Unbalanced Regulation of Rails Hurts Our Economy
By Rep. Cam Ward

With new national leadership and a decidedly different political direction in the White House, Congress could soon find itself debating a bill that runs the potential of increasing the costs of your essential goods while returning us to the days of burdensome big government oversight. The effects of passing such legislation could put one more dagger in our already fragile economy.

I am referring to recent efforts to bring drastic changes to the regulatory structure of our nation's freight rail industry, one of our major transportation lifelines. In the early 1980s, at the dawn of the Reagan Era, our rail industry teetered on the verge of bankruptcy and strained under a crushing mass of federal regulations. Basic engine maintenance had to be deferred, and the railroad track infrastructure was literally decomposing from neglect.

The cost of moving goods by rail was rising faster than the rate of inflation, and much of that cost was passed onto consumers who already felt the pinch of the 1970's gas crisis and double-digit price increases on food.

In a last ditch effort to save the industry, Congress passed the Staggers Act of 1980 and brought smart, balanced regulations that freed railroads to succeed. Freeing the industry from total, dominant government control brought competition among rail companies and allowed them to decide how to best allocate their resources.

The positive results of the Staggers Act are indisputable. The intervening years have seen freight rail rates cut by half, which puts money into your wallet. Accident rates, which ran high when regulation ate resources, have fallen by 70 percent and casualties have become so few that rail is now the safest of all transportation industries. A once crumbling rail infrastructure has been rejuvenated thanks to the more than $420 billion dollars that railroads have been able to invest in maintaining and renewing their own track lines.

Some on Capitol Hill believe government's tentacles belong in every facet of our lives and have decided it is time to roll back freight rail success. Legislation has been introduced that would override the current reasonable regulations and allow the governments giant paw to determine services that railroads provide, despite the needs of the economy Competition, under these new provisions, would cease to exist.

Freight rail companies that spent billions to build tracks and infrastructure would be forced to allow their competitors to capitalize from their work. Imagine spending a lifetime building a grocery store to earn money for your family. Now imagine the government forcing you to allow competing grocery stores to sell their food in your lobby. It is the same case.

Perhaps the most daunting provision in the legislation demands that the government, not the free market, set shipping rates for the industry. Remember what has happened to other countries that allowed totalitarian government control over private enterprise – their economies have failed, their empires have fallen and their memories have been regulated to the dustbin of history.

I fear that rolling back the Staggers Act is the first step in an effort to over regulate this freight transportation. While some think regulation is the key to a stronger economy I believe a practical approach to our infrastructure development is more sensible.

State Rep. Cam Ward is an economic developer who represents Bibb and Shelby counties in the Alabama House of Representatives.