From Chicago: Rail Insights: Ed Hamberger
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
From Chicago, and Railway Age's Rail Insights Conference and Expo today, June 7:
William 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, American Association of Railroads: I think every Class 1 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 1 in agreements, whether this was a violation of due process, probably will go to Supreme Court sometime this fall. It gets into the definition of what is on time and what is accuracy?
