Jim Mathews of Rail Passengers Association (formerly NARP)

Passenger rail is an economic engine in the communities it serves. We know that the existence of Amtrak buoys the economies of hundreds of towns and cities all across America. Rail Passengers used its economic-modeling tools to calculate just how much passenger trains -- and especially long-distance trains -- contribute each year to our Nation's economy, and how much America will lose as Amtrak retreats to three-times weekly service. Mathews will detail RPA's findings, explain the rationale behind the model, and discuss the risk of failure to reach a deal on Capitol Hill to get Amtrak and state-supported passenger rail through the continuing coronavirus crisis.

Biography:

Jim Mathews became President & CEO of the Rail Passengers Association – a non-profit transportation advocacy organization operating in all 50 states – in 2014 after a 26-year-career in air transportation analysis as Executive Editor at Aviation Week & Space Technology. At Aviation Week, Mathews managed the publisher’s online news portfolio plus its forecasting and analysis unit. As Rail Passengers’ CEO, Mathews sits on several federal advisory panels, including the Federal Railroad Administration’s Rail Safety Advisory Committee, the RSAC’s Passenger Safety Working Group and the RSAC’s Hazardous Materials Working Group. In 2016, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx appointed Mathews to the DOT’s National Advisory Committee on Travel & Transportation Infrastructure, a CEO-level group contributing to the DOT’s national transportation strategy for all travel modes. In 2019, DOT Secretary Elaine Chao re-appointed Mathews to a second NACTTI term.

Email:

Address:Washington, District of Columbia, United States