In 2015, the Railway Supply Institute, Inc. (RSI) advocated quite heavily against keeping truck size and weight from increasing. And it was successful on both accounts. Now, according to RSI’s Nicole Brewin, Vice President of Governmental Affairs, intercity passenger rail funding outside of the appropriations process is big on the association’s 2016 agenda.
H.R. 3763, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act, the six-year transportation bill passed on Nov. 5, 2015 by the U.S. House of Representatives, included all major recommendations for which the Railway Supply Institute (RSI) had advocated.
Following three days of debate, during which more than 100 amendments were considered, the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 5, 2015 “overwhelmingly” approved the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763), “a bipartisan, multi-year surface transportation bill to reauthorize and reform federal highway, transit, and highway safety programs.”
The rail industry’s frenzied push to extend the Congressionally imposed deadline for implementing Positive Train Control—one of the largest unfunded mandates ever foisted upon a U.S. industry—finally came to fruition on Oct. 29, 2015.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Oct. 22, 2015 unanimously approved the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763). Among the STRR Act’s numerous provisions is a minimum three-year extension of the looming PTC deadline.
