American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association | 7 MEARS: We call it the premier event of the railroad industry – it’s not just for little guys, it’s for everybody. That event has been growing in popularity and we now have, last year we had nearly 2,000 people attend, and we also have a reputation for putting on excellent and informative programs, as well as having the opportunity for these hard-working people to have a little bit of fun while they’re there, and, I mean in a totally respectable way. BW: If I’m a short line railroad and I’m a member of the organization, what issues are on the top of my agenda right now? What am I most concerned about? What is the membership most often coming to you about with issues? MEARS: I think the ones they’re coming to us the most about are how to address the various regulatory requirements that are ongoing. The No. 1 legislative issue is that we have a short line tax credit that the particulars of are basically that you can get up to a $3,500 credit for any infrastructure work that you do. That is a very important one, because many of these railroads were cast off from the bigger railroads, not having a lot of maintenance the last couple of years of their operation, because they were knowing that they were probably going to get rid of them. So that has been the No. 1 effort. We’ve had a tax credit since, I believe 2004, that’s just done a world of good in helping these railroads to improve their infrastructure and rehabilitate it such that they can serve more customers and serve them better. The tax credit expired at the end of 2013, but we are working diligently to see that we can get the tax credit extended and enhanced.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTYzNTg=