Thomas Crowley's Email & Phone

L. E. Peabody & Associates, Inc. (since 1971) -- Mr. Crowley has more than thirty-five (35) years of experience solving economic, marketing, transportation and fuel supply problems. He has directed and organized economic studies and prepared reports for railroads, freight forwarders and other carriers, for shippers, for associations and for state governments and other public bodies dealing with transportation, coal supply, natural gas acquisition and transportation and related economic problems. He has presented both oral and written testimony before the Interstate Commerce Commission, Surface Transportation Board, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Railroad Accounting Principles Board, Postal Rate Commission and numerous state regulatory commissions, federal courts and state courts. This testimony was generally related to the development of variable costs of service calculations, rail traffic and operating patterns, fuel supply economics, contract interpretations, economic principles concerning the maximum level of rates, implementation of maximum rate principles, and calculation of reparations or damages, including interest. In 1998, Mr. Crowley presented testimony before the Congress of the United States, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on the status of rail competition in the western United States. Mr. Crowley also has presented testimony in a number of court and arbitration proceedings concerning the level of rates, rate adjustment procedures, rail operating procedures and other economic components of specific contracts. Mr. Crowley has been responsible for conducting detailed studies of rail costs related to the movement of unit coal trains in the United States. He designed and conducted rail operations, switching and detention studies to determine costs related to the handling of specific commodities. He has conducted field trips to develop on-site information related to the handling of products such as crushed stone, grain, grain products, paper products and glass products. He has organized, directed and conducted numerous studies in connection with multiple car movements, trainload movements, unit train operations, divisions of through rail rates, operations of commuter passenger service, freight forwarder facilities, TOFC/COFC rail facilities, rail abandonments, and rail mergers. Mr. Crowley has made in-depth analyses related to the development of motor carrier costs. He has also conducted analyses related to the development of avoidable costs and revenues of commuter operations in the States of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Mr. Crowley is familiar with the operating and accounting procedures utilized by railroads in the normal course of business. Mr. Crowley is also familiar with the various formulas employed by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in the development of costs for common carriers with particular emphasis on the general purpose costing system for rail carriers. Mr. Crowley has analyzed in detail the Uniform Railroad Costing System ("URCS") and presented his findings to the Interstate Commerce Commission (the STB's predecessor). Mr. Crowley is also intimately familiar with the Surface Transportation Board's maximum reasonable rate tests for movement of both coal and non-coal traffic. Mr. Crowley has presented expert testimony before the STB and its predecessor the Interstate Commerce Commission in every maximum rail rate proceeding based on the constrained market pricing principles, since the adoption of Coal Rate Guidelines - Nationwide in 1985. This testimony was on the behalf of complaining shippers and involved the development of variable cost of service, calculation of the jurisdictional threshold, determination of market dominance, development of stand-alone costs (the maximum rate level) and the calculation of reparations including interest. Mr. Crowley has been actively engaged in negotiating coal supply and natural gas transportation contracts for various users throughout the United States. In addition, he has analyzed the economic impact of buying out/brokering/modifying a number of existing coal supply agreements. His coal supply assignments have encompassed analyzing alternative coals to determine the impact on the delivered price of operating and maintenance costs, unloading cost, shrinkage factor and by-product savings. His transportation natural gas assignments have encompassed analyzing storage facilities, construction of pipeline and personnel requirements. Since the implementation of the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, which allowed rail carriers to enter into transportation contracts with shippers, Mr. Crowley has been actively involved in negotiating transportation contracts on behalf of coal and other shippers. During the past twenty (20) years, Mr. Crowley has participated either directly or indirectly in negotiations for over 100 coal users, including both electric utilities and private consumers of coal in all sections of the United States. Specifically, Mr. Crowley has developed line-haul rates based on market conditions and carrier competition, movement-specific service commitments, carrier-specific cost-based rate adjustment provisions, contract reopeners that recognize changes in carrier productivity and cost-based ancillary charges. These analyses have been used to negotiate transportation contracts for the movement of eastern, southern and western coal. EDUCATION: Mr. Crowley received a BS in Economics from the University of Maine in 1968 and has taken graduate courses in transportation at George Washington University. PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: Mr. Crowley is a member of the American Economic Association, The Transportation Research Forum and American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association.