To view a cumulative schedule of all breakout tracks and sessions, click here.

Track 101: SIGNALS: PTC for the Short Line and Regional Railroad- What Are the Applications, Issues and Concerns?

Aric Weingartner, Wayside PTC Product Manager, GE Transportation
Omer Metel, Manager, Signals & Crossings, Invensys Rail Corporation

PTC is a top concern of small railroads today and many railroads have a whole host of questions about what this regulation means for them, including: What do short line and regional railroads need to do? What is the timeline? How should we approach the effort? And who can we look to for assistance? This session will address each of these questions and also explore at-grade crossings with PTC railroads, locomotive requirements to turn on PTC railroads, and highlights of the recent FRA mandate.

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Session 102: GIS: Cool Technology, But How Does it Help a Small Railroad? Where's the Payoff For the Implementation Costs?

Scott Rustand, VP-Real Estate Services, HDR Engineering
Michael Gilbrook, Sr. Professsional Associate/National Technical Director for GIS, HDR Engineering 

Everyone knows a geographic information system (GIS) can produce fantastic looking maps, but its real value is in helping managers make better decisions resulting in greater efficiency and profits. In this competitive world, railroads need to optimize their investments and use all available information to make the best decisions possible. In this presentation, you will be exposed to a number of GIS project examples related to:

• selecting optimal facility locations based on external market developments
• identify land ownership
• determining and meeting the rail transportation needs of rapidly developing regional economies
• optimizing community development in and around rail facilities
• managing maintenance of key structures and right of way assets
• preparing for or responding to an emergency situation
• communicating and analyzing geographic trends in populations for various disciplines in a way that tables and charts are unable to
• inventorying, managing, and optimizing your business' land and mineral assets
• maximizing your return on leases, permits and licenses
• identifying where taxes are erroneously assessed

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Session 103: ENVIRONMENTAL: SPCC and SWPPP - Getting Your Facilities in Compliance by the November Deadline

Douglas A. Blakeley, P.E., Shaw Environmental, Inc. 

This session will answer a variety of pressing questions about recent environmental regulations, including: What are the basic environmental requirements for short line and regional railroads? Which elements are absolutely necessary, and which should you have? What are the key elements of an Environmental / Release Emergency Plan for short line and regional railroads? Relatedly, what should be established and what should you know before an emergency? What should you do when an emergency occurs?

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Session 104: BRIDGES: Bridge Ratings & Practices - The Mystery Solved!                      RR101

Donald L. McCammon, VP, HDR Engineering
Mike Keller, Railroad Project Engineer, HDR Engineering 

The FRA is in the process of finalizing a regulation governing Bridge Safety Management. As part of this regulation development, the FRA is proposing that a current bridge rating be completed, documented, and up to date for current structural conditions for each railroad structure owned by a track owner. The proposed regulation provides a five-year time period to reach compliance with this provision. What are recommended practices that this provision invokes? What records, inspection practices and rating process are needed? What do we look for as a non-engineer and need to understand about bridge rating? Inquiring minds want to know.......

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Session 105: CAPITAL PLANNING: Capital Planning for Short Lines: Case Studies

Robert Stevens, Chief Engineer, Florida East Coast Railway
Jerry Herndon, VP - Maintenance of Way, Genesee & Wyoming, Inc.
Michael Wester, Vice President, R.J. Corman Railroad Group

The panelists in the session will address a variety of issues associated with capital planning. What do you do with a line segment that has been losing traffic and money for several years and what are your options for moving forward? How do you deal with a primary customer that may soon lose its ability to manufacture product in the near future and what do you do with the infrastructure in the interim. What do you do with a line that carries little traffic and makes no money, but that may soon become home to a large manufacturing facility? If you stay awake at night wondering how to limp a marginal line along while waiting for the economy to tip the scale either way, then this session is for you.

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Session 106: CAPITAL PLANNING: Managing Overwhelming Bridge Repairs with Limited Capital

David K. Franz, Regional Bridge Engineer, Osmose Railroad Services, Inc. 

For most light density lines, years of deferred maintenance has led to seemingly unmanageable bridge maintenance capital requirements. Therefore it is imperative to develop a strategy to identify the critical inspections findings and prioritize the work to make sure the first capital dollar goes towards the worst condition.  In this session, attendees will learn best tips for establishing such a strategy.

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Session 201: The Medicare Part B Recovery Concept: A Significant Opportunity for Retiree Medical Savings 

Barbara Hawes, Sr. VP, Aon Consulting

PBM claim analysis conducted by Aon Pharmacy and Medicare experts has revealed that a nuance in Medicare rules may be causing plans that cover retiree drugs to be leaving significant Medicare dollars unclaimed.

Data shows that many claims for the short list of drugs covered under Medicare Part B are actually being filled and dispensed in out-patient pharmacies, and being paid under The Plan's Outpatient prescription drug program coverage rules, instead of under doctor's office visit coverage rules appropriate as part of the Medicare Part B administration. Drugs actually administered in the doctor's office are typically billed directly to Medicare Part B. However, the same drugs - when filled in a retail or mail-order pharmacy are not always being routed to Medicare Part B. Instead, these drugs (and other similar drugs) which are eligible for 80% reimbursement by Medicare Part B are often billed to The Plan.

Aon Consulting's pharmacy benefits consultant Barbara Hawes will discuss the opportunity, potential savings, recovery process and parameters for success.

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Session 202: Planning Your Railroad Retirement: Don't Gamble With the Future - Know Before You Go        RR101

Joseph M. Waechter, Assistant to the Management Member, U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 

There are new questions that arise with the recent changes to railroad retirement age.  Are there benefits to continuing to work past age 60 with 30 years of service? Can I work and draw a railroad retirement pension? How much can I earn while retired? What is a current connection and why is that important to me? What should I be doing now to prepare? What benefits should I expect? This topic is designed to answer the questions of railroad employees who have several years of service and they are either approaching or thinking about retirement in the foreseeable future. Learn what you can do now to be better prepared for the future.

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Session 203: The Trials and Tribulations of Obtaining, Contracting For and Use of Stimulus Money for Rail Projects - A Case Study

Moderator: Barry McClure, EVP, Ironhorse Resources, Inc.
Garland Horton, President, Aberdeen & Rockfish Railroad
Mike Ogborn, Managing Director, OmniTRAX, Inc.

The stimulus money was doled out to the states and they are responsible for directing the use of the funds.  Find out how you might be able to obtain some of these funds to help improve and grow your operation.  Using OmniTRAX's major stimulus project in Kansas as an example, you'll learn how the money actually flowed first to the state and then to the railroad.  The presentation will also include examples of other short line railroads who received stimulus money (indirectly through a state agency).

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Session 204: Mitigating Safety Risks Through Employee Assessment and Development

Moderator: Rose Lang, Sr. VP, Aon Risk Services
Veronica Harvey, Ph.D., SVP, Aon Consulting
Matthew Shadrick, SVP, Aon Consulting 

Safety and Workers' Compensation costs go hand in hand. By using solid risk mitigation strategies in hiring the right leaders and the right employees, you can build a safety culture that positively impacts your whole organization. What are the risks of an aging workforce and pending retirements?  Can you manage human error potential and drive a safer culture?  How are you attracting and retaining a new generation of workers who are more likely to work safely?  Can you keep up with demand while retaining critical talent and transferring specialized knowledge? 

This topic is designed to address risks and trends associated with the above and share strategies to mitigate these. You will learn how to identify these short and long-term term strategies via surveys and case studies from professionals that serve rail clients in this space. Learn how you can prepare your organization for the future with the best leaders and best hiring practices to drive a safe culture.

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Session 205: Hours-of-Service and Temporary Workers - Important Considerations Before Opening Pandora's Box

Judy Petry, Controller, Farmrail System
Robert M. Perbohner, Counsel to the Management Member, U.S. Railroad Retirement Boad
Ronald A. Lane, Partner, Fletcher & Sippel

In light of recent hours-of-service rule changes that limit the number of hours and days trainmen may work in month, how are railroads supplementing their work force?  Many are looking at utilizing temporary employees as a means to solve the needs of the railroad and its customers.  But what exactly does the term "temporary" mean?  What about "contracting" with outside agencies as a way to supplement our workforce?  What is the impact on your Railroad Retirement Liability?  Will they be covered by your FELA insurance?  What is the impact on your various insurance policies?  Come to this presentation to learn how to avoid the potential pitfalls are of hiring temporary employees and/or contracting the work out.

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Session 206: Railroad Tax Maintenance Credit Update

James A. Bowers, Partner, Bowers & Company, CPAs, PLLC
Mark Mickelson, President, Mickelson & Company, LLC 

Status of the 45G tax credit will be dissected in depth.  Items to be covered will include expenses that qualify for the credit; maximum credits allowed based on track mileage; utilization of the credit (carryforwards/carryback); and possible assignment of the credit.

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Session 301: The History, Making, and Breaking of Paper Barriers             RR101

Moderator, John D. Heffner, Esq., John D. Heffner, PLLC
Keith Borman, Vice President & Legal Counsel, ASLRRA
Lou Warchot, VP, Law and General Counsel, AAR

Paper barriers are almost as old as the "modern short line movement," dating back to the early to mid-1980's. The term "paper barrier" refers to a contractual restriction placed by the seller or lesser of a railroad line transferred to a newly created short line or regional railroad on the transferee's ability to interchange traffic with any railroad but the transferor. Our speaker, John Heffner, will address the rationale behind paper barriers and other interchange restrictions as well as the legality (or lack thereof) on those restrictions. He will discuss the Railroad Industry Agreement provisions and the sparse amount of litigation before either the courts or the Surface Transportation Board on paper barriers. In particular, John will focus on the STB's recent shipper-motivation attention to this issue starting with a series of rule making decisions several years ago and culminating with the agency's handling of the complaint brought at the Board by a coal-burning utility company (Entergy Services) against the Union Pacific Railroad and the Missouri & Northern Arkansas Railroad Company. Finally, I will review the pertinent provisions of Senate Bill 2889, the STB Reauthorization Act of 2009.

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Session 302: The New "Progressive" National Mediation Board - How a "Majority" of Your Employees May Be Less Than You Thought

Chip McWilliams, Attorney at Law, Littler Mendelson, P.C. 

We'll dissect the NMB's recently proposed voting rule change which may upset over half a century of voting precedent in the railroad industry. We'll discuss the composition and background of the new "activist" NMB and how it may change labor relations in the industry. Given the NMB's recent tilt toward labor, we'll also examine recent developments in NMB election interference cases and their potential impact on future elections.

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Session 303: Whistle Blower Protection - Get Ready to See More OSHA Inspectors

Ronald A. Lane, Partner, Fletcher & Sippel, LLC 

The rail safety legislation of 2008 put OSHA in charge of protecting employee's medical treatment as well as their right to file safety complaints. OSHA can tell you which hospital to which employees must be taken. Will OSHA be overseeing your medical management program too? How about your attendance policy? The new statute allows punitive damages and OSHA and FELA lawyers have been seeking huge recoveries. Learn about the impact this new enforcement initiative may have on your medical assistance, light duty, discipline and other programs--and find out what other railroads are doing about it.

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Session 304: Your Railroad and the FRA: Knowledge is Power

Michael Logue, Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Compliance and Program Implementation, Federal Railroad Administration

An experienced FRA staffer will lead us in a discussion of many of the hot topics in regulatory compliance in modern short line and regional railroading. Be prepared to offer comments, concerns and questions about current regulatory issues so we can become an even more informed and compliant membership.

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Session 305: Corporate Electronic Information Policies: Why You Need One and What You Can Learn From Other's Mistakes

Paul E. Petruska, Partner, Williams Venker & Sanders, LLC 

In this three-part presentation, you'll learn about the litigation messes that caused companies to develop electronic document policies; the basics of a litigation-related electronic document policy; and how just having a good policy may not solve all of your problems--you'll need to follow your policy at the risk of creating even bigger headaches.

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Session 306: HOT! HOT! HOT! Legal Topics

T.H. Lyda, Member, Burns, White & Hickton
Keith T. Borman, Vice President & General Counsel, ASLRRA 

Even we can't tell you what the hot topics of the day will be by the time we get to Orlando. But be sure to attend this session to hear about the very latest in legal and regulatory news that will affect your railroad before you leave Mickey and Minnie behind.

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Session 401: FRA Railroad Crossing Project: Crossing all the T's and Dotting All the Is - Dates and Deadlines Ahead           RR101

Thomas P. Woll, General Engineer, Crossing Inventory, Federal Railroad Administration 

Are you up to speed on the new rail crossing inventory program requirements? Do you know what types of crossings are covered? Do you know what GX32 is? Do you know how to get started? Where do you get your crossings' GPS data? Attend this session and learn the answers to these questions and so much more.

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Session 402: Tax Credits on the State Level          

Ed McKechnie, CCO, Watco Companies
John Kyle, Director, Oklahoma State Railroad Association
J. Scott Traylor, EVP, Rio Grande Pacific Corporation
J. Thomas Garrett, President, Paducah & Louisville Railway

Oklahoma has a tax credit incentive program for short line railroad track rehabilitation. One state down, 49 to go! Come and listen to Oklahoma's success story in getting tax credit legislation passed and learn ideas on how you can help foster this successful program in your state.

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Session 403: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About STB Reauthorization But Didn't Know Who to Ask

Adam E. Nordstrom, ASLRRA Lobbyist and Partner, Chambers, Conlon & Hartwell 

A detailed briefing of the history of the STB authorization bill. Hear about the genesis of the bill, the impact it will have on your business and where they are in the process.

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Session 404: What's Hot in DC on the Legislative Front

Keith Hartwell, ASLRRA Lobbyist and President, Chambers, Conlon & Hartwell 

2009 was an active and important year for rail industry legislation. Find out what current legislation is heating up on the Hill, and where we are with our tax credit. All of these items will be discussed at this year's breakout session.

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Session 501: Biofuel Market Update

Jim Redding, VP of Industrial Relations, Renewable Fuels Association
Steve Dunn, VP of Operations, The Scoular Company

Biofuels have been a key market driver for many railroads over the past few years, but the boom years of ethanol plant construction appear to be behind us. This session will explore the current state of the ethanol and biodiesel markets, and identify potential areas of opportunity as various states contemplate new or increased biofuels mandates.

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Session 502: Implications of Proposed New US Energy & Environmental Policy (Good and Bad) - Outlook for Coal

Larry Davis, VP of Marketing & Sales, Four Rivers Transportation
Caryl M. Pfeiffer, Director, Corporate Fuels & By-Products, E ON US

US Energy policy appears to be tilting in favor of rail vs. highway for freight movement, but will this be offset by negative changes in coal use, or loss of manufacturing due to increased environmental and energy costs? Our panelists will attempt to identify potential "winners" and "losers" from these proposed changes, along with the potential impact on short line carloadings.

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Session 503: Recession Survival Tips for Short Lines - Uncovering New Revenue Streams

Rob Robinson, AVP, Short Line Marketing and Commercial Development, Norfolk Southern Corporation
Mark Schmidt, AVP, Short Line Development, BNSF Railway 

Many short lines have been impacted by reduced shipping volumes, and possibly the loss of a major customer. This session will address some strategies and techniques to locate and secure new business from non traditional sources in this difficult market.

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Session 504: Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In - What Are We Missing?

Leslie Meredith, Sr. Writer, Tech News Daily
Richard W. Harris, Norfolk Southern Corporation
Matt Regusci, Business Development Director, Santa Maria Valley Railroad

This session will explore the potential use of new media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In as potential business development tools for short line railroads.

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Session 505: Ramping up your Short Line - Opportunities for Short Lines in Intermodal

Larry Gerek, Sr. Business Director Intermodal Market Development, Union Pacific Railroad
William Hooton, Director, Marketing & Business Development, Riverport Railroad

With few exceptions, intermodal opportunities have been primarily for Class I railroads only. As fuel prices increase, and highways become more congested, is the time finally right for some new ideas in intermodal, that could involve short lines? Our panelists will discuss current and potential areas of opportunity for short lines to work with Class I carriers to develop new intermodal services and penetrate new markets.

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Session 506: Customer Panel - Customer Perspective on What Works, What Doesn't, and What They Would Like To See From Short Lines               RR101

Sharon Clark, VP of Transportation, Perdue AgriBusiness, Inc.
Glen W. Courtwright, Director, Strategic Operations, Georgia-Pacific

This session will include a panel of customers who either ship or receive via short line railroads. The panel will identify some of the benefits of shipping via short line railroads, and also provide some insight into where short lines can improve in order to gain additional market share.

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Session 601: DPU: The Advantages and Training Requirements Required for Safe Efficient Operation

Richard Mason, Manager of Locomotive and Engineer Training and Field Simulation, NARS/National Academy of Railroad Sciences

Distributed power systems provide synchronous and independent control of one to four remote consists (LIII) or five remote consists (IDP). These consists within a train, in addition to the lead consist, provide power, dynamic braking, and air braking. DP - equipped locomotives are the newest, most fuel-efficient available to the railroad industry providing lower operating cost, more efficient power utilization, faster brake application and release times, better customer service reliability and safer train handling. These items will be discussed in great detail during the presentation.

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Session 602: Route Analysis: The How, Who, When and Where of Moving PIH/TIH

Thomas Bouve, Leader, HazMat Route Evaluation Team, Federal Railroad Administration

Any carrier who transports PIH/TIH is required to perform a route analysis, even if no alternate route is available. The analysis must consider 27 points of interest. The Association has available to members a software program which provides assistance, direction and compliance with the regulation. By attending this presentation, you'll be introduced to the requirements and tools available for compliance.

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Session 603: CFR Parts 217/218: What You Need to Know for Compliance             RR101

Mitch Harris, Director - Safety, Training & Rules Compliance, Rio Grande Pacific Corporation
Gary Vaughn, Senior Vice President of Safety and Environmental Health, Watco Companies

Early in 2008, the FRA published the final rule on what is commonly known as the "human-factor" regulation altering the 49CFR217 and 49CFR218 regulations. The regulation changes federalized the railroad operating rules concerning the handling of switches/derails, shoving movements, leaving cars out to foul, crossover switches and others. It also added a requirement for a Good Faith Challenge for these regulations and required training and alterations to each railroad's 217 (efficiency testing) program. These regulations went on to place possible monetary civil penalties against railroad employees who willfully violated these sections. The regulation and railroad requirements are discussed in this breakout session.

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Session 604: Conductor Certification: Possibly, the Biggest Boy on the Block

J.R. Sampson, VP - Safety and Rules, OmniTRAX, Inc.

New and monumental changes are on the horizon concerning conductor certification. Many of these requirements will mirror engineer certification; however, some will be more stringent and restrictive. With the RSACs complete and the final rule emanate, the Safety and Training Committee is at work developing a program for submission available to membership. This presentation will give an overview of the new regulation and the work completed by Committee.

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Session 605: SOFA/FAMES: Working Together to Reduce Fatalities Without Imposing Additional Regulations

S. Joseph Gallant, Operating Practices Specialist & Accident Analysis Branch Team Leader & SOFA Team Leader, Federal Railroad Administration
Gary J. Connors, FRA (Retired) and SOFA Group Support Team

Switching Operations Fatality Analysis (SOFA) and the newly formed Fatality Analysis of Maintenance of Way Employees and Signalmen (FAMES) are committed to preventing fatalities. These working groups consist of representation from Class 1s, Passenger, ASLRRA, Labor and FRA. With close cooperation between all parties, industry implementation of safe work practices can save lives without additional regulation. This session will explain the systems and dynamics developed to obtain these and future work practices and how the ASLRRA shares the findings with its membership to help improve safety on small railroad operations.

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Session 606: Medical Standards: Are We Healthy?

Dr. Timothy McCormick, President, Transportation Occupational Medicine Consultants

A new Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) has been target for release in December 2009 or early 2010. The NPRM will have been shaped through the hard work and expertise of the Physicians Task Force (medical professional from railroads, the FRA and labor). Attend this session to learn firsthand about the medical criteria that this group of experts jointly crafted. The medical criteria details common medical conditions that could affect safety (e.g. seizure disorders, hypertension) and is intended to assist a railroad medical doctor in determining whether a person is safe to work. Ask questions of medical professionals and learn about the reasons why various criteria were recommended to the FRA.

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Session 701: Putting Technology to Work for Your Operation While Implementing Hours of Service

Thomas D. Howie, General Manager, RailSoft Systems, Inc.
Edward Ross, Managing Partner, MaxAccel

Come and learn how some short lines are leveraging technology to both satisfy this mandate and enable other business efficiencies. Part of this panel discussion will include technologies for future consideration that could provide additional benefit. (e.g. biometrics, RFID).

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Session 702: PTC (Positive Train Control) - An Update from the Class I Working Committee With an Implementation Status

Kevin Kautzman, Director Network Control Systems, BNSF Railway

The Leadership of the Class I ITC (Interoperable Train Control) Working Committee will present current status of the PTC standards and the efforts to date. The briefing will include an overview of the ITC Committee and the standards being developed within the 7 technical teams that include: Architecture, Application, Wayside Signal, Messaging, On-Board Locomotive, Communications and Data Management.

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Session 703: Application of Technology to Solve Rail Business Problems - Asset Management and Tracking

Eric Levin, Director Motive Power and Mechanical Policy, Conrail
John Scullin, Superintendent Service Delivery Support, Conrail

Come and learn how some short lines are leveraging Asset Management and Tracking technology to improve their operations. This session will focus on real implementations, supporting business cases and benefits.

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Session 704: Applications of Technology to Solve Rail Business Problems - Physical Security and Video Surveillance

Neil Ferrone, Chief Risk Officer, Conrail
Bob Carter, Communication Engineer, Conrail
Ron Sparks, Chief - Railroad Police, Arkansas & Missouri Railroad

Come and learn how some short lines are addressing physical security technologies on their railroads and discuss how those same technologies can provide efficiencies for your rail operation. This panel discussion will also include a look ahead to where these technologies are headed for future benefit to the railroads.

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Session 705: Radio Narrow banding - Class I Implementation can begin after July 1, 2010 - Will Your Operation be Ready?         

Robert Leedham, Consulting Systems Engineer, BNSF Railway and Chairman, Wireless Communications Committee

Come and learn the latest status and plans from the AAR (Association of American Railroads) WCC (Wireless Communications Committee) leadership. This session will focus on what you need to know to prepare for implementation and the potential benefits that can be achieved from this mandate. This will be presented by the Chair of the WCC and the AAR with support from the ASLRRA Technology Committee.

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Session 706: Application of Technology to Solve Rail Business Problems - Funding Alternatives for Technology - Grants, etc.

Thomas Loftus, Principal, Seneca Group, LLC

How do you pay for the technology required to support the mandates???? Come learn about some of the funding vehicles available that can be applied for to support the investment required.

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