Week 2: Government Role, Administration, and Finance
Text (18p.): Ch. 19 (263-268), Ch. 18 (251-262)
Legislation, Subsidy, Regulation, and Deregulation
- Railroads were historically heavily regulated
- There were early subsidies for surveys
- land grant acts ... golden spike in 1869
- 1970 Amtrak (management) - subsidized
- Until 1996, Railroads couldn't own producers, which was seen as unfare competition to independent producers. Common carrier rates were regulated to avoid kickbacks and collusion.
- In 1980 there was partial deregulation due to the Staggers Act
- The following links discuss the issue of Railroad Regualtion: CSX Corporation: Railroad Reregulation and Consumers United For Rail Equity (CURE)
- Elimination of the Interstate Commerce Commission and replacement by the Surface Transportation Board in 1996 further reduced regulation.
- Partially as a result of deregulation and increasing competition with the trucking industry, many railroads have merged. Below, find 2 links that discuss recent mergers.
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- CSX Corporation: Conrail Integration
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- Canadian Northern - Illinois Central Merger
- Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (U.S. Senate): Responsible for legislation relating to the regulation of modes of transportation, such as interstate railroads, trucks, buses, oil pipelines, freight forwarders, domestic water carriers, and both domestic and international air carriers.
- Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (U.S. House): Oversees all legislation relating to transportation. Jurisdiction is multimodal.
- Surface Transportation Board (Previously the ICC): Responsible for the regulation of railroads, motor carriers, water carriers that operate in coastwise, intercoastal, or inland waters of the US, coal slurry pipelines, and freight forwarders.
- State Regulatory Agencies are given a variety of names (e.g., Public Service Commission (GA), Commerce Commission (IL), Railroad Commission (TX), Transportation Commission (IA))
Administration, Law and Accounting Internal Functions of a Railroad
- MIS - (services, not systems) important
cite UP info; Teraserver? (not right but close - check with proposal)
- Unions - important Labor Relations
- Personnel - law's / regulations of EEO, IRS, NLRB, FSLC (12hrs duty max)
- Purchasing - bulk / just-in-time important
- Public Relations
- Law/Public affairs - needed because of regulation
- Accounting
- Traffic (marketing and planning)
- Corporate Development
- Real Estate & Insurance - ROW + adjacent land for development (industrial)
large lines are self-insured
- Markets Development - (e.g. emerging markets) railroads are large enough to do this.
- Marketing - cost & price analysis
- market research
- customer service engineering
- rtes, routes & divisions
- Economic Forecasting
- Sales
- CEO / Chairman of Board - long term strategy
- COG / President - short term decisions
- Click here to see a sample rail co. org chart - see where engineers fit in
External Agencies and Organizations
- U.S. Department of Transportation Operating Administrations
- National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
- Investigates accidents involving all modes of transportation.
- Reviews US D.O.T. denials or suspensions of licenses when appealed.
- Compiled of a five person board appointed by the President.
- State Departments of Transportation (addresses, contact email addresses)
- Transportation Associations
- American Railway Engineering Association (AREA)
- Professional organization of railway officers and engineers who work in a variety of aspects dealing with the railroad.
- Publishes a manual of railway engineering.
- Association of American Railroads (AAR)
- Central coordinating and research agency of the American railroad industry
- The 148 members are the Class I railroad companies
- American Public Transit Association (APTA)
- Members are the rapid rail and motor bus transit systems in the US, Canada, and Mexico, and the manufacturers of public transit materials and services.
- Publishes Passenger Transport weekly and the Transit Fact Book annually
Links
