Rockefeller Says Rail Reform May Wait

Sen. Jay Rockefeller said proposed rail reform legislation may not emerge in the few days remaining before the Senate starts a planned month-long recess on Aug. 10, but he signaled that drafters may be talking with industry representatives before senators return next month.

“And we’ll be successful,” he told The Journal of Commerce in brief remarks Aug. 4. Some observers have suggested the effort to revamp economic regulation of railroads to benefit freight shippers could bog down amid all the varied types of legislation lawmakers will be juggling this autumn.

Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that has been negotiating with railroads, shippers and others including rail labor officials to revamp economic regulation of the railroads.

Shippers have complained loudly for years that regulation is stacked against them, allowing railroads to make hefty profits at their expense. Carriers in past years refused to negotiate proposed changes in a deregulation system they say works well, but this year joined in behind-the-scenes talks with lawmakers and congressional staff as momentum built for a change in law to improve competition for rail customers.

Industry officials had already predicted no rail reform bill would be offered before the recess interrupts legislation until senators return in early September. Rockefeller now appeared to take that view as well. “Maybe not this week,” he said, when asked about the timing of a bill.

Other sources, though, suggest the committee staff may soon provide the outlines of a bill for both shippers and railroads to consider, even if final legislative language would come later. Rockefeller said something could still be provided to affected parties over the recess period. “Yes, I mean, if you’re talking about getting it out to stakeholders. We’ve been talking with them all along, for months now. So, they’ll know.”

That measure lawmakers are considering would reauthorize the Surface Transportation Board, give it new regulatory instructions that could give agency actions and case decisions more of a pro-shipper tilt, and perhaps expand that agency’s size along with its revised mandate.

A House committee last week approved a measure to strip railroads of a limited antitrust exemption they enjoy unlike most industries, by having most economic disputes and merger reviews go through the STB rather than subject to district court challenges or the Justice Department’s antitrust division.