Reported by RT & S
Railway Age and Railway Track & Structures on Nov. 5-6 returned to Chicago for our second-annual in-person Women in Rail Conference featuring trailblazing women and their allies, who are influencing today’s freight, passenger and transit rail industry.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy sat down with RT&S’s Jennifer McLawhorn and Railway Age’s Marybeth Luczak to record a video chat about her career journey, which was presented on Day 2 of Women in Rail 2024. Homendy was confirmed earlier this year both to a second term on the NTSB and as its chairperson. A career civil servant, from 2004 to 2018, she served as Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, as part of the House T&I Committee. She was instrumental to ensuring that the 2008 reauthorization of rail programs included a requirement that Positive Train Control technology be installed on most of the U.S. railroad network—a safety milestone she was able to celebrate from her vantage point as an NTSB Board Member when it was fully implemented in 2020. In 2010, Homendy spearheaded the T&I Committee’s oversight investigations of the nation’s pipeline and hazardous materials safety program. Earlier in her career, she held positions with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, and the American Iron and Steel Institute. Homendy readily shared her experiences during the video interview (watch below)—from her top recommendations for freight and passenger railroad safety to lessons-learned in her career.