Despite a Congressional Act and significant executive impetus to develop infrastructure, negotiations for a new intercity rail expansion model in the US hit the buffers. At the table were Amtrak, 23 state-owned railroads, multiple Federal agencies, and citizen transport advocacy groups. Some feared there were simply too many stakeholders to reach a sustainable agreement.

Our adviser led the mediation team that built an entirely new negotiation process. Where negotiations had focused on differences between rail systems and States that were keeping the parties apart, the new process focused on elements of the funding model as common ground to bring the parties together, and on building relationships between participants to ensure the sustainability of the deal.

Unproductive negotiations were replaced with plenary meetings for participants to present about funding model elements. This helped participants to identify passenger rail service expansion as a common core value. Individual negotiators worked separately with our adviser to address funding model gaps. This enhanced the quality of proposals being exchanged as negotiators built a common language and ideas at the main table.

As confidence in the process grew, the pace of negotiations accelerated, and all parties agreed a deal that became the first nationwide intercity rail expansion funding model negotiated in 40 years.