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We have been exploring the effects of the deregulatory interventions that the U.S. implemented from 1970 to 1980—extraordinary measures that aimed to rescue railroad corporations and keep the infrastructure they operate under private control.

As we continue this exploration, we wanted to share a perspective that vividly brings to life the significance of what happened at that time and in the years that followed—not just the harms that were inflicted, but also the opportunities that were missed, the potential that remains untapped, and the enduring urgency of attempting to turn things around.

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As we gear up for the release of Episodes 5 and 6 of Reconnect America, we wanted to share some of the conversations that have been guiding us toward a deeper understanding of the last 46 years of U.S. rail transport and the evolving relationship between this critical national infrastructure and the businesses and communities that depend upon it.

My guest for today’s conversation is John Strong, professor of finance at the College of William and Mary. Professor Strong is the author of a handful of articles that have proven uniquely valuable in illuminating some of the interconnected issues that we are grappling with—in particular, the development of the operating model known as Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) and the rise of a class of activist investors who have aggressively forced this model upon railroad managers in North America.

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Earlier this month, I reached out to Jess Conard in the hopes of interviewing her for the Reconnect America podcast. I hardly expected that just a few days later we would be meeting face-to-face—along with my friend Beka Economopoulos, co-founder and Director of The Natural History Museum—in my cabin-studio in the woods of Vashon Island, Washington.

Jess is a resident of East Palestine, Ohio, where the 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train and the subsequent decision to vent and burn over 115,000 gallons of toxic vinyl chloride caused an environmental and public health disaster whose consequences will be unfolding for decades to come.

Dear Friends,

Solutionary Rail has long advocated for co-locating electric transmission on railroad rights of way in order to build a national super-grid. Our 2016 book and subsequent work has consistently pointed out that the failed reliance on private initiatives to create new, contiguous transmission corridors is folly. Maps of US wind and solar resources demonstrate the potential for abundant, affordable electricity and opportunities for rural communities, electric utilities, and tribes (not to mention railroads, industry, and the public) to benefit from use of existing rights of way.

Over the years, Solutionary Rail has advocated for federal action to describe not just the need for transmission, but also the value of such investments and the cost of failing to to so. In fall of 2024, a study from the Department of Energy's Grid Development Office did just that. It analyzed the potential savings the US could capture if transmission investments are made. That study compared three technologies:

1. Conventional high voltage alternating current (HVAC) transmission, i.e. “AC” in the bar chart,
2. High voltage direct current (HVDC), currently used for efficient point to point transmission, i.e. “P2P” in the bar chart, and
3. Multi-terminal HVDC, i.e. "MT" in the bar chart, utilizing advanced multi-terminal converters, which results in the greatest potential benefits to consumers across the transmission options.

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Though the railroad industry was deregulated in 1980, the public was always supposed to retain access to rail service that it could rely upon at a competitive price.

That promise has been broken, and Wall Street is only partially to blame. A lack of clarity and specificity in the statutes that authorize the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to regulate U.S. railroads has also prevented this agency from exercising the authority it is meant to have. That is why a growing base of support is coalescing around the bipartisan Reliable Rail Service Act.

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We recently released Episode Four of our main Reconnect America series. It explores in depth the story of the unique U.S. experiment in private ownership of the critical national infrastructure that railroads constitute, and the concessions we have made over the course of a century and a half to sustain that system. If you haven’t listened to it yet, we highly recommend you check it out.

As we prepare to continue the story into the present day with Episode Five, we are exploring the experiences of shippers who depend on railroads to move their products, by speaking with some of the folks who represent these businesses in negotiations with railroads and before the Surface Transportation Board (STB).

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Rail systems around the world are mostly owned and operated by the public. But the U.S. has only ever flirted with public ownership, and mostly in moments where this seemed like the only way to preserve a functional railroad system. Instead, for almost a century, we pursued a model of regulating corporate railroads to fulfill their public purpose while sustaining the revenue needed to keep them afloat. Meeting both of these objectives proved to be a balancing act which took decades to achieve, by which time it was already coming undone, thanks to massive public investments in competing modes of transportation. While it lasted, however, this system fueled the rise of what was, at the time, the largest middle class ever known.

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Wow, we interact with a lot of activists and advocates. What’s fascinating about this conversation is that amongst all of our guests thus far—Byron Porter is uniquely industry-adjacent. He brings together history, regulatory knowledge, and experience as a rail shipper and equipment provider for the railroad industry. You are gonna learn a ton from this incredible conversation—and that knowledge is gonna be very useful in the coming Endgame fight over the biggest rail merger in history.

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In the coming year or so, the Surface Transportation Board will determine whether to approve or block Union Pacific’s $85-billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern. This signals an attempt by Wall Street to squeeze yet more from this critical infrastructure in order to maximize returns for shareholders.

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I hope you'll take some time this Labor Day weekend to listen to my conversation with former Congressman Peter DeFazio, aka Tiger of the House (an honorific and comparison with the great Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, the Tiger of the Senate).