| Offices : Beckley • Charleston • Fairmont • Martinsburg • Washington, DC | E-mail Senator Rockefeller |
June 27, 2001
ROCKEFELLER INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO INCREASE COMPETITION FOR RAIL FREIGHT SHIPPERS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Recognizing the need for competition in the railroad shipping industry, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced legislation this week that would encourage competition by requiring that railroad companies and the Surface Transportation Board (STB) work together to improve services and operations. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Conrad Burns (R-MT) are original cosponsors of the legislation.
The Railroad Competition Act of 2001 approaches three areas of concern: 1) the need for increased rail-to-rail competition; 2) improvements in the "rate reasonableness" process of the STB; and, 3) improvements in the oversight of the rail industry and in the operation of the STB.
"During my sixteen-year tenure on Capitol Hill, one of my main concerns has been how to deal with rail-to-rail competition. For years, freight shippers have been held captive to one railroad with no choices for the distribution of their goods," Rockefeller said. "The Railroad Competition Act of 2001 increases competition between railroads in the same geographic areas, allowing various rail-freight shippers to shop around for the best price available."
In the past 20 years, the number of major (Class I) railroads in the United States has decreased from more than forty to six, thus diminishing the opportunity for rail competition. Of the six railroads companies currently operating in the United States, just four companies carry approximately 90 percent of all rail freight cargo.
The Surface Transportation Board is an independent adjudicatory body administratively housed within the Department of Transportation, responsible for the economic regulation of interstate surface transportation, primarily railroads, within the United States.
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