Rail Insights 2022: STB Chair Oberman, Itzkoff to Engage in ‘Spirited Discussion‘

Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief

At Railway Age’s Eighth Annual Rail Insights Conference, to be held virtually June 23, Surface Transportation Board Chairman Marty Oberman and Railway Age Contributing Editor Don Itzkoff talk about STB’s oversight of the rail industry.

Oberman and Itzkoff, a long-time Railway Age contributor who is now Patriot Rail Chief Policy Officer and a former Deputy FRA Administrator, will engage in a “Fireside Chat” style conversation that’s guaranteed to be lively and informative, a ‘spirited discussion,‘ to say the least. Oberman is one of the industry’s most visible figures and in some ways its most controversial, holding—at public hearings—the railroads accountable for service and supply chain problems, and often critical of business practices like stock buybacks that he says enrich shareholders at the expense of shippers and employees.

Their conversation is just one part of the Rail Insights 2022 Conference, which will explore what is affecting business growth, capital investment, technology, regulation, service quality and safety in the North American rail market—freight and passenger.

Also on the lineup are such industry leaders as Union Pacific Chairman, President and CEO Lance Fritz; CSX Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jamie Boychuk; Watco Companies CEO Dan Smith; Amtrak President and CEO Stephen Gardner; and GATX Executive Vice President and President, Rail North America Paul Titterton. They will talk with Railway Age editors William C. Vantuono and David Nahass about key strategic challenges, issues and trends.