The Senate Judiciary Committee today passed Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2007 (S. 772) by voice vote. This bipartisan legislation would remove the railroad industry’s antitrust exemptions so that antitrust law fully covers railroads as it does other industries.

The bill was introduced in March by Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Russell D. Feingold (D-WI), David Vitter (R-LA) and John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-WV).

As a member of Consumers United for Rail Equity (CURE), a coalition of rail consumers, NRECA is pushing to increase competition and accountability in our nation’s rail system and ensure adequate infrastructure to meet shippers’ needs.

“The railroads enjoy one of the broadest remaining antitrust exemptions of any industry,” said Glenn English, Chairman of CURE and CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “In today’s consolidated rail world, these exemptions provide cover for the railroads’ unrestrained monopoly power, unfair pricing schemes and unreliable rail service across the board. This legislation will finally shine some light on a rail industry that has been allowed to operate in the shadows for far too long. We are grateful that the Senate Judiciary Committee is the first Congressional committee since 1980 to report legislation improving the nation’s current railroad policy.”