September 23, 2022
Addressing some of the complaints of poor service for shippers, the chairs of four House committees dealing with transportation, commerce, infrastructure and agriculture introduced the Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act in August 2.
A press release issued by the House committees says, “Rail customers have increasingly expressed concern with inconsistent and unreliable rail service. The impacts of erratic rail service have been particularly acute in the agricultural and energy sectors. To better understand why rail service delivery problems persist, the Railroad Subcommittee held two hearings, one in March 2022 and one in May 2022, and the Surface Transportation Board held a hearing on urgent issues in freight rail service in late April 2022.
All three hearings documented serious problems in the freight rail industry stemming from years of Wall Street focus on increasing railroad operating profits to allow for stock buy backs and dividends, rather than investing those profits in expanding critical freight rail service to more places and serving more industries. Despite these hearings and actions undertaken by the Surface Transportation Board, severe service issues continue to hamstring rail shipments across the country. This bill seeks to stem that tide.”
Read the rest of the press release here. https://transportation.house.gov/news/press-releases/chairs-payne-jr-defazio-scott-and-costa-introduce-freight-rail-shipping-fair-market-act

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