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CRISI Notable News Links
Kaine, Warner announce $3.6M to improve freight rail in the Shenandoah Valley
Up to $1.3M grant would renew Northern Lines Railway’s 25-mile network
Kustoff Helps Secure $20.3M For West Tennessee Rail Project
Railroad members! If you want to be featured in this section, please email us the link. You can also tag us (@ASLRRA) in your social media posts. Interested in seeing your railroad showcased in your local newspaper? Contact Amy Krouse for assistance.
Registration is now open for ASLRRA’s 2027 Annual Conference & Exhibition, which will be held March 14-16 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Click here to register now and secure the Early Bird Rate.
ASLRRA’s Annual Conference is the premier short line freight rail industry event, welcoming over 1,700 attendees representing short line railroads, suppliers, federal agency representatives, industry- and subject-matter experts and many others. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with colleagues, learn about important industry issues and attend committee meetings.
The Annual Conference will feature the always-bustling exhibition hall, where hundreds of companies will showcase their products and services and attendees can find everything they need to run their railroads and solve business challenges.
During the conference’s two General Sessions, attendees will gain valuable insight from featured speakers. In addition, the Association will honor notable industry luminaries, including the Distinguished Service Award winner, Short Line Railroad Industry Hall of Fame inductees, Safety Person of the Year and Safety Professional of the Year.
Networking events will include evening receptions and a closing event at Five O Fore Golf. ASLRRA Class II and III railroad members can attend the closing event at no cost, though a separate registration is required.
Avoid Hotel Scams – Book Lodging Directly Via ASLRRA’s Website
Hotel poaching scams are on the rise and becoming much more sophisticated. ASLRRA reminds everyone that the Association does not employ or partner with third parties to book rooms. Anyone who receives a solicitation from a hotel poacher should contact meetings@aslrra.org immediately. ASLRRA’s legal team will follow up with the solicitor.
ASLRRA negotiates contracts directly with hotels for Annual Conference lodging. The only authorized source for hotel reservation information for conference hotels is the Association’s website.
Click here to book a room in one of the six hotels in which ASLRRA has a room block.
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) announced it has appointed JoAnne Fittante as the agency’s director of legislative affairs.
In this role, Fittante will lead the RRB’s Office of Legislative Affairs. She will be the agency’s principal liaison to Congress and advise the board and its leaders on legislative and congressional matters affecting the RRB.
She joined the RRB in 2024. Prior to being appointed to this new role, Fittante served as a legislative affairs officer with the agency.
The South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) is gathering feedback on the Sioux Falls Railroad Corridor Analysis and Crossing Safety Study through an in-person meeting and via written comments.
According to SDDOT, “the study will help identify safety and operational issues at existing crossings and develop recommendations to improve safety, mobility, and traffic operations.” A website for the analysis and safety study is here, and a map-based survey can be completed here.
The in-person meeting will be held this evening at the City of Sioux Falls - City Center. Those who cannot attend can send written comments through Nov. 30.
ASLRRA member Ellis & Eastern Railroad is identified as one of the partners involved with the in-person meeting. Other partners include the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Sioux Falls Metropolitan Planning Organization (Sioux Falls MPO), South Eastern Council of Governments (SECOG), the cities of Brandon, Crooks, Harrisburg, and Sioux Falls and BNSF Railway.
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, released updated “Chopping Block” reports, showcasing the potential harm to states and local municipalities if Congress does not renew $36.8 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2027 advance appropriations for federal transportation infrastructure programs.
The updates include state-by-state data, showing how lack of advance appropriations will be severely detrimental to transportation systems and economic development initiatives. When the current continuing resolution was passed to extend government funding through Dec. 11, it did not renew the advance appropriations, commonly referred to as Division J funding, first established in the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA)/Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
Click here to view the state-by-state impacts.
When the IIJA/BIL was first passed, it provided five years of guaranteed funding for federal transportation programs. This includes money for programs like the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program, enabling more robust investment in transportation infrastructure projects.
The IIJA/BIL expired on Oct. 1. Without renewal, all Division J funding will be eliminated. For short line railroads and other transportation stakeholders, that would increase uncertainty around future infrastructure investments and make it more difficult to plan and execute multi-year projects.
In July, ASLRRA pulled together a broad coalition of transportation organizations to urge congressional leaders to maintain funding for the full range of Division J programs. The coalition is asking Congress to preserve Division J funding in any future extension of surface transportation programs and, ultimately, in the next surface transportation reauthorization bill.
Cantwell’s original “Chopping Block” reports, issued in May, includes sections focused on how lack of funding will affect three critical areas, including America’s rail industry. Click here to view “American Rail on the Chopping Block.”
Last week, ASLRRA and Division J Coalition partners representing different transportation and labor groups traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with senators on key committees to urge reliable funding for transportation infrastructure. ASLRRA and coalition partners will continue raising awareness with members of Congress and congressional leadership about the importance of maintaining reliable, multi-year funding for transportation infrastructure.
Colliers has experience in writing and administering numerous state and federal grants. They have long been recognized as a trusted partner and advisor for architecture, engineering, planning and program management. Their proven capabilities have resulted in efficient, economical and viable infrastructure projects that reflect the needs of their clients.
Click here to learn more about ASLRRA’s Member Discount Program and view all available products and services, or contact ASLRRA’s Sabrina Waiss for more information about becoming a Preferred Provider.
Nov. 10, 2026: Evaluating Railroad Infrastructure Exposure to Natural Hazards using FRA's Composite Hazard Index (CHI)
The Composite Hazard Index (CHI) for Rail serves as the definitive empirical baseline for evaluating railroad infrastructure exposure to natural hazards. By synthesizing multidimensional environmental data—such as annualized frequencies of recorded occurrences for various hazard types—into a unified, rail-centric scale by census tract, the CHI provides a standardized framework to quantify risks to safety and service reliability. Currently, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is utilizing GIS technology to assist with weighting hazards geographically and gathering qualitative insights. To support these analytical efforts, FRA has built an interactive geospatial tool that provides CHI baseline results, top-ranked hazards by census tract, and spatial integrations with the North American Rail Network (NARN).
Speakers: Raquel Wright, Transportation Analyst (GIS), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Ruby Li, Operation Research Analyst, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Jo Strang, SVP, Safety, Regulatory, and Environmental Policy, ASLRRA and Fred Oelsner, VP, Data, Technology and Security, ASLRRA.
Nov. 12, 2026: Using Rail Protect to Support FRA 172.820 HazMat Route Risk Analysis
Representatives from ASLRRA supplier member Tiez Technologies will discuss Rail Protect, an application built to support FRA 172.820 hazmat route risk analysis. The session will cover how the tool helps railroads identify and score risk at the segment level, track hazards and mitigations, and generate clear, audit-ready reports that stay tied to actual track geometry and mileposts. Rail Protect runs on RailPlatform, the cloud-native GIS platform Tiez designed specifically for railroad networks. By anchoring risk data to accurate linear referencing, subdivision boundaries, and infrastructure layers (including crossings, bridges, and operational zones), RailPlatform gives safety, compliance, engineering, and operations teams a shared, map-centric view of the network.
The webinar will walk through practical examples of how Rail Project tools fit into existing compliance and operations workflows for short line and regional railroads, including options for transitioning prior HTRAM data into the RailPlatform environment to preserve historical risk information, segment scores, and supporting records.
Speakers: Tim Brauer, Principal, Tiez Technologies and Michael White, Principal, Tiez Technologies
ASLRRA is pleased to welcome three new board members, filling all remaining open seats on the Association’s Board of Directors.
The new members are:
These new members were elected by other board members in their respective regions due to vacancies. Evans will take up the remainder of Bobby Franklin’s term. Franklin has stepped down from the board in preparation for retirement.
Harris will take up the remainder of Danny Robbins’s term, while Van Altvorst will take up the remainder of Ross Lane’s term. Both Robbins and Lane were recently elected to be regional vice presidents, leaving their board seats vacant.
Every year for Veterans Day, ASLRRA shines a light on those in the short line industry who have served or are serving their country in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Last year, the Association invited individuals to share their stories via online form. ASLRRA looks to continue that tradition in 2026, encouraging veterans who work for either railroad or supplier members to talk about their personal experiences in these fields.
The connection between the military and the railroad industry is strong. Your responses will help ASLRRA share more about this connection and help the public understand it better.
Click here to complete an online form. Responses are due by Nov. 5.
ASLRRA is accepting nominations for its annual Safety Person of the Year and Safety Professional of the Year Awards. Winners will be honored in person at ASLRRA’s 2027 Annual Conference, which will be held March 14-16 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Safety Person of the Year Award recognizes any railroad employee at any level, except those considered to be professional safety management employees.
The Safety Professional of the Year is open to any professional safety management employee of an ASLRRA Class II or Class III member railroad who is responsible for safety programs, training and the overall management of safe behavior and actions on their railroad(s).
Nominations for both awards are due Nov. 12. Please email Mariel Takamura with any questions about the award, especially if unsure about whether a candidate falls under the Safety Person or Safety Professional category. If submitted under the wrong category, the nominator will be asked to re-submit the nomination using the correct form.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) approved safety upgrades to a crossing owned by ASLRRA member Chicago Ft. Wayne & Eastern Railroad (CFE).
CFE will receive $568,147 in federal funding to install flashing lights and gates at its North Spring Street crossing in Crawford County, Ohio. The funds will also support completion of a resurfacing project at the crossing that is already underway.
Jo Strang is at the Sustainability & Resiliency Day event, which precedes the Railroad Environmental Conference she is also attending. Both are being held at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by co-hosts the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) and the University of Illinois Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC). ASLRRA is a sponsor of the Railroad Environmental Conference, and Strang reports several Association members are also in attendance.
Amy Krouse, JR Gelnar and Sabrina Waiss traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina to present ASLRRA’s inaugural ASLRRA Leadership Program: Crisis Communications Training Seminar.
Fred Oelsner is in Dallas attending the National Defense Transportation Association’s Fall Meeting, jointly hosted with U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM). The meeting includes updates on critical issues in defense transportation via rail, with significant focus on protecting against advanced cyber threats from nation-state actors.
ASLRRA maintains an industry calendar featuring events that may be of interest to members. If you have an industry event you would like included on the calendar and possibly in Views & News, please send relevant event details and links to Mariel Takamura for consideration.
Views & News is published by American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.
Please contact Mariel Takamura, associate editor, with questions or comments.
