May 05, 2026
Brothers and sisters,
May was a critical month on the Hill in Washington D.C. The biggest piece of transportation legislation since the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act came before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Surface transportation reauthorization is the federal legislative process used to renew, fund, and set policies for the nation’s roads, bridges, transit systems, and rail networks, and the BUILD America 250 Act is the bill being used as the vehicle for that. This process for getting surface reauthorization to this mark-up was a long one, and we have worked closely with committee staff and members to ensure that rail labors priorities made it into the bill.
Unfortauntely, the Safe Tracks Act, the bill that would provide oversight to train dispatching software and systems, did not make it into the bill passed by committee. This was a disappointing result given the critical importance of the bill in rail safety. However, the committee did include the Railway Safety Act and the Secure Tracks Act, which indicates a certain level of support for common sense rail safety measures. Furthermore, Representative Laura Gillen (D-NY-04) took to the floor of the committee to advocate for this essential piece of legislation, which you can see here, and Representative Dave Joyce (R-OH-14) was in another committee hearing where he questioned Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy about the efficacy of train dispatching systems, which you can see here.
While the Safe Tracks Act did not make it into the initial bill passed out of committee, this issue is becoming more prominent and is being taken seriously in the halls of Congress. There are also other opportunities to work on this bill, such as on the House floor and in the Senate. We will not stop being advocates for dispatchers and the work they do each day. For example, you can click here to see the recent op-ed penned by our President, Ed Dowell, regarding the Safe Tracks Act. We will continue to get the word out and ensure that dispatcher voices are heard, and the needs of rail labor are met, both in the surface reauthorization process and everywhere workers should be listened to.
Before the surface reauthorization process took place, I joined President Dowell on a trip to Texas. We toured both the Spring and Fort Worth Dispatching Centers, which was an informative and beneficial experience. I appreciated meeting and hearing from those dispatchers, who provided me with in-depth thoughts on what is going on in their work each and every day. Special thanks to President Dowell, Vice President Porter, BNSF General Chairman Shramek, and Administrator Ursini for their guidance and the opportunity to explore at these centers.
Additionally, we spent two days in San Antonio at the annual FRA Annual Labor Conference. The conference was a chance for administration and labor to come together and talk about issues impacting rail. It was also wonderful to spend time with President Ed Dowell, Vice President Brandon Denucci, BNSF General Chairman Chad Shramek, CSX General Chairman Ben Craft, NJT-TD General Chairman Jared Eagle, and NS Integrated General Chairwoman Shanan Williams.
Finally, May saw another Rail Labor Division meeting hosted by the Transportation Trades Department, where we discussed the upcoming surface transportation bill, the Railroad Retirement Board, and a number of other pertinent railroad issues. It is always a pleasure to be with the rest of rail labor, collaborating and coming up with solutions to the challenging issues we face today.
Do not hesitate to reach out with questions or concerns.
In solidarity,
Jeffrey Robb
