In the opinion of the late President Ronald Regan, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Among railroaders,…

So it was, following a dark night highway-rail grade crossing accident, that the train’s conductor swore under oath he was waving a lantern “back and forth” prior to the automobile…

Surface Transportation Board (STB) nominee and Republican Richard Kloster received a favorable vote from the Senate Commerce Committee March 12 to fill one of two vacant seats on the five-member…

WATCHING WASHINGTON, RAILWAY AGE MARCH 2026 ISSUE: For Surface Transportation Board (STB) Vice Chairperson Republican Michelle A. Schultz, preparation and persistence paved what likely was an already preordained career path. …

National Mediation Board (NMB) member and Democrat Deirdre Hamilton has sued to regain her post following her Oct. 14, 2025, firing by POTUS 47—one of many legally questionable independent federal…

WATCHING WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 2026 ISSUE: Call them the “menses horribiles.” They’ve not been kind to the desired wedlock of Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS), and worse for UP…

Republican Richard Kloster, whose nomination to an open seat on the Surface Transportation Board (STB) failed to exit the Senate Commerce Committee during the first session of the 119th Congress,…

Fewer than six months after scrapping a rail labor, management and supplier-supported Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is restoring it, but with a smaller membership…

WATCHING WASHINGTON, RAILWAY AGE JANUARY 2026 ISSUE: It’s called “unitary executive theory.” It asserts the Constitution’s Article II provides for one executive, the President, and others may not wield substantial…

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) announced Jan. 7 a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM)—Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Competition: Review of Part 1144, Docket Ex Parte No. 788—which, if finalized…

The Senate Dec. 18 voted 53-43, along party lines, to confirm STB member Michelle A. Schultz to a second two-year term on the five-member agency.

The level of granularity in evaluating thousands of pages of a merger application prompted William H. Tucker, when a member of Surface Transportation Board (STB) predecessor Interstate Commerce Commission in…

WATCHING WASHINGTON, RAILWAY AGE DECEMBER 2025 ISSUE: Union Pacific (UP) CEO Jim Vena’s September pilgrimage to the Oval Office—where Republican POTUS 47 picked his corporate pocket for a cash contribution…

Democrat Robert E. Primus, fired Aug. 27 from the Surface Transportation Board (STB) by Republican POTUS 47, alleges in an amended legal challenge filed in federal district court Dec. 4…

In advance of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) evaluating a Union Pacific (UP)-Norfolk Southern (NS) merger application (yet to be filed), rival BNSF wants a separate proceeding to examine, with…

The late Henry G. Manne, a pioneer in melding the academic disciplines of economics and law through a lens favoring free markets and reduced government regulation, gained international acclaim through…

The Senate Commerce Committee on Nov. 19 recommended Senate reconfirmation of Republican Michelle A. Schutz to a second five-year term on the Surface Transportation Board (STB). Her renomination is now…

The Senate Commerce Committee will meet in executive session Wednesday, Nov. 19, to vote on whether to recommend for Senate confirmation numerous POTUS 47 nominees, including Republican Michelle A. Schultz,…

What was expected to be a low-key Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing Nov 6 on the nomination of two Republicans to serve on the independent (from the Executive Branch) Surface…

WATCHING WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 2025 ISSUE: Perhaps the gutsiest-ever regulatory agency decision was the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) 2001 imposition of a railroad merger moratorium. Its architect was then-STB Chairperson Linda…