Testifying at a June 10, 2015 Surface Transportation Board hearing on the shipment of grain by rail, representatives from the Association of American Railroads legal and economic policy departments said that calls to create new grain-specific regulations are “simply unjustified.”
“Like other rail customers, grain shippers today have options for seeking STB review of their rail rates,” said AAR Associate General Counsel Timothy J. Strafford. “Whether it’s a proposal to force binding arbitration, or create artificial formula-based rate review processes, these proposals are nothing more than further attempts by certain shipper groups to use the federal government to get themselves below-market rates.”
“From grain management and storage, to shipment to domestic and international export markets, freight railroads bring America’s high-quality, low-priced grain to the global marketplace,” said AAR Senior Vice President of Policy and Economics John T. Gray. “Rail is the most cost-effective mode of transportation for many grain producers, and modest rail rate increases in recent years pale in comparison with the price increases American farmers have seen from other things, like the price of seed, fertilizer and fuel.”
In a statement, the AAR noted that freight railroads “every day bring American grain supplies to compete on the global marketplace, thanks to balanced economic rail regulations in place at the STB. Freight railroads are a critical part of the highly complex grain logistical supply chain fueled by private investments in a nationwide rail network considered the best in the world.”