A bipartisan bill that charges the Surface Transportation Board to better define what should constitute “reasonable” rail service has been reintroduced in the Senate.
The Reliable Rail Service Act, introduced by Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., charges the Surface Transportation Board to refine the definition of the common carrier obligation, which the senators say is currently ambiguous.
The common carrier obligation calls upon the railroads to provide rail service on a reasonable request. The federal statute came out of the Staggers Act of 1980, which deregulated the freight rail industry.
