I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2125 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to ensure competition in the rail 
industry, enable rail customers to obtain reliable rail service, and provide 
those customers with a reasonable process for challenging rate and serv-
ice disputes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 3, 2007 
Mr. OBERSTAR (for himself, Mr. BAKER, Mr. BERRY, Mr. WALZ of Min-
nesota, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. KIND, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. 
BOUSTANY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. SIMPSON, Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN, and 
Mr. POMEROY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to ensure competition 
in the rail industry, enable rail customers to obtain reli-
able rail service, and provide those customers with a 
reasonable process for challenging rate and service dis-
putes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; AMEND-
MENT OF TITLE 49, UNITED STATES CODE. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Railroad Competition and Service Improvement Act of 
2007’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents; amendment of title 49, United States 
Code. 
TITLE I—ENSURING COMPETITION IN THE RAIL INDUSTRY 
Sec. 101. Clarification of rail transportation policy and directives for implemen-
tation. 
Sec. 102. Requirement for Railroads to Provide Rates for Transportation. 
Sec. 103. Elimination of barriers to competition between Class I, Class II, and 
Class III rail carriers. 
Sec. 104. Reciprocal switching. 
Sec. 105. Areas of inadequate rail competition. 
TITLE II—IMPROVING SERVICE TO RAIL CUSTOMERS 
Sec. 201. Rail service. 
Sec. 202. Railroad obligation to serve. 
Sec. 203. Rail customer advocate. 
TITLE III—PROVIDING ACCESS TO A REASONABLE RATE 
PROCESS 
Sec. 301. Rights of rail customers. 
Sec. 302. Improvement of rate reasonableness standard. 
Sec. 303. Filing fees on petitions for captive rate relief. 
Sec. 304. Arbitration of rail disputes. 
TITLE IV—AUTHORITY TO INVESTIGATE 
Sec. 401. Authority of Board to investigate and suspend certain railroad ac-
tions. 
(c) AMENDMENT
OF TITLE 49, UNITED STATES 
CODE.—Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever 
in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 
of an amendment to, or a repeal of, a section or other 
provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to 
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a section or other provision of title 49, United States 
Code. 
TITLE 
I—ENSURING 
COMPETI-
TION IN THE RAIL INDUSTRY 
SEC. 101. CLARIFICATION OF RAIL TRANSPORTATION POL-
ICY AND DIRECTIVES FOR IMPLEMENTATION. 
Section 10101 is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 
‘‘In regulating’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION
DIRECTIVES.—In imple-
menting subtitle IV, the Board shall— 
‘‘(1) ensure, to the maximum extent possible, 
effective competition among rail carriers at origins 
and destinations; 
‘‘(2) ensure reasonable rates for rail customers 
in the absence of competition; and 
‘‘(3) ensure consistent, efficient, and reliable 
rail transportation service for rail customers, includ-
ing the timely provision of rail cars requested by rail 
customers.’’. 
SEC. 102. REQUIREMENT FOR RAILROADS TO PROVIDE 
RATES FOR TRANSPORTATION. 
Section 11101(a) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’; 
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(2) by redesignating the second and third sen-
tences as paragraph (3) and indenting accordingly; 
and 
(3) by inserting a new paragraph (2) as follows: 
‘‘(2) Upon the request of a shipper, a rail carrier 
shall establish a rate for transportation and provide serv-
ice requested by the shipper between any two points on 
the system of that carrier where traffic originates, termi-
nates, or may reasonably be interchanged. A carrier shall 
establish a rate and provide service upon such request 
without regard to— 
‘‘(A) the location of the movement on the rail 
system, including terminal areas; 
‘‘(B) whether the rate established is for part of 
a movement between a point of origin and a destina-
tion; 
‘‘(C) whether the shipper has made arrange-
ments for transportation for any other part of that 
movement; or 
‘‘(D) whether the shipper has a contract with 
any rail carrier for part or all of its transportation 
needs over the route of movement.’’. 
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SEC. 103. ELIMINATION OF BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BE-
TWEEN CLASS I, CLASS II, AND CLASS III RAIL 
CARRIERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 10901 is amended by 
adding at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(e)(1) The Board may not issue a certificate author-
izing an activity described in subsection (a), section 
10902, or section 11323, or exempt a person, class of per-
sons, or a transaction or service from the applicability of 
this section with respect to such an activity under section 
10502, if the activity involves a transfer of interest in a 
line of railroad, from a Class I rail carrier to a Class II 
rail carrier or Class III rail carrier and the activity directly 
or indirectly would— 
‘‘(A) restrict or limit the ability of the Class II 
or Class III rail carrier to interchange traffic with 
other rail carriers; 
‘‘(B) restrict or limit competition of rail car-
riers in the region affected by the activity in a man-
ner that would violate antitrust laws of the United 
States (notwithstanding any exemption from the ap-
plicability of antitrust laws that is provided under 
section 10706 or any other provision of law); or 
‘‘(C) require higher per car interchange rates 
for Class II or Class III rail carriers to interchange 
traffic with other rail carriers. 
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‘‘(2) Any party to an activity described in paragraph 
(1) that has been carried out, or any rail shipper affected 
by such an activity, may request that the Board review 
the activity to determine whether the activity has resulted 
in a restriction described in that paragraph. If, upon re-
view of the activity, the Board determines that the activity 
resulted in such a restriction, the Board shall declare the 
restriction to be unlawful and terminate the restriction un-
less the Board determines that the termination of the re-
striction would materially impair the ability of an affected 
rail carrier to provide service to the public or would other-
wise be inconsistent with the public interest. 
‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘antitrust laws’ has 
the meaning given that term in subsection (a) of the first 
section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12(a)), except that 
such term also means section 5 of the Federal Trade Com-
mission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent that section 5 
applies to unfair methods of competition.’’. 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—Paragraph (2) of section 
10901(e) (as added by subsection (a) of this section) shall 
apply with respect to any activity referred to in that para-
graph for which the Surface Transportation Board issued 
a certificate authorizing the activity under section 10502 
before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act. 
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