Rail Insights: AAR on passenger rail and freight
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefFrom Chicago, and Railway Age's Rail Insights Conference and Expo today, June 7:
William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief, Railway Age: Describe AAR policy priorities to passenger rail and freight companies’ obligations to passenger rail?
Ed Hamberger, President and CEO, Association of American Railroads: I think every Class I feels an obligation to passenger, and enters into voluntary agreements. These agreements center on capacity, access price, liability. Not as a legal obligation, though I think everyone takes it as a responsibility. Amtrak is a member of AAR. We all take our rail responsibilities seriously. The litigation whether the 2008 legislation was constitutional, whether this legislation should come between Amtrak and Class I in agreements, whether this was a violation of due process, probably will go to the Supreme Court sometime this fall. It gets into the definition of what is on time and what is accuracy?
