Reported by Marybeth Luczak for Railway Age.
Navigating passenger rail funding in a new political landscape was the theme of a May 21 session at Railway Interchange 2025. The Railway Supply Institute (RSI), one of the three associations hosting the event, brought together executives from Brightline Holdings, U.S. High Speed Rail Association (USHSR), American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) to discuss how companies can adapt.
This fireside chat-style session was moderated by RSI President Jim Riley. Speakers included:
- Husein Cumber, Senior Advisor, Brightline Holdings
- Robert Pearsall, Partnerships Director, USHSR
- Benji Schwartz, Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy, APTA
- Greg Regan, President, TTD
To kick off the session, Riley asked panelists, “What ways have your organizations realigned your messaging or your overall strategy following the election?
Both APTA’s Schwartz and TTD’s Regan agreed that the goal was not a realignment but a refinement of messaging when seeking federal funding today. “We have always made the economic case for public transportation [to members of Congress], and we have been saying for years how public transportation is a 5-1 return on investment, so now it’s a matter of how we translate that and show them that public transportation, and railroads specifically, is not a blue state or blue city issue,” Schwartz said. “When we meet with a Congressional member in Eastern Kentucky [for example], we need to [point to] a manufacturer in Eastern Kentucky that will benefit from that member’s support of rail programs.”
“It’s about emphasizing different aspects and finding out what the benefits are for a different constituency in the federal government,” Regan said. “So, when we talk about public roads, public schools, public libraries, public parks, public transportation, which I would put Amtrak and commuter rail as part of, when you say public in that way, this is an investment in ourselves. We’re investing in our communities for the benefit of the people who live in those communities … This is not about just a cost.”
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