John B. Breaux: “Today my colleague Senator Smith of Oregon and I have introduced the Railroad Track Modernization Act. As chairman and…”

“Today my colleague Senator Smith of Oregon and I have introduced the Railroad Track Modernization Act. As chairman and ranking member of the Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, the needs of the Nation's small railroads have been brought to our attention by railroad experts during hearings concerning the state of the railroad industry. Our colleagues Senators Schumer, Durbin, and Specter join us in introducing this legislation. Short line railroads have saved tens of thousands of miles of light density rail line from abandonment. In 1980, there were 220 short line railroads in the U.S. Today there are over 500 short line railroads, due in part to the mergers and streamlining of Class I operations which encouraged the larger companies to sell off their little-used or abandoned branch lines. Short line and regional railroads are an important and growing component of the railroad industry. Today they operate and maintain 20 percent of the American railroad industry's route mileage and account for 9 percent of the rail industry's freight revenue and 11 percent of railroad employment. These line railroads employ approximately 25,000 individuals, serve thousands of local and rural shippers and are often the only connection these shippers have to the national rail network.”