Clyde Anderson

 

Clyde Anderson of Omaha, Nebraska talks about his career as a civil engineer and transportation planner in the railroad industry, involved in several railroad mergers in the Midwest and guiding the efficient functioning of rail terminal operations.  Before and since retirement, Clyde has been engaged in community, transportation and environmental activism, including with the Sierra Club, ProRail Nebraska and Mode Shift Omaha.  

In this interview, Clyde talks about changes in the industry, the pros and cons of mergers and consolidation. This would include  demarketing in the short haul market by the Class Ones, a lack of Open Access, a monopolistic rate structure, Conrail abandoning short haul lines in the Watershed area, the lack of optimal positioning of intermodal sites, and the need for increasing awareness of passenger rail options. 

He also talks about the necessity of having third party carriers and/or strong re-regulating by the Department of Transportation and FRA to get more more freight transferred from trucks onto railways. He communicates the wisdom and climate crisis-related urgency of developing electrification for rail freight, and ways to deal with the challenges of upgrading." such as using buried high voltage transmission lines in the grid network. Clyde relates his excitement of the proposal by entrepreneur Brian Yannity to electrify freight rail in the Los Angeles-to-Inland Empire corridor with the help of public-private partner ships. He says this would be an inspiring demonstration project. 

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