SHIPPERS PROPOSE “ALTERNATIVE” RAIL POLICY TO STB

SHIPPERS PROPOSE “ALTERNATIVE” RAIL POLICY TO STB

SHIPPERS PROPOSE “ALTERNATIVE” RAIL POLICY TO STB

   In comments filed with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, the American Chemistry Council and American Plastic Council said that rail shippers should have access to one alternative rail carrier in the merged system.

   The councils said “such access would not have to be “forced” but would occur only if the carrier could profitably offer the shipper more favorable terms than those offered by the incumbent carrier.”

   “Terms of access would not be dictated by the STB, but rather negotiated among the parties, subject to binding ‘best offer’ arbitration in the event the negotiations reached an impasse,” the councils explained.

   This access condition would decrease reliance on mechanisms, such as maximum rate challenges, because competition would increasingly determine rates and service, which is in line with the National Rail Transportation Policy enacted by the Staggers Act.

   “The access condition is most fairly characterized as deregulatory, in the same way that telephone industry deregulation — opening up long distance service to additional competition — has been accompanied by an access condition requiring local phone networks to open themselves to competing carriers if they wish to compete in new long-distance markets,” the American Chemistry Council said.