Lawmakers Unveil Accord on Rail Antitrust

Key Democratic senators have an agreement on a “robust” package of legislation to remove antitrust exemptions now enjoyed by freight railroads and reform the Surface Transportation Board that oversees rail economic regulation.

Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who chairs the Commerce Committee, and Herb Kohl, D.-Wis., who chairs the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, said they would ask the majority leader to remove the Kohl bill as they work together on joint legislation.

Kohl had a targeted bill ready to reach the Senate floor June 1, with a vote slated June 2. Rockefeller and other leaders from Commerce had urged other senators to vote against the separate antitrust bill as Commerce tries to craft a broader package dealing with shipper-carrier competition disputes.

“We hope to shortly have a bipartisan package that reforms the (STB) and repeals the railroads’ antitrust exemption available for the consideration by the full Senate,” they said in a statement issued around midday, about two hours before the Senate was slated to take up the Kohl package.

“We are working on harmonizing our two efforts to produce a robust reform package,” they said.

Railroads were fighting hard against the Kohl bill and warning it could create an unintended regulatory tangle, while many shippers supported it as a critical piece of emerging legislative changes they hope will open rail service and rates to more competition between carriers for customers’ freight.

The senators’ deal gives railroads at first glance a tactical victory, but the pledge to strip railroads of their antitrust exemption in the emerging bill indicates the shippers could still get much of what they were seeking in Congress.

“We share the common goals of addressing the longstanding concerns of rail shippers and making the rail industry more competitive,” Rockefeller and Kohl said. “This is a high priority for both of us and we are absolutely committed to finding real solutions that can be enacted into law this year.”

To drive his point home further, a Kohl announcement of his deal with Rockefeller said “Kohl wins agreement to include repeal of railroad antitrust exemption in comprehensive rail legislation – will save shippers and consumers money.”