Our primary customers are the employees and employers of the rail industry and their families. They include, for example, train and engine service employees, maintenance of way employees, dispatchers, signalmen, computer specialists, sales personnel, lawyers and accountants. They also include railroad employees who have retired on the basis of age, their spouses and dependents, as well as younger beneficiaries who have retired on the basis of disability, survivors of deceased employees or retirees, and employees who are not working because of layoffs, injuries or illness. Employers include the nation’s Class I freight railroads as well as more than 600 other employers, including short line and regional railroads, Amtrak, certain commuter roads and rail labor unions.

The RRB’s benefit programs are based on two primary laws – the RRA and the RUIA. Under the RRA, the RRB processes retirement, survivor and disability annuities for railroad employees and their families. Under the RUIA, the agency pays unemployment benefits to railroad workers who cannot find a job in the industry and sickness benefits to those unable to work on a temporary basis due to illness, injury or pregnancy. In fiscal year 2008, the RRB paid just over $10 billion in retirement and survivor benefits to almost 600,000 beneficiaries, and about $80 million in unemployment and sickness insurance benefits to more than 30,000 claimants. Payroll taxes paid by railroad employees and employers are the primary funding source for these benefits. The agency also administers various provisions of the Medicare program for rail workers and family members including the selection of a carrier to process Medicare Part B (Supplemental Medical Insurance) claims. In fiscal year 2008, the carrier paid more than $844 million to providers and beneficiaries for Part B services.

An independent agency in the executive branch of the Federal Government, the RRB is administered by three Board Members appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. One member is appointed upon the recommendation of railroad employers, one is appointed upon the recommendation of railroad labor organizations and the third, the Chairman, is appointed to represent the public interest. The Board Members serve staggered 5-year terms. The President also appoints an Inspector General for the RRB to provide independent oversight of the agency and its programs. The RRB currently employs approximately 900 full-time employees who work in its Chicago headquarters and more than 50 field offices around the country. The agency’s administrative budget has historically approximated one percent of total benefits payments, and totaled just under $102 million in fiscal year 2008.

While the railroad retirement system has remained separate from the social security system, they are closely coordinated with regard to earnings credits, benefit payments, and taxes. In addition to SSA, the RRB works closely with several other Federal and state agencies on benefit administration, such as CMS, state employment security departments and the Department of Labor. Other agencies with which the RRB interacts on a routine basis include OMB, Treasury, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the General Services Administration (GSA). The RRB and the Board Members also provide assistance, information and testimony to the Congress and its agencies, such as the Government Accountability Office, on a regular basis.

In addition to current and future customers and other governmental entities, the RRB’s stakeholders include organizations that represent rail labor, retirees and rail employers. Examples are various rail labor unions, the National Association of Retired and Veteran Railway Employees, the Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. We also interact with contractors who assist the agency in performing its mission and work closely with the NRRIT, which oversees trust fund investments. The RRB also has internal stakeholders that include our dedicated employees and their representatives, such as the American Federation of Government Employees as the exclusive bargaining agent, and the Federal Managers Association.