NEWS & EVENTS FROM THE WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 5, 2025

President Trump last week fired Surface Transportation Board member Robert Primus. Primus was nominated to the Board during the first Trump administration and confirmed by the US Senate.
The Trump administration last week indicated its intent to take control over Washington Union Station, a property that is owned by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and operated through contracted service arrangement with Amtrak and a retail space lessor. In a statement, Secretary Duffy said that DOT will exert “renewed control” over the property to “increase the station's income and entice more development and investments in the building,” per Politico. There have also been indications of the administration’s interest in controlling Boston’s South Station, a property owned by the MBTA.
The FRA announced this week that the number of safety inspectors who monitor railroad bridges will increase from less than 10 to more than 160.
Per an FRA press release, Federal track inspectors and their State counterparts in FRA’s State Safety Participation Program will soon begin field inspections of railroad bridges that could result in recommendations for civil penalties when defects are found. A small FRA team already audits railroads’ bridge management programs to ensure safe maintenance practices and identify potential weaknesses. They will soon be joined by more than 160 inspectors who will undergo training to assess railroads’ compliance with Bridge Safety Standards as part of regular field inspections.
The CRC has filed comments on the FRA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning Amendments to Brake System Maintenance and Inspection Requirements. The docket can be found here.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Sept. 3 called on railroads to equip roadway maintenance machines with collision avoidance technology that can detect people or objects before a crash. The recommendation stems from the NTSB’s investigation of a 2023 accident in Great Burlington, MA that resulted in the death of a worker after a maintenance machine struck the operator. Investigators found that the roadway worker-in-charge was unaware of the full scope of work, which led to an inadequate safety briefing and no second supervisor.
As a result, NTSB issued six new safety recommendations addressing “unsafe machine operation, the need for collision avoidance technology and stronger FRA oversight of railroads with poor safety performance.” The final report is available here.

Amtrak’s launch of its new Acela service dominated the news last week. One surprise, though, was Alstom’s chief commercial officer (and former CRC Board Member) Scott Sherin giving the Today Show’s Tom Costello a tour of the new vehicles Alstom produces for the Acela service. Watch here.

Webinar:
The Future of Commuter Rail in North America
Monday, September 22
2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern

Implement long-term, practical strategies to make commuter rail a successful part of regional mobility.

This webinar will explore how commuter railroads are navigating the market dynamics, service, and upcoming funding challenges.

INDUSTRY MOVES

With Rich Dalton and Stacey Mortensen announcing their retirements, VRE and SJRRC are both likely to have new leadership before year’s end.

Whether their successors are internal candidates or the colleague with a desk down the hall from you, we’ll have to wait and see. But either way, the appointments will trigger a domino-effect as the roles once occupied by the successful candidates get backfilled by others – who will also need to be replaced.

Denver RTD has announced the appointment of Patrick Preusser as RTD’s Chief Operations Officer (COO). Preusser was selected following a national search and brings more than 28 years of experience at major U.S. transit systems and in cities around the world, including most recently at UTA. He fills a role that was vacated after the previous COO retired in 2024.

Metrolink, has elevated Tom Schamber to the role of chief financial officer, effective immediately. A seasoned leader with nearly three decades of strategic management experience in accounting, audit and financial operations, Schamber has been a driving force at the agency since 2016 and has led the department in an interim capacity since April 2025.

And Virginia Railway Express (VRE) has announced that MinhChau Corr has been appointed its new General Counsel, succeeding longtime General Counsel Steve MacIsaac, who is retiring this month. Corr brings to the role over two decades of legal experience, including 15 years with the Arlington County Attorney’s Office – five of which she served as County Attorney.

Building and maintaining strong teams is a never-ending focus for agency leaders. Retaining your best people requires more than a solid paycheck – especially when it seems there’s always someone else willing to pay more. Keeping talent engaged and fulfilled can be a job in itself.

In introducing a new report, the Eno Center for Transportation posted recently, “Across the US, transit agencies face a shortage of skilled project managers – key leaders who keep major projects on time, on budget, and aligned with stakeholder needs. Yet public agencies often underestimate both the value of these roles and the challenge of attracting top talent among private-sector salary competition.”

Managers at all levels within transit agencies are either building teams or laboring to retain individuals whose skills are complementary to the whole of a project. Keeping essential personnel engaged, challenged and fulfilled is fundamental to talent retention, especially when opportunities for promotion are not plentiful.

At the 2025 Commuter Rail Summit Debbie Taylor of Taylor Transportation Search and Gregg Moser of Krauthamer & Associates will be on hand to have these conversations. Plan to schedule “office hours” with either Debbie or Gregg to discuss how to ensure your team has the right complement of skills to execute major projects, strategies for retaining essential talent when you can’t compete on salary, or sit down for a quick resume review.

CURIOUS ABOUT THE SUMMIT? HERE’S WHAT PAST ATTENDEES SAY:

“The event gets better and better - both in content and contacts. That is what separates it from all the others. The tours were a definite highlight as well.”
“The CRC summit has quickly become a ‘must attend’ event on the calendars of commuter rail agencies and business partners across the country.”
“I love seeing how this group is growing and the energy and passion from the attendees.”
“It will be difficult to improve upon this standard. Particularly the quality of the topics and presentations. I would be pleased if this standard could be maintained.”

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN TO NON-MEMBERS HERE

WHAT WE’RE READING

We Need a Reality Check on Crime, Safety and Transit (Bloomberg UK)
Philadelphia judge temporarily halts SEPTA cuts and fare hikes (Smart Cities Dive)
Philadelphia's mass transit cuts foreshadow possible similar moves by other agencies across US (ABC News)
NJ public transit: How SEPTA cuts in PA are impacting South Jersey riders (Courier Post)
Doomsday For SEPTA Is Bad News For Everyone (Defector)
Florida’s Successful Commuter Rail Could Cease Operations in Two Years (Planetizen)
STB grants Metra request for trackage rights on Union Pacific (TrainsPro)
Philadelphia's mass transit cuts foreshadow possible similar moves by other agencies across US (ABC 6 Action News)
Doomsday For SEPTA Is Bad News For Everyone (Streets Blog USA)
US: Maryland Confirms Cyber Incident Affecting State Transport Systems (Infosecurity Magazine)

Thank you for reading.

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