APTA President William Millar was one of 19 witnesses testifying April 7 before the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials of the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, chaired by Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA). The subject of the hearing was “Railroad and Hazardous Materials Transportation Programs: Reforms and Improvements to Reduce Regulatory Burdens.”

The T&I Committee is preparing to draft major transportation and jobs legislation that will include policy reforms to improve rail and hazardous materials transportation in the U.S. “These titles will focus on improving the efficiency of programs and ensuring that the federal government does not get in the way of safe, effective transportation and flow of commerce in the United States,” Shuster said at the subcommittee hearing.

“Enacting a well-funded, six-year, multimodal surface transportation bill is one of the most important actions that this Congress can take to push our nation’s economic engine into high gear,” Millar said. “The United States must develop a fully integrated multimodal commuter and high-speed and intercity passenger rail system without denigrating our world-class rail freight system, in order to meet the rapidly expanding needs of an ever-growing and highly mobile population,” he added.

Millar, speaking on behalf of APTA, urged the subcommittee and the full T&I Committee to support President Obama’s request for $53 billion over six years to modernize the nation’s high-speed and intercity passenger rail network and to streamline the New Starts and Fixed Guideway Modernization programs to ensure efficient and timely project completion.

To read Millar's full written testimony, click here.

Also, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies has scheduled hearings for April 12 on the Federal Transit Administration budget and April 14 on the Federal Railroad Administration budget.

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