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Joe Szabo

The following message was sent to the UTU National Legislative Office from Federal Railroad Administrator Joe Szabo:

Friends:

We know well the population growth, mobility, and environmental challenges revealing a clear need to invest in passenger rail, and of passenger rail’s skyrocketing ridership – be it intercity, commuter, light, or heavy. But rail is not only integral to Americans rethinking how they travel; it’s at the very center of their desire for more livable communities.

Just last week, the Urban Land Institute released America in 2013, a report revealing how changing demographics are reshaping development patterns by increasing demand for mixed-used communities offering convenient access to public transportation. According to the survey, 62 percent of Americans planning to move in the next five years would prefer to settle in mixed-use communities offering access to transportation alternatives.

And while support for mixed-use communities and public transportation access is strong throughout all generations, the Urban Land Institute’s report notes its strongest supporters are among the group that is both the largest and most likely to impact development patterns: Generation Y, or the Millennial Generation, which includes young adults ages 18 to 34. In the survey, 76 percent of Generation Y respondents place a high value on walkability; 62 percent prefer mixed-use development; 59 percent prefer diversity in housing choices; and 55 percent prefer to live in a community offering public transportation.

All of this underscores the need to continue building more integrated rail systems, with intercity rail operators, transit systems, and the stations they serve working together to offer travelers more choices and answer a rising call for more compact communities. It’s why we continue to work hard overseeing this Administration’s historic investments in passenger rail – which includes investments in upgrading 40 stations – and why we’re proposing a long-term plan in our Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Request to continue investing in stations and intercity passenger rail.

It’s as simple as listening to the people.

By Joe Szabo – 
Federal Railroad Administrator

It seems like just yesterday, as UTU Illinois state legislative director and mayor of Riverdale, Ill., that I joined other mayors to successfully advocate for more frequent rail service from Chicago to downstate Illinois communities. 

At the time, even that modest goal seemed daunting, as conventional wisdom said Americans would no longer ride trains.

Fast forward to 2012, where 30 million people are riding Amtrak each year — more than ever before. 

The future looks even brighter. 

How did it happen? My brothers and sisters at the UTU worked with mayors, business owners, university presidents and environmental groups across the nation to show elected officials at all levels of government how better train service would transform local economies, provide Americans with more transportation options and create new jobs.

Decades of advocacy are finally paying dividends, as we finally have a president in Barack Obama who understands that our economy is dependent on the quality of our transportation system. President Obama invested more than $10 billion in regional rail networks that will provide a much needed alternative to congested highways and airports as our nation grows by 100 million people over the next 40 years.

As FRA administrator, I have visited communities across the country as they begin construction projects. Some include:

* New England, where service will reach new communities in Maine this year. 

* The Pacific Northwest, where new construction will lead to more frequent service between Seattle and Portland.

* The Midwest, where trips from Chicago to Detroit and St. Louis will be more than an hour shorter by 2014, and feature next-generation American-made trains.

* The Southeast, where new construction will lead to more frequent and reliable service between Charlotte and Raleigh.

* California, where construction is underway to add capacity to existing corridors, while the state breaks ground on its high-speed train system later this year.

The Obama administration also invested more than $3 billion to improve reliability and order new locomotives for the Northeast Corridor, while Northeast states begin planning for the next generation of the service.

In communities I visit, I meet leaders of both political parties who are excited to explain how their town will benefit from a project. As a former mayor, I relate. At the local level, transportation investments are not about politics – they are about creating new jobs, attracting new investment, and making the lives of our friends and neighbors better.

Now is the time for Congress to make the investments we need in passenger rail to create jobs today and provide America with the world-class transportation network we need in the 21st century.

(Prior to his April 2009 Senate confirmation as FRA administrator, Joe Szabo was UTU Illinois state legislative director. He is a fifth generation railroader.)

FRA logoCHICAGO — Here is an opportunity to voice your rail safety concerns directly to the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.

A 90-minute town hall meeting on rail safety will be held Tuesday, Oct. 11, in Chicago. FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo will take questions and hear concerns as part of the agency’s outreach to rail labor.

Szabo, formerly the UTU’s Illinois state legislative director and a fifth-generation railroader, promises “a frank and often safety discussion.” He also will share with the audience details on the FRA’s risk reduction program, which is a non-punitive approach to addressing safety in advance of an accident or injury.

FRA Associate Administrator for Safety Jo Strang wrote of that program some months ago in an exclusive column that appeared in the UTU News and on the UTU website. A link to that column is provided below.

Here are the details of the town hall meeting:

WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 11, from 9-10:30 a.m.

WHERE: Chicago Laborers District Council, 999 McClintock Drive, Burr Ridge, Ill. Burr Ridge is 20 miles southwest of downtown Chicago.

To read the Jo Strang column on the FRA’s risk reduction program, click on the following link:

https://www.smart-union.org/news/help-fra-stop-harassment-improve-safety/