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Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy, Leader Schumer, and Leader McConnell:

On behalf of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), which represents an $80 billion industry that directly employs 450,000 people and supports millions of private-sector jobs, I urge you to enact legislation to ensure that there is no strike or work stoppage on the nation’s freight rail lines because it has the potential to severely impact passenger rail service.

APTA represents the commuter and intercity passenger railroad industry. Commuter rail is an $11.2 billion industry that creates and supports 190,000 public- and private-sector jobs. Commuter and intercity passenger railroads often share railroad tracks with freight railroad companies that, in most instances, own and maintain the tracks.
Commuter railroads alone operate on more than 3,000 miles of freight railroad track and often rely upon freight railroad workers to enable passenger railroads to operate safely. Several commuter railroads across the nation would be forced to either curtail service or shut down altogether if a freight rail work stoppage were to occur, impacting the commuter rail workforce and forcing passengers to make alternate travel arrangements.

In 2019, more than 1.7 million passengers traveled on our commuter rail system each day to access jobs, housing, health care, and educational opportunities. Any shutdown of the freight railroad system would have severe repercussions to U.S. commuter and intercity passenger rail networks at a time when passenger rail operators are seeing steady progress in ridership growth and advancing capital initiatives that will further enhance ridership as a result of the historic investments of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Given the enormous impact that a disruption to the freight railroad network would have on passenger rail service, as well as our national economy, we urge you to enact legislation to ensure that no strike or work stoppage occurs.
Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Paul P. Skoutelas
President and CEO

cc: The Honorable Peter A. DeFazio, Chair, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Sam Graves, Ranking Member, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Patty Murray, Chair, Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Richard Burr, Ranking Member, Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Maria Cantwell, Chair, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Roger F. Wicker, Ranking Member, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Sherrod Brown, Chair, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Patrick J. Toomey, Ranking Member, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate