Solutionary Rail's impact is growing in both Washingtons, but we are stretched to the limit. On faith that support will come, we've expanded the team to respond to these opportunities. 

April 26, 2024

Wow, 2024 has already been a HUGE year for Solutionary Rail and it's not even May. 

I just got back from a trip to Chicago where we attended the annual meeting of Railroad Workers United and the sold out Labor Notes conference.

I brought Sasha, a recent graduate of the University of Chicago on this one. I took a leap of faith to expand our team, and I have confidence you will prove that this faith is well founded. Sasha is providing critical support for the research and writing we are doing, including helping produce a new Solutionary Rail in the Public Interest podcast series.

In Chicago, we interviewed railroad workers from across the country. These heart to heart conversations consistently revealed love for what railroads can do for society; they also echoed both the anger over the way greed is getting in the way and the hope from the solidarity and undeniable momentum for change that is growing. Sasha has also made it possible to do a series of interviews on how deregulation and globalization have literally left rural communities behind. 

These interviews will provide fresh voices and insights for our next Solutionary Rail In the Public Interest book, likely out in early 2025.

I took another a leap of faith and asked my co-author, collaborator and friend Patrick Mazza to lend his considerable talents to the cause.  

When I spoke to at RWU's Sunday session on Public Ownership of Rail, I shared my story of falling from a tree 30+ years ago. Though I was alive, I could not bring my body to do what my mind envisioned. My backbone was shattered, and I could not stand up.

That story is my way of communicating how essential building alliances is for manifesting our shared visions. Alliances are our backbone. Good ideas are not enough. We build from the power we have to the power we need by finding common cause - shared vision - with our brothers and sisters across society.

Solutionary Rail is about nurturing that vision, solidarity, and power to put infrastructure in service of public interests, over Wall Street profits. This has always been visionary, ambitious work, but a decade in, as it starts to take hold, we are beginning to harvest the fruits of hard and persistent effort. Recent examples of that include:

• A Biden announcement this week committing to a Zero Emissions Freight system
• A meeting with Surface Transportation Board lawyer a few weeks ago
• Testimony to the EPA and WSDOT
• Ongoing nudging, creative and strategic advice to good people in the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Dept of Energy who are engaged in crafting a plan for US rail decarbonization. 

Solutionary Rail is stepping up to these opportunities and demands, but the scope has grown too much for Amy and I to be the only staff. The new book, podcasts, testimonies, and actions demand that our team grow. We need Sasha and Patrick's help. We need to be able to hire the expert analysis like Tom White to answer the hardest questions.

Solutionary Rail requires resources for communications, printing, production and more. In short, WE need YOU. 

Railroads are a solution hiding in plain sight for a more just and sustainable society. It is our job to reveal these solutions and to work with our growing community of allies to shape and manifest this future. 

Today, we are launching a campaign to raise $100k to produce the book and the podcasts, to continue alliance building, and to keep our team going and growing.

I am appealing to you and your belief in the Solutionary Rail vision that you've helped to shape, grow, and share. I am deeply invested in this work, and today I ask you to increase your investment in this important work, at this this pivotal opportunity. 

Thank you for always stepping up, and for sharing and shaping this work.

Forward Together!

Bill Moyer

Executive Director
Solutionary Rail & Backbone Campaign

PS - Look what I found - an amazing panel we never posted due to covid - produced February 14, 2020 on Just Transmission: