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7 CHAPTER 3 Summary of Initial Research Findings All projects between transportation agencies and railroads that necessitate access to railroad property, expansion into or over transportation agency right-of-way for railroad projects, or incurring or reimbursing of costs, will require some type of agreements between the two parties. Depending on the project, this can mean extensive coordination, approvals, and signoffs from multiple levels within both organizations. Also, depending on the type of project, the coordination can start from the planning phase and continue through design and construction and into the maintenance of the project. Delays at various points in the process can result in increased project costs, adverse impacts to road traffic and rail freight movements, inconvenience to the traveling public, delayed project delivery, safety issues, and, in the case of the railroad companies, potential loss of profits and increased liability. The initial research project included a survey and follow-up meetings to obtain feedback from railroads and local, state, and federal transportation agencies. This research revealed that challenges faced on projects involving transportation agencies and railroads were commonly attributable to the following factors: ï· Delays in agreement processing; ï· Nonstandard agreement, resulting in each agreement going through extensive reviews; ï· Delays in coordination; ï· Transportation agency designs not meeting railroad requirements; ï· Insufficient insurance limits; ï· Communication issues; ï· Failure to anticipate and address construction issues; ï· Limited understanding of the differences in objectives, cultures, and operational models; ï· Inefficient workflow and duplications in workflow activities; ï· Delays in authorizing work and in making payments; ï· Strategies used often did not benefit both parties; ï· Differences in institutional priorities; ï· No shared interest; ï· Railroads being very risk-averse; and ï· Transportation agencies being cautious about spending taxpayer monies and concerns about public opinion. Further, it revealed that the goals, priorities, responsibilities, and perspectives of both organizations are very different, resulting in differences in approach to dealing with such projects. Addressing these different perspectives and objectives is essential to developing
8 solutions for delivering projects that involve both parties, keeping them on schedule and within cost and scope. Lessons learned from the initial research effort showed that positive engagement and collaboration of both parties is very important to address the challenges faced by either. Also, it was evident that partnering will be necessary to streamline the entire process, create win-win solutions, and sustainably address challenges in the long term. The initial research project also found that solutions to several of the above listed challenges had been successfully implemented in isolated pockets across the country. The 2011 communication and dissemination project documented in this report looked at strategies to take these isolated successful innovative solutions, enhance them where appropriate, and disseminate the information more widely. The project team recognized that the dissemination of innovations needed to be done carefully. The stakeholders noted that a marketing blitz might not be the best strategy for this project, because it might disseminate the information without resulting in meaningful progress in addressing the core problem. This could result in insufficient collaboration between the agency and railroad stakeholders, collaboration that is necessary for national adoption of innovations. The team found that an approach that involved the stakeholders working collaboratively would be a more effective way of productively communicating the message, while also positively influencing and triggering the adoption of the innovative practices. It was also felt that any successful strategy for dissemination needed to trigger a willingness among other transportation agency and railroad pairs to try the project innovations and best practices in their environments. Thus, successful widespread acceptance needed the collaborative involvement of both the railroads and transportation agencies.
