With help from Alex Daugherty and Tanya Snyder
— Rail politics continue on the Hill this week, with Norfolk Southern testifying for the first time. Here’s what to expect.
— Norfolk Southern is making a six-point safety commitment focused on the hot bearing detector issue uncovered by the East Palestine derailment investigation.
— Aviation will also get some show time this week, with hearings scheduled in both chambers.
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ANOTHER BREAKNECK WEEK: In case you haven’t noticed, this is week six of the continuing fallout from the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio — and on Thursday, CEO Alan Shaw will face Congress for the first time since the disaster, with an appearance scheduled before the Senate EPW Committee along with other witnesses, including from the EPA. It’s a chance for Shaw to do some damage control — and highlight what his railroad is willing to do to make the industry safer.
EXCLUSIVE: SAFETY SWITCH: Norfolk Southern is ready to make some changes in response to the catastrophic derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 — but they’re a lot more modest that those sought by some in Congress and the Biden administration. The railroad is focused on hot bearing detectors, since the NTSB found that two of these detectors picked up on rapidly increasing temperatures but didn’t alert the crew until it was too late. How far apart those detectors are and how they set the temperature thresholds will be a subject of study by the railroad — and, they hope, by the industry — but the safety plan is worlds away from the demands set by policymakers.
THE VANCE/BROWN BILL: Compare Norfolk Southern’s proposal to the bipartisan rail safety bill, S. 576, introduced last week, which is also likely to be a topic of conversation on Thursday — especially considering that some of the sponsors will be testifying. The bipartisan composition of the bill’s sponsors, and its endorsements from Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and President Joe Biden, mean it has a good chance of going somewhere — at least in the Senate.
LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: The Association of American Railroads on Friday highlighted new FRA rail safety statistics as evidence of the “railroads’ steadfast safety commitment,” despite last month’s “devastating” derailment, as CEO Ian Jefferies said in a statement. Class I railroads’ mainline accident rate is at an all-time low and down 49 percent since 2000, according to the data. The rate of hazmat accidents per carload is at its lowest point ever, down 78 percent since 2000. The derailment rate for all railroads is down 31 percent since 2000 (but edged up in March by 3 percent year over year). The casualty rate for employees is down 78 percent since 2000.
A NEW TO-DO FOR RAILROADS: Meanwhile, DOT is continuing to press railroads for immediate safety improvements. PHMSA on Friday published a safety advisory urging railroads to draft and share emergency response plans for hazmat transport, along with several other asks.
— PHMSA also issued a safety advisory earlier last week encouraging tank car owners to consider replacing aluminum valve coverings with steel ones, on the heels of an NTSB bulletin suggesting that some of the tank cars involved in the Ohio derailment may have melted. DOT also successfully got all of the major freight railroads to join FRA’s confidential safety reporting program, or face a public shaming. And FRA launched its own inspection campaign for tracks over which hazmats travel.
BUDGET WATCH: The Biden administration will also release its budget proposal on Thursday. Most funding levels for transportation will likely hew closely to those in the 2021 infrastructure law. We’ll be watching to see whether it will request more money for rail safety.
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DASHBOARD UPDATE: DOT on Monday announced it is launching a family seating dashboard so families can see which airlines guarantee that they can sit together without charging fees. In recent weeks, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Alaska Airlines announced they would not charge families that want to sit together, and DOT said it would move forward with a rulemaking to ban airlines from charging for family seating after President Joe Biden named-checked the practice while railing against “junk fees” during his State of the Union speech.
“We have been pressing airlines to guarantee family seating without tacking on extra charges, and now we’re seeing some airlines start to make this common-sense change,” DOT Secretary Pete Buttgieg said in a statement. “All airlines should do this promptly, even as we move forward to develop a rule establishing this as a requirement across the board.”
BOEING WATCH: The Senate Commerce Committee continues its busy pace this week with a hearing Wednesday focusing on how the FAA is implementing a 2020 law that sought to close safety gaps revealed by twin Boeing 737 MAX crashes overseas. Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen will testify, his second recent turn before the panel, following on an appearance where lawmakers grilled him on the FAA’s NOTAMs breakdown.
— How well the FAA is doing at keeping its distance from Boeing is top of mind for committee Chair Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who questioned Biden’s pick to head the agency, Phil Washington, about the topic during his confirmation hearing. Cantwell later said she thought his lack of industry experience would make him an effective cop on the beat.
SOUTHWEST WATCH: At the exact same time, Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan will speak at Aero Club of Washington. Jordan faces scrutiny from Congress for his airline’s holiday meltdown.
GENERAL AVIATION SNEAK PEEK? The House Transportation Aviation Subcommittee will hold a hearing Thursday on general aviation issues. Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) previously said he wants GA to have its own title in the FAA bill he’s drafting, and we’ll be looking for tea leaves. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the Experimental Aircraft Association, the American Association of Airport Executives and the National Air Transportation Association will testify.
PACT ON EVS: The European Union hopes it can reach a high-level agreement with the United States by the end of the week that will allow its EV industry to qualify for more of the tax breaks provided by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, Doug Palmer reports. The way the IRA treats EVs and tax credits has been a continuing sore point for the EU practically since the ink dried on its signing.
— U.S. officials are insisting on a legally binding pact, according to an EU official, which means it would have to go through the EU’s lengthy ratification process. It’s up to the U.S. to decide how to ratify the pact on its side, but Biden might choose to do it by executive order rather than asking Congress to vote on it, the official added.
— The final agreement — which could take several more weeks to negotiate — would likely contain commitments on labor and environmental sustainability, the official said.
OOIDA OPPOSES SU: The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is opposing Julie Su’s nomination to be Labor secretary. In a Friday letter to the Senate HELP Committee, OOIDA cited her support for a California law related to how gig workers are classified, saying it is concerned that Su would “continue to pursue an ideologically-motivated agenda towards worker classification that ignores the thousands of small-business truckers that depend on the ability to work as an independent contractor.”
— Su’s tenure in top spots in California state government has given her headaches in the past. Opponents seized on her support for the classification law during her confirmation to be deputy Labor secretary. And as POLITICO previously reported, Su’s record is likely to face even more scrutiny this go-around, with moves made during Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s tenure to answer for.
TRUMP WANTS TO MEET THE ROBINSONS: Former President Donald Trump called, in a video released Friday, for a contest to design and create up to 10 new “Freedom Cities,” built from the ground up on federal land, as part of a series of futuristic policy proposals intended to remake parts of the country into something out of the Jetsons, Meridith McGraw reports.
— That plan includes investments in flying cars, which he says could transform transportation and connect rural and urban America, and which form part of a “major initiative” focused on lowering the cost of a new car and creating new transportation methods. It comes as companies like Boeing, Honda and others are spending billions to develop and test air taxis that can take off and land without a runway.
— Trump, who has presented himself as a skilled builder, has a long history of audacious proposals that are heavy on imagery and light on details (and MT readers may remember that his big-spending vision for transportation never happened).
— “EVs are far cleaner than gas-powered cars — even if batteries require more mining.” Quartz.
— “Boeing denies CEO Calhoun $7 million bonus due to 777X delays.” Reuters.
— “Buttigieg visits Ford battery park, praises Kentucky for creating ‘workforce of the future.’” The Courier-Journal.
— ”Battle of the robots: Waymo vs. Cruise.” Axios.
— “Ford applies to patent self-repossessing cars that can drive themselves away.” The Drive.
