located upon the private property of individual industrial enterprises, and constructed and maintained at the expense of such companies. We recognize that no such extension of authority may have been contemplated in the sponsoring of H.R. 16980. Whether or not this was the case, the League submits that it should be made absolutely clear that such authority does not extend to such private industrial sidings whether there is or is not state regulation.

May we again state the appreciation of the League for the opportunity given to present its views on H.R. 16980.

STATEMENT OF ANTHONY HASWELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RAILROAD PASSENGERS

My name is Anthony Haswell. I am executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, with offices at 333 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. I appear here on behalf of this Association in support of H.R. 16980, which would authorize the Secretary of Transportation to establish safety standards, rules, and regulations for railroad equipment, trackage, facilities, and operations.

The National Association of Railroad Passengers is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation. Membership is open to users of all kinds of railroad service commuter, high speed intercity, and long distance-and to anyone else who believes that rail passenger service is a valuable national asset which should be preserved and improved. Since our beginning in July, 1967, we have enrolled over 2,300 members from all parts of the country. Our specific objectives are to obtain

1. Stronger legal controls over discontinuance of passenger trains, and greater consideration of the over-all public interest in continued passenger service in individual cases.

2. Positive government action to aid, encourage, and promote rail passenger service, including equal treatment for railroads by government in relation to other forms of transportation.

Our activities in furtherance of these objectives include working for the passage of constructive legislation; opposing selected proposals for train discontinuances before regulatory authorities and the courts when, in our judgment, the over-all public interest justifies such opposition; and conducting a continuing educational program to acquaint the public with the advantages and benefits of good passenger service, and the underlying economic and political issues of the problem.

I wish to emphasize at the outset that despite the alarming increase in train derailments which has impelled the Department of Transportation to request enactment of this legislation, rail travel has been and still is the safest of any mode of transportation, calculated on the basis of number of fatalities per 100,000,000 passenger miles. However, we would not only like to keep it this way, but to make the best even better. If the present trend of train derailments continues, it seems certain that the good luck of rail passengers will end in a tragic wreck with multiple fatalities.

Many of the recent freight train derailments have occurred on main lines over which passenger service is also operated. News reports of passenger trains being detoured and delayed on account of freight wrecks seems almost a weekly oecurrence. The same inadequate track conditions which are causing freight trains to leave the track can just as easily produce the same result for passenger trains. One of our better railroads had three major passenger train wrecks within a one year period beginning early in 1967; miraculously, no one was killed.

The introduction of this bill presents the Congress with an unusual opportunity. By prompt favorable action, it can prevent tragedy before it happens. We hope and pray that passage of this legislation will not have to await the day of a major passenger train wreck to impress upon all of us the gravity of the situation.

There are additional reasons apart from safety of passengers which persuade us to support this bill. One does not have to travel very far by rail today to discover that the quality of the ride leaves much to be desired. Were equipment and track maintained to high safety standards, the result would certainly be a smoother and more comfortable ride.

Safety standards for track maintenance will also have a favorable impact upon passenger service economics. Generally speaking, railroads cut back on track

maintenance upon discontinuance of passenger service over a particular line, even though a heavy freight operation remains. But if adequate standards of track maintenance were enforced, discontinuance of passenger service would not enable savings in maintenance of way expenses.

In the past 10 years there has been a spectacular increase in the speed, length and weight of freight trains, and in the size and capacity of freight cars. Track which is adequately maintained for today's 70 mile per hour heavy freight trains is more than adequate for passenger service at speeds up to 80 miles an hourwhich is tops for most of our present passenger trains. Thus if the railroads were required to maintain their track to adequate standards regardless of whether passenger service were operated, they would have less incentive to discontinue it, and more incentive to restore it over routes where it is already gone.

Finally, we call the committee's attention to the ever-increasing trend of railroads to expend resources on investments in outside businesses rather than on improvements to the railroad plant. Hardly a month goes by without an announcement by a railroad that it will spend a substantial sum to acquire a nontransportation business, that it is forming a holding company, or that it no longer wants to be called a railroad. Yet the money used for such "diversification" is badly needed for improvements to track, right of way, and other fixed facilities. One railroad executive has recently estimated that if our railroads are to be adequately modernized for future needs, the railroads should be spending $1.5 billion a year for capital improvements to fixed plant. We believe that if the present bill were enacted, it would provide a strong incentive for management to put "first things first" and concentrate upon improvement of railroads rather than searching for outside ventures in the hope of a greater return.

We again emphasize that as of today, railroads are our safest mode of passenger transportation. Let's keep it that way! We urge enactment of HR 16980 without delay. And we commend Secretary Boyd, Administrator Lang, and the National Transportation Safety Board for their initiative in this field. (Whereupon, at 12:10 p.m., the committee adjourned.) O