Pan Am joines the AAR

From Railway Track & Structures:

RT&S wrote:The Indiana Rail Road Company (INRD) and Pan Am Railways, Inc., have joined the Association of American Railroads (AAR) as new full members.

"We are delighted to welcome the Indiana Rail Road Company and Pan Am Railways into our association," said AAR President and CEO Ed Hamberger, "Their decision to join the AAR broadens our membership and strengthens our ability to effectively represent our industry."
. . .
"Pan Am's priority is to operate a safe, cost effective, service oriented railroad, therefore it only makes sense to become a member of an association with that same commitment," said David Fink, president of Pan Am Railways.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.rtands.com/index.php/freight ... hannel=282" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So what's the backstory here?

Were they previously not full members for "cost savings" reasons? Perhaps a policy of the previous administration?

Or...

Is there an operational reason that this suddenly makes more sense? Perhaps something to do with PTC installation? Maybe access to industry shared technical knowledge?

I was wondering the same thing. I assumed it was your first theory, since their choice not to be members goes way back, long before PTC was on anyone's radar. But that's just me sharing your theory. It would be interesting to hear from an inside source.

Interesting. Regardless, either way its just another sign of "normalization" at PAR. And if by "normalization" we also mean growth, success, profitability, recovery and rejuvenation of the physical plant then that's a good thing all around.

At the risk of reanimating the Ghost of Gratuitous Guilford-Bashing, Fink 1.0 would say, "Who needs them or anybody else, for that matter," while Fink 2.0 has the strong tendency to say, "Alliances and allies can produce payoffs."

I have thought for some time that given Mr. Fink Sr.'s experience with Penn Central many if not most of his decisions made sense for that time. Unfortunately time passed him by and some time ago at that. Post-Staggers I don't think his mentality made much sense and where others realized it was time to grow he continued a defensive strategy which was probably far more conservative than it should have been.

Mr. Fink, Jr. seems to understand the new era better much to the benefit of his company.

I wonder if AAR membership required signing off on promises Mellon/Fink Sr. did not want to make, for instance paying car hire on time.

A slightly more detailed press release can be found here:

https://www.aar.org/newsandevents/Press ... u3I2faSLLZ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

jbvb wrote:I wonder if AAR membership required signing off on promises Mellon/Fink Sr. did not want to make, for instance paying car hire on time.

If paying car hire on time was a requirement of membership, there'd be no members! LOL

I would take this as another sign of the "normalization" of Pan-Am's relationship with the rest of the rail world. Plus, there is much to be gained from having the ability to shape the nature and direction of industry policies. And that is much easier done from the inside than from out.

Doesn't mean much other than a normalization.