing 18 to 20yearold drivers with military experience to operate trucks and interstate commerce. I think the committee would benefit from an update on that Pilot Program and the conversation regarding what other steps can be taken to address the shortage of Truck Drivers. There is much she is much to discuss as we assess the safety and reliability of her nations Transportation System and prepare for a reauthorization of the fastback and the future of surface transportation. Look forward to the testimony of our winces and i now recognize my friend the Ranking Member senator cantwell for her opening remarks. Thank you chair and worker and thanks for sharing this important holding this important hearing. Everyday millions of planes trains and vehicles moved williams of dollars worth of goods all over our increasingly connected global marketplace. American farmers and manufacturers rely on it to get their products to market and its critical in the 21st century economy. When farmers and manufacturers can move their goods they dont just lose the sale they use shelf space and an opportunity to compete regardless of where you grow or make your product whether its in the heartland are on the coast a worldclass port system is good for business. I know my colleague the chairman of the committee raised on this important issue but right now we are falling behind. Companies in countries all over the world will turn elsewhere. Ports all over america are facing competition from nations that are making robots longterm investments in infrastructure so i want to thank chairman wicker for recognizing the Important Role this plays in our economy and i look forward to working with him on a comprehensive package. In a fast act the committees want increased money for multimodal freight infrastructure. Not only does this fuel growth in economic competitiveness it also reduces congestion increases safety. The state of washington when congested railroad in seattle cost 9. 5 million a year in economic activity. By eliminating this choke point we can speed up freight coming from the heartland tour ports into the global market. Freight infrastructure initiatives such as in farrar designed to do just that. In the fastback reauthorization i hope you will look to increase levels of funding to meet the Strong Demand for these programs. As we invest in transportation improvements we must keep safety in mind. According to nhtsa day that there were a staggering 36,750 traffic fatalities in 2018. That is an average of 100 people dying each day on our national roadways. While the overall fatality number dropped slightly from 2017 nhtsa reported sharp increases in truck and pedestrian insight was fatalities. I support developing new vehiclebased technologies like automated innovations to be widely deployed there are fleets and to continue to make sure that we are meeting the challenge of pedestrians in sight was safety. We also need to innovate in the area of transportation that is imperative in the area of old warming. According to the epa are transportation secretary is responsible for 20 of u. S. Greenhouse gas emissions. This is an area where smart policies combined with American Ingenuity can make a difference. This committee has been involved with this issue before during a 2009 agreement mike caffey standards requesting the consensus among Auto Industry by partisan people in this committee and in congress. I dont agree if the administrations proposal to roll back fuel efficiency standards. I think that takes us in the wrong direction michael Park Committee will play constructive role in moving us in the right direction but are look forward to hearing from eyewitnesses today and working with all of you on meeting our Transportation Safety efficiency in Infrastructure Improvements for the future. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you very much senator cantwell and we will begin her testimony with mr. Szabat and move down the table. You are recognized. Welcome. Thank think thank you senator. Chairman corker Ranking Member cantwell members of the committee thank you for inviting us to testify on her work to improve safety and innovation are nations Transportation System but as well as her progress implementing reform. Americas surface transportation or fast act. Im honored to testify today before this committee. Eckert tarried chows number one priority is safety. We are committed to reducing transportation related fatalities across the Transportation System. The department has adopted a systematic approach that mitigates risks and encourage a strange infrastructure behavior to datadriven risk identification. One approach the Department SafetyData Initiative or sdi. Through Pilot Projects we are seeking to advance our ability to integrate existing data with new big data sources use advanced analytics to provide insight to safety risks and create Data Visualization to help write the safety solutions. We are rapping up the first phase of the fbi Pilot Project which is a new way to find answers to fundamental traffic questions. Another aspect of safety the development of deployment of vehicle related technologies moving rapidly. We only expect the space to accelerate over the next decade. The Department Released preparing for the future of transportation 3. 0 which advances her commitment to supporting the safe intuition of automation to the surface transportation sector but to ensure safety and automation the Department Must protect the 5. 9 gigahertz of safety band of radio spectrum. This band is critically important for reducing crashes injuries and fatalities while mitigating congestion. Allstate ill are you today with connected Vehicle Projects in the United States alone. The department does not promote any particular technology over another and we encourage the Automotive IndustryWireless Technology company and other innovators to continued developing multiple to elegies that leverage the safety band. It regards implementation the fastback project i am proud to report this department acted on all project rules required by map21 and the fast act. Currently the Environmental Review process is inconsistent for product launches. Critically important to protect the environment and save her communities by reducing product if we make better and more timely decisions transportation agencies can deliver Critical Infrastructure products across the country and most importantly their associated safety benefits the department is taking additional action to expand on these reforms are implementing one central decision that these actions are designed to improve the process by increasing transparency and accountability while also expanding early coordination with agencies and stakeholders. Additionally new technologies may not always fit cicely into the existing regulatory structure. Potentially results in a transportation innovation. The department announced the creation of the nontraditional and emerging Transportation Technology or net counsel. The counsel is an internal deliberative team tasked with identifying resolving jurisdictional and regulatory gaps. Everyone, german wickard Ranking Member at will and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today to discuss Railroad Safety and the administration ensuring safety and efficiency in our nations real systems. Submission of ria, isnt to enable the safe reliable and efficient movement of people and goods for a Strong America now and in the future. The secretary leadership, fra executes its mission in many ways. Fra enforces critical safety regulations and partners within industry and to develop and promote regulatory and nonregulatory solutions to safety issues. Fra also speaks to manage federal investments in Rail Infrastructure and costeffective and efficient manner. We pursue Research Development to advance Innovative Technologies and best practices in Railroad Operations and maintenance. In recent years, we have seen great advances in Railroad Safety, both the train accident rate and a Railroad Employee injury rate have declined. Despite these advances, grade crossing and accidents remain the leading causes of allpro related deaths. As the demand for both transportation and the United States grows fra and the road industry are responsible for ensuring all of our rail systems is the safest and most Efficient Network this country has ever seen. Safety is fras top priority, fra believes safety and innovation go handinhand fra believes people and technology play a critical role. Fra addresses safety risks using risk based proactive approaches focusing resources on top safety issues while continuing Innovative Research to further advancement in Rail Technology and investing in Rail Infrastructure. Last year, fra announced the election of 326 last week announced a selection of three and a 26 million in grant funds under the consolidated Rail InfrastructureSafety ImprovementGrant Program. With significant investments directed towards Great Crossings and bridge and permits today i would like to highlight the top Safety Initiatives fra is prioritizing ptc, trespasser prevention, grade crossing safety and close call reporting program commonly referred to as c3 are s. Now, take control. Railroad successfully implantation of ptc s remains in our top agenda. As i said many times, and before this hearing implementation of rail operations represent the most fundamental change in real Safety Technology and more than a century. With a proximally 20 remaining until the statutory deadline, the department and fra will continue to provide extensive Technical Assistance and perform copperheads of oversight to both host and tenant railroads and hold each railroad accountable for the timely of a plantation oven interoperable system and all lines subject to the statutory mandate. Going to trespasser trespassing and Great Crossing it is also top for agenda. In presenting and preventing trespassing incidences and Railroad Property and increasing Great Crossing and trespassing on Railroad Crossings are the lead incidents. Together, over the past ten years, they have accounted for more than 95 percent of all rail related fatalities. One of my top objectives is to lead and promote and strengthen efforts among all Public Private and government stakeholders to increase awareness of gait crossing safety issue strategies. Los confidential close call reporting system featured is a voluntary program with participating railroads and employees and to proactively identify before accidents occur. They first highlighted these Program Since then, the program has grown into 15 railroads with over 23 employees involved from the crash. Going forward, fra is prioritizing the expansion of c3 rs program along with other industry partnerships designed to ensure transparent sharing of information among all stakeholders and enabling the effective identification and analysis of elimination of risk throughout the real operating environment. In conclusion the fra has a responsibility to the public should a Railroad Employee and to the railroads themselves to lead to the next generation of safety and from us. Fra has committed to continuing to work with all stakeholders. To achieve this new level of safety. Thank you. Thank you mr. Batory. Good morning. Ranking member of cantwell and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify about fms cs progress. Implementing the fast act. Its an honor to testify before the committee. Day. As you know kind the primary focus is to improve safety, among large trucks and bosses dresses on our roadways. Today id like to update you on several key areas of focus for the agency. First, removing forward on refining how we use motor carrier data. The National Academy of sciences conducted the correlation study of the Compliance Safety Accountability Program and is Safety Management system. They made recommendations to us in his july 2017 report. We have accepted those recommendations and published our corrective action plan. We are continuing other efforts to complete our actions in this area. How crashes are used in the Safety Management system has been longstanding concern of drivers and motor carriers. So have them csa launched a crash preventive billability Demonstration Program in july of 2017, to review certain crashes and scenarios to sit determine if the driver could have prevented the crash. To date, more than 5300 preventive villainy determinations have been made on eligible crashes. In about 93 percent of them, were found to be not preventable. This is good for the carrier and for the driver and also for the fm and csa because we have eliminated bad data. Secretary child has recently announced that we can continue the Program Beyon