Carmichael: New government structure needed for intermodal advances

Carmichael: New government structure needed for intermodal advances    State departments of transportation need a new leadership structure to overcome their ignorance of freight transportation and intermodal systems, veteran transportation analyst Gilbert E. Carmichael said Friday.
   State agencies should appoint two deputy secretaries to oversee freight and passenger transportation policies and programs, the senior chairman of the Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver told a small audience at the Transportation Table luncheon in Washington.
   The senior officials would look to promote and coordinate intermodal connections for both types of transportation movements. They should have strong industry experience or academic training in intermodal transportation, he added.
   Carmichael, a former administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, also proposed a prescription for the federal government. Any Department of Transportation reorganization or attempt to incorporate intermodalism in policy decisions is doomed to failure unless Congress reorganizes itself first, he said. Congress should create committees on intermodal freight and intermodal passenger transport because the current committee structure forces decisions to be made mode by mode.
   DOT talk about promoting intermodalism won’t be credible until intermodal policy efforts are institutionalized, Carmichael said. In recent years the DOT disbanded its intermodal office, although there is an Office of Freight and Logistics within the secretary’s office and a freight office at the Federal Highway Administration. DOT Secretary Mary Peters created an Intermodal Council six months ago to serve as an informal forum for modal administrators within DOT to talk to each other about issues that cut across their areas of jurisdiction.
   “A chart with dotted lines showing coordination arrangements won’t convince us. Even having an intermodal ‘enforcer’ who can mandate coordination won’t suffice. We in the intermodal community will believe you only when we see solid evidence that your FAA, FRA, Highway, and (mass transit) leaders are energetic intermodal advocates — without pressure from above,” Carmichael said.