Communicating Railroad–DOT Mitigation Strategies (2014)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

53 CHAPTER 7 Implementation Plan to Sustain the Community of Interest 7.1 Success of the Project Community of Interest A total of seven Class I railroads operate in the United States. As is evident from Figure 5.1, of these seven railroads, UP, BNSF, NS, and CSX are dominant, and Genesee & Wyoming is the largest short line railroad. The DOTs of the 48 states (excluding Hawaii and Alaska) in the United States interact with one or more of these four Class I railroads, and several interact with Genesee and Wyoming. The four dominant Class I railroads and Genesee & Wyoming were members of the project’s community of interest. The COI also had eight U.S. state DOTs, representing the four AASHTO regions. Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation, Canada, was able to participate virtually and provided an international perspective. FHWA and FRA also participated in the COI. Thus, with the limited budget available, the project team successfully engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders maximizing a nationwide representation to create a good and well-balanced community of interest. As detailed earlier in the report, the team successfully achieved and exceeded the stated objectives of the project. All COI members were actively engaged in the dissemination effort and in championing the success and value of using various project innovations. As detailed in Chapter 6, many of the members have also made great progress with implementing several project innovations. 7.2 Catalyzing National Deployment The communication and dissemination of the mitigation strategies undertaken by this project have been an overwhelming success to date. The COI members have become very engaged in the project. This has led to members identifying new best practices, training needs, importance of peer-exchange sessions, and workshops that will help with the national adoption of the project innovations at the state and local levels. The activities of this communication and dissemination project served as an essential interim step to the full national deployment and successful national adoption of the project best practices. The success of the project activities has set the stage and will serve as an important pre-implementation step leading to the national deployment of the project innovations. Mr. Worley of the North Carolina Department of Transportation said the following about the potential for success after attending the project presentation at the 2014 Transportation Research Board annual meeting: “The team was able to establish an unprecedented and game-changing environment of collaboration and partnering among transportation agencies and railroad companies. This environment is further enhanced and supported by the Collaborative Solution[s] Suite developed by the StarIsis project team that will be available to users in the fall of 2014.”

54 The project activities were focused on taking the innovations to beyond the tipping point. Working with the members of the COI, the StarIsis team has created a collaborative environment and focused the activities of the community of interest members in a way that can quickly and easily evolve and be scaled up to successfully support the national deployment efforts. Continuation of this path should result in transportation agencies and railroads continuing to collaborate in implementing the project innovations to proactively address the common challenges faced on projects. The environment is now ripe for widespread acceptance of the project innovations. However, it needs to be appreciated that assisting states and local agencies in the national adoption will require a systematic approach and will require the investment of time and funds. Thus planning for these efforts is very important. Mr. Wyatt from Norfolk Southern Railroad at the last COI meeting said, “The team, with the appropriate dissemination efforts and tools, has the potential to catalyze an expedited dissemination of the ready-to-implement project innovations on a national scale, all of which have successfully demonstrated their ability to shorten project delivery times, reduce project costs, streamline processes, improve efficiency and safety, reduce delays and inconvenience in traffic and freight movement, and, overall, reduce potential liability.” 7.2.1 Influencers in National Deployment It has been evident that the three primary factors that have been critical to the success achieved in the dissemination and communication effort so far in the project are 1. The collaborative environment created among the stakeholders; 2. The project team’s facilitation, follow-up, and frequent communication with the COI members; and 3. The creation and level of engagement of the community of interest. Recognizing the critical nature of these three factors is important to the success of any effort that aims to achieve a national deployment of the project innovations. Any implementation plan will therefore need to consider means to not only sustain the community of interest, but to grow its activities sufficiently to facilitate the engagement of the larger nationwide community of stakeholders. This growth will of course also need to be managed in a manner such that the collaborative environment is retained and expanded. This management effort is all the more important, since more challenges are expected to arise, as the activities of the COI expand. Also, with active participation by a larger audience, new innovations and resources will be available for the community to benefit from. The management of and access to such innovations and related tools and resources will also need to be effectively managed to ensure that the level of

55 interest, collaboration, and participation of the COI in the solutions are not only maintained, but also continue to thrive. 7.3 Ensuring Long-Term Sustainability of the Community of Interest One of the important deliverables required by the project is an implementation plan for the long- term sustainability of the community of interest. This section proposes strategies, which, if implemented, will continue the widespread dissemination of the innovations and increase the number of best practice implementations to beyond the tipping point. The team proposes innovation diffusion strategies shown in Figure 7.1, which build upon the efforts of this project to date and its work with the champion-pairs and the community of interest to create a critical mass of users that can carry these innovations across the nation. There are several factors that need to be considered in establishing a plan for the long- term sustainability of the project’s community of interest. These factors follow. Figure 7.1. Innovation diffusion.

56 7.3.1 Participation and Collaboration Two important aspects that are critical to sustaining the community of interest of stakeholders to achieve the objectives of the project are participation and collaboration. Not only will the participation from both transportation agencies and railroads need to continue at the current levels, but also the discussions need to continue to be collaborative so that the outcomes are productive and wins for both parties. The issues of trust, improper communication, and lack of timely coordination were identified as factors contributing to challenges between the agencies and railroads. Establishing and maintaining an environment of trust and collaboration between the members is integral to the long-term success of the COI and, more importantly, to resolving challenges on various activities relating to projects involving the two. The StarIsis team was proactive in addressing these issues. Left unaddressed, these issues can derail the productive work done and successes achieved to date. 7.3.2 Organizational Differences The national deployment phase should consider the differences in the organizational culture, the strategic goals, the growth objectives, and expectations of timeframes for action in the railroads and in the transportation agencies. The railroads are far more centralized; therefore, once representatives are successfully engaged, the effort of coordinating gets easier. Working with a railroad’s public project manager is akin to working with one of the DOTs districts and divisions. By engaging the railroad’s public projects director and through him or her engaging one or two public project managers, it is possible to use peer communication to reach out to other public projects managers within that railroad. On the other hand, states and local agencies are far more numerous, and their approaches and requirements vary significantly across the nation. Also, the budgets available and the funding constraints vary significantly across the states, so outreach efforts to them have to be commensurately larger. 7.3.3 Team Dynamics Team dynamics played an important role in the success achieved during the project activities and will continue to be important to the successful operations of the COI. It will be a big contributor to achieving the goals of championing and advocating for acceptance of solutions to address challenges and delays on projects involving road and rail. The dynamics between the COI members and the team coordinating and facilitating COI discussions will also be important in ensuring that the environment continues to be conducive to partnering and continuous improvement.

57 7.3.4 Multi-tier Engagement Another important factor is ensuring that the right people at the appropriate levels of both organizations and from FHWA and FRA are engaged in the COI. The right level of engagement will vary across states. Some state transportation agencies are responsible for the management and operation of trains, while others are not. Thus, transportation agencies vary in their responsibilities and involvement with railroads. 7.3.5 Resource Limitations With downsizing over the last decade, both transportation agencies and railroads have to work with limited staff resources. With railroads being in an expansion mode, the internal organizational priorities are more focused on growth. With transportation agencies being challenged by limited funds, agency personnel are often wearing multiple hats and have limited time for activities outside of the agency. Facilitating discussions and managing the COI activities has to take into account these member resource limitations while managing to ensure maximum engagement of members. Ensuring active engagement of members is important to sustaining a productive COI necessary for championing the national deployment. 7.3.6 Systematic Rippling of Best Practices to Beyond the Central COI With the expected expansion in railroads, the projects involving the two parties and the interaction between the two organizations will continue to increase. The challenges identified in the initial (2008–2010) research project will continue to be a factor for the next many years. The impact and importance of expanding the dissemination of the project innovations, as well as the implementation effort to reach all 52 state transportation departments, local and regional government agencies, and the short line railroads, will continue to be significant. Widespread implementation of the project innovations nationally will result in expedited project delivery and fewer numbers of projects that encounter cost increases and/or delays in delivery. In the instances where project costs increase or schedules get delayed, the impacts will be less severe than otherwise. This can be achieved through multiple strategies that will cause a rippling effect and the impact necessary for national adoption of these practices. The strategy for the COI should therefore include having a central community of interest similar to the one created in this project, augmented by expanding into four regional community of interest forums that reflect the four AASHTO regions. The model would parallel the successful Transportation System Preservation Technical Services Program (TSP 2) groups formed by FHWA and AASHTO to support pavement and bridge preservation best practices. The recommendations are as follows:

59 Central COI: Systematic Infusion and Growth at the Central Level In addition to the successful dissemination done through this project, the accomplishments of this project reflect the successful partnership that has been created among the members of the current COI. Retaining and enhancing this partnering environment will expedite the championing of project innovations and catalyze the information sharing among peers in transportation agencies and railroads. An approach that expedites knowledge transfer from existing to new COI members will help sustain the current environment of collaboration between transportation agencies and the railroads. This form of knowledge transfer is necessary for implementing the best practices nationally. The intended goals of sustaining a productive COI that collaborates and champions the use of project best practices can be achieved by the systematic infusion of new members into the COI, while current members continue to be engaged in the community. This will ensure that as new members join the COI, there will be infusion of new ideas, while the conduct of discussions will continue to be similar to what existed in the current environment. This approach will thus ensure the continuation of the collaboration and partnering between the members. Phasing in new members will also expose them to the collaborative discussions that result in win-win strategies. The right facilitation and administrative support and the engagement of new members, while existing members continue to be part of the COI, will ensure that the partnering agencies (AASHTO and FHWA) have a much better chance of sustaining a productive forum of stakeholders who can be counted on to champion the best practices nationally. If the regional forums discussed next in the report can be set up and sustained, then discussions of new challenges that are bound to arise will become part of the conversation. Deliberating and developing solutions to these new challenges and championing their testing and implementation will become routine. Regional Outreach and Impact Coupling the phased growth of the current COI (central COI) with targeted regional stakeholder outreach meetings will expose new regional stakeholders to the Collaborative Solution Suite. It will catalyze and cause the rippling dissemination of the innovations to the regions. Some of the innovations may address priorities of a region. Regional outreach can catapult the adoption of innovations that address regional priorities and make them routine practices. These regional sessions can be targeted to address specific regional issues. Incorporating panel discussions that include members from the central COI, who have successfully addressed specific challenges that are pertinent to the region, will expose potential adopters to tested strategies, minimizing concerns of failure, and increasing the chances of adoption. Figure 7.2 shows how interaction between the central COI and the regional COIs can result in a balanced approach to address challenges that are common nationally and those that are specific to the regions. It also shows how the collaboration that exists today in the central COI can cause the necessary rippling effect to result in a similar positive environment at the regional levels. When the interaction is well managed, the central and regional COIs can work synergistically to

60 achieve the long-term success required to sustain the strategies that will proactively and continuously address challenges on projects involving transportation agencies and railroads. Figure 7.2. Relationship between the central COI and regional COIs. National Conferences Current COI members expressed the importance of national conferences for information sharing. Members indicated that conferences are forums to learn from peer champions and advocates who can share best practices and lessons learned. Implementers can serve as coaches and assist new adopters navigate any pitfalls that may be encountered on the implementation journey. Over the years new challenges will be encountered and these forums will facilitate the discussions necessary to strategize on new solutions. They can also be used to fund the testing of new solutions and to generate support for new champions. By having a combination of biannual central COI meetings with regional meetings and having a national conference every alternate year will expose many participants in a brief time to the opportunities presented by the project innovations, as well as additional innovations that will be developed on an ongoing basis. By inviting the local agencies and other short line railroads to the conferences, the best practices can be disseminated to address the challenges at the local level too. This approach will

61 create the momentum necessary to get each state and some local agencies to adopt best practices and thereby increase the numbers of adopters of the best practices toward making them routine practices. Funding Funding continues to be an issue for public agencies, so it is also important to fund the cost associated with member travel and participation in these meetings. Pre-session preparations, quality of facilitation, and level of interest and participation of members will be very important in influencing the outcome. Throughout the current project, the StarIsis team has been working on setting the stage for a successful expansion of the implementation efforts. To fully capitalize upon the benefits of the best practices, model agreements, and streamlined agreement processes, the outreach and support efforts may have to be carried on for many years. 7.3.7 Access to Existing and New Solutions One of the requests by the COI members was to have web access to a repository that would house the project best practices and other resources to assist states and transportation agency personnel working on projects. To address this request for easy access to example agreements and model processes that can serve as templates for new adopters, the Collaborative Solutions Suite, a web suite of solutions that includes training lessons and a virtual library of resources, has been developed and will be available to users by fall of 2014. The library houses various best practices, agreements, and manuals from transportation agencies and railroads that can serve as examples for future adopters of the best practices. Keeping the information and the site updated will not only serve as a one-stop window to useful resources for both organizations it will also focus the limited resources to reviewing tested successful solutions that can be accessed from the library. This will focus the efforts of both parties on implementing successful solutions instead of spending time developing solutions that already exist. To continue to provide solutions that can proactively address roadblocks to projects, it is important to continue showcasing and bringing to the forefront programmatic solutions to issues that are part of the current national discourse. These include best practices on safety, such as model processes to speed projects that improve grade crossing safety, repave crossings, or close unnecessary crossings when they have already been developed and used by peers. 7.4 Summary of Action Items for Implementation Plan Based on the information from the previous section, summarized below are the main action items that should form a part of the implementation plan for the long term sustaining of the COI. This will facilitate the effective national dissemination of the project innovations.  Continue the existing central COI.

62  Ensure project management and facilitation support is available to the COI members.  Systematically add new members and expand the number of stakeholders in the COI. This should be done in a way to ensure continuity of the productive and collaborative discussions that exist today. The recommended approach is to add new members in phases in small numbers to ensure that the current collaborative discussions continue as new members are added.  Add regional COIs supporting the four AASHTO regions. Ensure that members from the central COI provide leadership to the regional COI groups. The current COI members were recruited to also represent the four AASHTO regions, as discussed in Chapter 5. These leaders can assist with continuing the collaboration into the regions. This balance between the central and regional groups will allow members to discuss regional challenges and brainstorm on solutions that can be championed at the regional level, while ensuring that the collaboration necessary for success of the adoption between all stakeholders continues. New successful practices identified can be added to the Collaborative Solutions Suite and made available to all users. This model ensures the exchange of ideas whereby the central COI members share the priorities discussed at the central level with the regional members and bring back and share regional issues with the central COI. The synergies can enhance the national discussion and the solutions developed while they increase the buy-in and support across the DOTs that will exponentially catalyze the adoption of best practices.  Have a national conference every alternate year focusing on the DOT-railroad challenges and solutions. This brings the discussion to local agencies and regional and short line railroads, and completes the dissemination across the US in a systematic and sustainable way.  Funding the COI at the central and regional level and [funding for] the conference is important to its productive working.  Additionally, funding to support the implementation of current project innovations, as well as future new innovations, will go a long way in sustaining productive COIs at both levels. The groups will be able to successfully contribute to addressing the challenges faced on projects that will make a difference nationally. Success will beget more success. This will also set the stage for stakeholders to get engaged in finding and testing solutions to new challenges in a collaborative way.