Photo By Christopher Parr | From left to right, Ryan Samuelson, Executive Director of U.S. Army Transportation...... read more read more
Ceremony honors decades of planning, advocacy supporting logistics readiness.
The U.S. Army Transportation Engineering Agency (TEA) marked the 50th anniversary of the Railroads for National Defense (RND) program with a ceremony July 29 at Scott Air Force Base. The event blended historical reflection, leadership insight and symbolic tradition to celebrate a half-century of infrastructure analysis and strategic coordination.
Hosted by Ryan Samuelson, dual-hatted as executive director of TEA and director of the U.S. Transportation Command Joint Distribution Process Analysis Center, the event reflected on the program’s origins, current mission and continued relevance in supporting Department of Defense global mobility.
"The fact that the Railroads for National Defense program has been around for 50 years is remarkable," Samuelson said, "as is the success of the RND and all of our National Defense programs."
The ceremony included a symbolic driving of golden spikes by Samuelson, joined by current and former RND program leaders: Curt Zargan, TEA deputy director; Pete “Skids” Matthews, TEA Infrastructure Division chief; Dave Dorfman, former RND chief; and Dan Zedack, current RND chief. The gesture honored the enduring strength and legacy of U.S. defense rail infrastructure.
A program born in crisis
The RND program traces its roots to May 1975, when the secretary of transportation urged the secretary of the Army to establish a dedicated Army program to advocate for defense interests in the changing U.S. rail sector.
At the time, derailments were frequent, infrastructure was crumbling, and much of the rail industry, particularly in the Northeast, was on the verge of collapse. Penn Central had declared bankruptcy in 1970, and other railroads across the Midwest and East Coast faced insolvency.
These conditions led Congress to take sweeping action: creating Amtrak, the United States Railway Association, Conrail, and ultimately passing the Staggers Rail Act of 1980. The Defense Department required a formal voice and technical presence in these national decisions.
Later that year, on July 29, 1975, Maj. Gen. H.R. Del Mar, commanding general of the Military Traffic Management Command (predecessor of SDDC), signed the official charter establishing the RND program. Del Mar directed that the program “assure that the rail system in the U.S. is capable of supporting defense requirements.”
The original charter authorized the program to act across multiple functional areas, including transportation engineering, freight traffic, safety and security, operations planning, information systems, financial management, and legislative engagement.
STRACNET and strategic rail planning
One of the RND program’s most visible achievements is the development of the Strategic Rail Corridor Network (STRACNET), a 41,300-mile system of critical rail lines serving 141 defense sites. STRACNET, maintained in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration, was most recently updated in July 2023 and continues to serve as the primary tool for communicating DOD’s rail infrastructure needs to private rail carriers, regulators, and other stakeholders.
While the manual calculations and punch card computers from the 1970s are long gone, the value of strong relationships remains. The program continues to work closely with the Surface Transportation Board, Federal Railroad Administration, U.S. railroads, railcar pooling agents, and trade groups. These partnerships help prevent unnecessary losses of service and ensure commercial railcars can continue supporting defense requirements into the future.
"There’s only one reason the RND program exists," said Dorfman, who spent more than 26 years with the program and served as chief from 2008 to 2022, "and that is to make sure America’s railroad network meets military needs."
| Date Taken: | 07.29.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.29.2025 15:00 |
| Story ID: | 544148 |
| Location: | SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 32 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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