WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced a bill this week seeking to better define railroads’ common-carrier rules and establishing criteria for the Surface Transportation Board to consider when assessing complaints about service issues, as well as a timeline to do so.
Baldwin says in a press release that the “Reliable Rail Service Act,” introduced Tuesday, would ensure railroads provide reliable service at reasonable rates. The bill is supported by a lengthy list of shipper groups and labor organizations.
“American farmers, producers, and manufacturers are paying sky-high prices for subpar rail service to get their goods to market, and consumers seeing the impact on their pocketbooks,” Baldwin said. “In order to build a strong Made in America economy and also lower costs for consumers, we need to ensure our agriculture, energy, and manufacturing businesses have reliable rail service.”
Full text of the bill is available here and a summary is available here.
The bill should not be confused with the Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act, introduced in the House of Representatives in August. That bill, to reauthorize the Surface Transportation Board, also includes direction for the STB over common-carrier obligations but would give the board more regulatory authority [see “House bill would expand STB’s authority …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 2, 2022].
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