An open letter from Virginia Rail Policy Institute President Meredith Richards and Executive Director Michael Testerman to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the Institute’s National Freight Strategic Plan Critique. Dear Secretary Buttigieg: The Virginia Rail Policy Institute congratulates you on your appointment as United States Secretary of Transportation. We wish you much success in transforming our nation’s transportation system to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In the waning days of Secretary Elaine Chao’s term, the United States Department of Transportation issued the National Freight Strategic Plan. Many years in the making, this plan falls far short of delegating any new mobility responsibilities to the rail freight industry over the next quarter century beyond the status quo and maintaining rail freight’s meager market share.