[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 120 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ALASKA RAILROAD CORPORATION CENTENNIAL 1923-2023

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. MARY SATTLER PELTOLA

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 13, 2023

  Mrs. PELTOLA. Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask my fellow Members of 
the 118th Congress to join the proud Members of the Alaska Delegation 
in congratulating and thanking the Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) 
for 100 years of service to our State and to our Nation. The 
``Railroad,'' as we call it back home, and the builders, operators, and 
leaders that are its lifeblood, have been the backbone of the Last 
Frontier's evolution. For the last century, the Railroad has been 
catalyzing economic development, supporting war efforts, transporting 
passengers between Alaska's largest cities, helping build the Trans-
Alaska Pipeline, investing in real estate, and facilitating tourism and 
commerce across miles of remote and beautifully wild landscapes.
  Like Alaska itself, the Alaska Railroad story is full of peaks and 
valleys. The Alaska Central Railway (later renamed ``The Alaska 
Railroad'') laid the first track in Alaska in 1903. It started in 
Seward and extended 50 miles north. The Alaska Central Railway 
reorganized in 1910 as the Alaska Northern Railway Co., later extending 
the railroad to Kern Creek--71 miles from Seward. In 1914, the U.S. 
Congress, noting it's essential national importance, funded 
construction and operation of a railroad from Seward to Fairbanks at an 
estimated construction cost of $35 million.
  On July 15, 1923, President Warren G. Harding drove a golden spike in 
the ground at Nenana thereby connecting the track and marking the 
completion of the Alaska Railroad. From 1940-43, World War II brought 
large profits from hauling military and civilian supplies and 
materials. In 1962, the Alaska Railroad established its first car-barge 
service in Whittier, followed by train-ship service in June 1964, 
revolutionizing Alaska by enabling rail cars from the Lower 48 to be 
shipped to any point along the Alaska Railroad. In the early to mid-
1970s, the railroad supported construction of the Trans Alaska 
Pipeline, shipping and storing pipeline between Valdez, Seward, and 
Fairbanks, from which it was then trucked to the North Slope. In 1981, 
the Railroad entered into agreements with Fairbanks and Anchorage 
school district career centers for a tour guide program that trained 
high school students to serve as hosts onboard summer passenger trains.
  President Ronald Reagan penned into law the authorization of the 
transfer of the Alaska Railroad to the state in 1983. Officially, in 
1985, it became the property of the state, and the Alaska Railroad 
Corporation was born. By 1996, ARRC showed a profit of $8.0 million and 
passenger ridership had grown to 512,000. Former Governor Bill 
Sheffield became CEO in 1997. In the early 2000s, the ARRC's real 
estate operations exceeded $11 million in profits for the first time 
and a web-based passenger reservation system was implemented. 
Simultaneously, the Railroad initiated a program to reduce diesel 
emissions and noise. And 2003 was the railroad's most profitable and 
safe year in its history up until that point. In 2013, the Railroad's 
own Bill O'Leary was named CEO, becoming the first lifelong Alaskan to 
lead the Railroad. Today, the ARRC operates a regularly scheduled 
public transportation service extending from Seward north through the 
traditional lands of the Alutiiq and the lands of the Athabascan 
groups: the Dena'ina, Ahtna, and Lower Tanana people. Passengers gain 
access to remote regions and areas off the road system and to the 
state's public land treasures including the Chugach National Forest and 
Denali National Park, which are visited by hundreds of thousands of 
people annually. During the last 100 years, ARRC has proudly nurtured 
and promoted a relationship with the Alaska Native community. The ARRC 
team includes Native members throughout its history; from laborers 
during initial railroad construction between 1914 and 1923, to track 
maintenance during World War II, through to top leadership guiding 
corporate policy on the ARRC Board of Directors after state ownership.
  The Executive Team is comprised of President and CEO William G. 
O'Leary, CFO Michelle Maddox, COO Clark Hopp, Chief Counsel Andy 
Behrend, Vice President of Real Estate & Facilities James W. Kubitz, 
Vice President of Marketing and Customer Service Dale Wade, Vice 
President Chief Engineer Brian Lindamood, and Chief HR Officer Jennifer 
Mergens.
  The Board of Directors are Ryan Anderson, Commissioner, Alaska 
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities; John Binkley, 
Chairman, Godspeed, Incorporated; T.J. Dinsmore, Conductor/Engineer, 
ARRC; ARRC Board Vice Chair: Judy Petry, President & General Manager, 
Farmrail System; John Reeves, Owner, Fairbanks Gold Co., LLC; Julie 
Sande, Commissioner, Alaska Department of Commerce, Community & 
Economic Development; ARRC Board Chair: John Shively, Chair, Pebble 
Mines Corporation.
  Throughout the Railroad's storied history, the corporation's team, as 
much as the iron and steel of the locomotives, has served as the 
foundational infrastructure driving economic development in my great 
state of Alaska. By carrying freight and passengers across wide 
expanses of wild plains, rivers, and mountains, and by harnessing human 
ingenuity and creativity, the Railroad has played an irreplaceable role 
in turning Alaska into a destination for tourists and new residents 
alike.

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