I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2047
To authorize appropriations for the Surface Transportation Board, to enhance 
rail transportation competition, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 3, 2005
Mr. BAKER (for himself, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. BOUSTANY, 
Mr. REHBERG, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. 
HOOLEY, Mr. BERRY, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. MELANCON, Mr. POMEROY, and 
Ms. HERSETH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To authorize appropriations for the Surface Transportation 
Board, to enhance rail transportation competition, and 
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; AMENDMENT OF TITLE 49, 
UNITED STATES CODE. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Railroad Competition Improvement and Reauthorization 
Act of 2005’’.
(b) 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 
a section or other provision of title 49, United States 
Code. 
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF RAIL TRANSPORTATION POL-
ICY. 
Section 10101 is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 
‘‘In regulating’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) PRIMARY OBJECTIVES.—The primary objectives 
of the rail transportation policy of the United States are 
as follows: 
‘‘(1) To maintain consistent and efficient rail 
transportation service for shippers, including the 
timely provision of rail cars requested by shippers. 
‘‘(2) To promote effective competition among 
rail carriers at origins and destinations. 
‘‘(3) To maintain reasonable rates in the ab-
sence of effective competition.’’. 
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT FOR RATE QUOTES. 
Section 11101(a) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’; 
(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) any other contract the shipper has with 
any rail carrier for part or all of its transportation 
needs over the route of movement.’’.
SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BE-
TWEEN CLASS I, CLASS II, AND CLASS III RAIL 
CARRIERS. 
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), or exempt a 
person, class of persons, 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 car-
rier and the activity directly or indirectly would—
‘‘(A) restrict the ability of the Class II or Class 
III rail carrier to interchange traffic with other rail 
carriers; or 
‘‘(B) restrict competition of rail carriers in the 
region affected by the activity in a manner that 
would violate antitrust laws of the United States. 
‘‘(2) Any party to an activity described in paragraph 
(1) that was authorized by the Board within the 10-year 
period preceding the date of enactment of this subsection, 
and any rail shipper affected by such an activity, may re-
quest that the Board review the activity to determine 
whether the activity has resulted in a restriction described 
in paragraph (1)(A) or (B). If, upon review 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 unless the Board 
finds that the termination of the restriction would materi-
ally impair the ability of an affected rail carrier to provide 
service to the public or would otherwise 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.’’. 
SEC. 5. RECIPROCAL SWITCHING. 
Section 11102(c) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1)—
(A) by striking ‘‘may require’’ in the first 
sentence and inserting ‘‘shall require’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘may establish’’ in the sec-
ond sentence and inserting ‘‘shall establish’’; 
and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(3) In making any finding under paragraph (1), the 
Board shall not require that there be evidence of anti-
competitive conduct by a rail carrier from which access 
is sought.’’. 
SEC. 6. AREAS OF INADEQUATE RAIL COMPETITION. 
(a) DESIGNATION AND REMEDIES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 105 is amended by 
adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 10503. Areas of inadequate rail competition 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall designate any 
State or substantial part of a State as an area of inad-
equate rail competition after finding that—
‘‘(1) the State or substantial part of the State 
encompasses rail shipping origins and destinations 
that are served exclusively by one Class I railroad; 
and 
‘‘(2) persons that ship by rail or receive rail 
shipments in the State or substantial part of the 
State—
‘‘(A) pay rates for the rail shipments that 
exceed the rates necessary to yield recovery by 
the rail carrier of 180 percent of revenue-vari-
able costs, as determined under standards ap-
plied in the administration of section 10707(d); 
or 
‘‘(B) have experienced competitive dis-
advantage in the marketplace or other economic
adversity because of high cost or poor quality of 
rail service in the State or substantial part of 
the State. 
‘‘(b) SPECIFIC COMMODITIES.—An area of inad-
equate rail competition may be composed of the facilities 
of a group of shippers or receivers of one or more specific 
commodities within a geographic area. 
‘‘(c) AUTHORIZED PETITIONERS.—A Governor of a 
State, an Attorney General of a State, a Member of Con-
gress, and the Rail Customer Advocate of the Department 
of Transportation are authorized to petition the Board for 
a designation of a State or substantial part of a State 
as an area of inadequate rail competition. 
‘‘(d) ACTIONS.—Upon designating a State or sub-
stantial part of a State as an area of inadequate rail com-
petition, the Board shall resolve, not later than 60 days 
after the date of the designation, the conditions described 
in subsection (a) that justify the designation. In taking 
such action, the Board shall not require rates lower than 
those necessary to yield recovery of 180 percent of rev-
enue-variable costs. In addition to providing other rem-
edies authorized by law, the Board may order any of the 
following actions:
‘‘(1) Provision of reciprocal switching and ac-
cess to tracks of another rail carrier beyond the lim-
its specified in section 11102(a). 
‘‘(2) Haulage transportation of railroad cars by 
a rail carrier to or from facilities that such carrier 
physically serves on behalf of another rail carrier, 
for a fee prescribed by the Board. 
‘‘(3) Regarding rates on any rail segments 
within or connected to the area of inadequate rail 
competition on which rail service is susceptible to 
delay or interruption due to traffic congestion, expe-
dited final offer arbitration under section 11708(e). 
‘‘(4) Expedited review, under guidelines estab-
lished under section 10701(d)(3), of the reasonable-
ness of—
‘‘(A) increases in rates or other charges; 
and 
‘‘(B) new transportation service tariffs. 
‘‘(5) Expedited review of whether a rate violates 
the prohibition against discriminatory rates con-
tained in section 10741, without regard to sub-
section (b)(2) of such section. 
‘‘(e) PROCEDURES.—(1) In the case of a petition for 
an order for reciprocal switching or access to tracks of 
another rail carrier under subsection (d)(1), the Board
may not require that there be evidence of anticompetitive 
conduct by a rail carrier as a prerequisite for ordering 
such action. 
‘‘(2) In the case of a petition for expedited review 
of rates under subsection (d)(4) or final offer arbitration 
of rates under subsection (d)(3)—
‘‘(A) the Board or arbitrator or arbitrators 
shall accord, with respect to rail transportation of a 
specific commodity, significant persuasive weight to 
evidence comparing—
‘‘(i) rates charged for rail transportation of 
various quantities of that commodity within the 
area of inadequate rail competition; and 
‘‘(ii) rates charged for rail transportation 
of similar quantities of that commodity or any 
similar commodity or commodities in areas 
where there is competition among rail carriers 
for shipments of such commodity or commod-
ities; and 
‘‘(B) the Board or arbitrator or arbitrators 
shall not apply any method for determining the rea-
sonableness of rail rates which involves the costs of 
a hypothetical competitor. 
‘‘(3) In the case of a petition for expedited review, 
under subsection (d)(4), of an increase of a rate or other
charge or the imposition of a new service tariff by a rail 
carrier—
‘‘(A) the rail carrier shall have the burden of 
proving the reasonableness of the increase or tariff 
charge; and 
‘‘(B) the Board shall consider any evidence 
comparing—
‘‘(i) the increased rate or other charge, or 
the tariff charge; and 
‘‘(ii) corresponding rates, other charges, or 
new service tariff charges, respectively, imposed 
for rail transportation in areas where there is 
a significant level of competition among the rail 
carriers.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of chapter 105 is amended by 
adding at the end the following new item:
‘‘10503. Areas of inadequate rail competition.’’.
(b) STUDY ON AREAS OF INADEQUATE RAIL COM-
PETITION.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enact-
ment of this Act, the Rail Customer Advocate of the De-
partment of Transportation shall—
(1) review the process under section 10503 for 
challenging and remedying conditions adversely af-
fecting rail shippers of agricultural and forestry 
commodities and products, including commodities
and products shipped by rail in annual volumes of 
1500 rail cars or less, in areas of inadequate rail 
competition; and 
(2) report the results of the study, together 
with any recommendations that the Rail Customer 
Advocate may have for improving the process, to 
Congress. 
SEC. 7. RAIL SERVICE. 
(a) PUBLIC NOTICE.—The Surface Transportation 
Board shall, within 7 days after receipt by the Board or 
any Member or staff of the Board of a complaint from 
a customer about rail service, post on the Board’s Internet 
Web site a description of the complaint, including informa-
tion identifying the railroad or railroads providing the 
service that is the subject of the complaint, the general 
geographic area of the customer’s movement, the date 
upon which the service problem occurred and the date no-
tice of the complaint was made to the Board or any Mem-
ber or staff of the Board. The Internet posting shall iden-
tify the rail customer only upon the written consent of the 
rail customer. Not later than 5 days after the date the 
complaint is resolved, the Board shall update the informa-
tion posted on the Board’s Internet Web site to indicate 
that the complaint has been resolved, the means of its res-
olution, and the date of its resolution.