By Ed Hamberger, President and CEO of the Association of American Railroads
Politico
Not many people would point to the current funding of the nation’s highway system as a model to be emulated.
If anything, it’s a model to be avoided. The funding fights, inadequate revenue, tattered infrastructure and daunting list of bridges and highways in need of repair are the product of a system that ultimately leaves taxpayers footing the bill.
America’s freight railroads, on the other hand, offer a very different model.
As the Surface Transportation Board opens two days of hearings this week on the “revenue adequacy” of the freight rail industry, I’d urge them to keep in mind this stark contrast. The narrow interests of a few companies advocating further government price regulation should not be put ahead of the greater good. And let’s be perfectly clear what this vocal minority is advocating: price controls on our industry.
WHY RAILROADS ARE SELF-SUFFICIENT
The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 unleashed the power of the free market on an industry that had been ravaged by regulation. Out from under government-mandated price controls, America’s railroads were finally free to competitively price our services. A return to profitability meant that railroads could now invest in our network and better serve our customers.
See the comparison of the freight rail industry then and now.
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