Washington, DC — August recess is one of the most important times of year for advocacy. With members of Congress back home meeting with constituents, GoRail used the moment to host Rail Champions 101: Turning Your Voice into Action, a webinar walking advocates through the Rail Champions program, recent policy wins, and how to make their voice count before the next legislative deadline.
“August recess is one of the most important times for advocacy because members of Congress are back home meeting with constituents,” said Betsy Cantwell, GoRail’s President, opening the session. From there, she turned things over to Mary McKeller, GoRail’s Director of Digital Communications, who walked the more than 70 attendees through the program, a live demo of the Action Center, and a set of best practices advocates can put to use immediately.
Why Rail Champions Exists
McKeller opened with the premise behind the program: the people writing rail policy in Washington often don’t have a rail background of their own.
“The people writing rail policy in Washington aren’t rail experts,” McKeller said. “They don’t often have the day-to-day experience with rail that these Rail Champions do.”
That’s the gap Rail Champions is built to close. The program has grown from roughly 30,000 advocates a year ago to more than 100,000 today, spanning over 5,300 cities and 5,800 counties — and it’s still adding new members daily. McKeller noted that the size of that network matters directly to its influence: the bigger the Rail Champions voice, the more weight it carries in Washington.
Why does that grassroots voice matter so much? Because of how Congress actually works, McKeller explained. Lawmakers pay close attention to impact in their own districts and rely on constituent input to know what their communities want. A policy position lands differently coming from a home-district voter than from an industry group — and a personal story outlasts a talking point.
“A story always beats a statistic,” she said. “A lawmaker will remember what you told them about your community and your relationship to rail, rather than a number they heard in a briefing memo.”
A Grassroots Win: CORCA Clears the House
McKeller then walked through one of Rail Champions’ most concrete wins of the year: House passage of the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA, HR 2853). Introduced by Rep. David Joyce (R-OH) with bipartisan co-sponsors, and a Senate companion from Sens. Chuck Grassley and Catherine Cortez Masto, the bill targets organized theft rings that steal cargo across state and international lines — including off of trains.
The problem is significant and growing. Major railroads reported more than 75,000 theft incidents in 2025, totaling over $200 million in losses, a jump of more than 50 percent from the year before. “This bill targets organized theft rings that operate across state lines and sometimes internationally to steal cargo across the supply chain, including off of trains,” McKeller said, noting reports of repeat offenders arrested more than a dozen times for theft attempts at rail yards.
CORCA would enable prosecution of these networks, create a national coordination center within Homeland Security Investigations for cross-jurisdiction data sharing, and fund training and grants for state and local law enforcement.
Rail Champions generated 550 actions to Congress in support of the bill ahead of the House vote. On May 12, it passed 348–60. “Rail Champions really had their voices heard on this issue,” McKeller said, “and it got results.” CORCA now moves to the Senate, where Rail Champions will be called on again in the coming months.
Where Surface Transportation Reauthorization Stands
Every five years or so, Congress has to renew the federal law that funds and sets policy for highways, transit, and passenger and freight rail. The current law, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), was set to expire September 30, 2026.
McKeller laid out what a strong reauthorization looks like for freight rail: data-driven regulations that let railroads innovate and improve safety without driving up costs, faster and more predictable permitting, a Highway Trust Fund restored by making all users — including heavier trucks — pay their fair share, and continued investment in proven grant programs like the Rail Crossing Elimination Grant and the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety (CRISI) program.
In May, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced its version, the Build America 250 Act (HR 8870) — but the bill included amendments that would move freight rail policy backward, such as reinforcing older inspection methods instead of allowing railroads to keep adopting technology that catches defects earlier. HR 8870 now awaits a vote by the full House.
On August 8, the Senate voted 90–6 to pass a short-term extension, pushing the deadline from September 30 to December 11, 2026. Extensions like this aren’t unusual — Congress has needed one for roughly a third of surface transportation reauthorizations since 1997 — but it does buy more time to shape the final package, particularly to keep prescriptive mandates like crew-size rules and manual inspection requirements out of it.
“Because the bill isn’t locked yet and we have more time to put input out, a well-timed message from a Rail Champion can make a real difference,” McKeller said.
Inside the Action Center
To make the case tangible, McKeller gave attendees a live walk through of the Action Center at railchampions.org. New Rail Champions can sign up with their name, email, and phone number, opting in to text alerts for time-sensitive campaigns — a feature McKeller flagged as especially important given how quickly reauthorization timelines can move.
“This is a great way to get some talking points if you’re not super confident as to why railroads matter,” McKeller said of the site’s Rail 101 section, which covers facts on rail spending, workforce, and sustainability. The Action Center also hosts a visual toolkit with graphics, logos, and social assets — including a signature image Rail Champions can add to their email to help others discover the program — and a running list of active campaigns.
From the Surface Transportation Reauthorization campaign page, McKeller demonstrated how a Rail Champion enters their address to confirm constituent status, is automatically matched with their senators or representative, and can personalize a pre-drafted letter with a local story or specific project before submitting it directly to Congress.
Six Best Practices for Making Your Voice Heard
McKeller closed with a set of best practices for any advocate reaching out to a lawmaker’s office, all rooted in one idea: a story beats a statistic. Identify yourself as a constituent right away, make a clear and specific ask near the top of your message, share your personal experience with rail and any local data you have, keep it concise, and approach the office as a constructive voice rather than an adversarial one — regardless of party.
Read a deeper breakdown of these practices in GoRail’s Advocacy Corner: Six Best Practices for Making Your Voice Count.
The Bottom Line
Rail Champions don’t need to be policy experts. As McKeller put it in closing, “Advocacy is about sharing your experience. It’s about sharing your story, not being a policy expert. You just need to tell your story.” With CORCA headed to the Senate and surface transportation reauthorization still in motion through December, that story has real opportunities to shape the outcome in the months ahead.
Ready to take action? Visit railchampions.org to sign up, find an active campaign, and send your first message to Congress. Rail Champions can also look ahead to two milestones on the 2027 calendar: 200 years of American rail on February 28, and Railroad Day on Capitol Hill on May 19.
