Happening Now
Day on The Hill
Just a few weeks until the March 28th Rail Passenger Day on the Hill, it’s time to begin reaching out to your Congressional delegation to request a meeting. Use the template below for scheduling requests below that you can use when reaching out to members of your Congressional delegation.
RPA’s government affairs team will be able to provide you with a detailed legislative request in the coming week or two.
Congressional offices are currently accepting programmatic requests, and Senate offices are accepting requests for individual rail projects through the CRISI program. Deadlines vary by office, and we’ve included language in the sample scheduling request that will help you ascertain when they are. This is a great opportunity to spotlight local routes/projects you care about.
A few other items we want to share:
- Are you interested in seeing if anyone else from your state is taking part in this year’s Day on the Hill? Click here for an updated list of registered attendees
- You can submit scheduled meetings to us by email ([email protected]; Subject: “2023 Hill Meetings”), by using this link, or the embedded form at the bottom of this page.
- Watch our pre-recorded legislative briefing
- Questions? Please feel free to email me at [email protected]!
- If you’re unsure of how to start, we encourage participants to review the evergreen “A Beginner’s Guide to RPA Day on the Hill” by RPA’s Vice Chair T.J. Girsch.
Thank you for all the work you do in support of America’s passengers!
-Sean Jeans-Gail | VP of Gov’t Affairs + Policy | Rail Passengers Association
Sample Meeting Request
[Title/Name of Scheduler]:
My name is _____, and I'm a member of the Rail Passengers Association. [If contacting the office of a Senator or the Representative from your congressional district, add that you are a constituent. This matters to them.] On March 28th, RPA will be holding its annual Day on the Hill advocacy event, and I would like to meet briefly with [Senator/Representative _____] or [her/his] staffer in charge of transportation and infrastructure to discuss passenger rail issues important to the [state/commonwealth]. Please contact me at your convenience at [phone#] or [e‐mail] to set up a time to meet.
The implementation of passenger rail programs created by the IIJA is beginning to ramp up, and RPA is eager to work with [Senator/Representative _____] to ensure that our [State/District] benefits from these competitive grant programs. If there are any deadlines for programmatic or Member priority requests, please do let me know [please include any local projects that you are aware of that would benefit from federal funding].
I appreciate your assistance, and look forward to meeting with [Senator/Representative _____]
Sincerely,
[your name]
Rail Passengers Association, [your state]
Use the form below to report your Hill meetings
"On behalf of Amtrak’s onboard service staff, I want to thank the Rail Passengers Association for honoring their hard work with this award. The past couple years have indeed been difficult for Amtrak onboard service staff – coping with furloughs and job insecurity, adapting to changing protocols and services, not to mention the unfortunate events such as a tragic derailment and a fatal shooting. Nevertheless, our dedicated members at Amtrak have handled these hurdles with the care, attention and diligence for which they’re known. We thank Rail Passengers for their acknowledgement of our members’ hard work and, as always, look forward to seeing you on the rails."
Arthur Maratea, TCU/IAM National President
December 21, 2021, on the Association awarding its 2021 Golden Spike Award to the Frontline Amtrak Employees.