(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on the Journal of Commerce website on October 6, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Introduction of a rail regulatory reform bill in the Senate still awaits agreement with some shippers, said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va.
Rockefeller chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and his staff has been working for months in secretive talks with railroads and their customers to produce changes in rail regulation that all sides can accept.
“We’ve got pretty good agreement . . . with the railroads, which is surprising,” he told The Journal of Commerce, “but we’re having a little bit to work out still with the shippers.”
Some Washington sources indicated this could be a reference to a particular group of very small freight shippers, including some from the agricultural sector. Railroads, major shipper groups and a number of individual large shippers have long made their views known to Senate aides on what the bill would need to win their backing.
Rockefeller has said he wants to alter the way the Surface Transportation Board regulates economic issues between railroads and their customers, and that many freight shippers now have little ability to negotiate with carriers over terms because their cargoes are captive to a single rail line.
His bill is expected to instruct the STB to give more weight to shipper complaints over rail rates and service disputes, and expand the agency’s staff. Once it is offered in his committee, a companion piece could be offered in the House.
Right now, some House members are working on separate legislation that would strip railroads of a limited exemption they enjoy from antitrust laws. In the Senate, however, changes to antitrust law would be included in the broader Rockefeller rail legislation.
Rockefeller said he gets bi-weekly updates on how the staff work is proceeding on the rail bill. “Everybody keeps telling me they keep getting closer and closer,” he said.