Legislation to remove the railroads’ antitrust exemption to increase competition and fairness in the freight rail industry won quick approval by the Senate Judiciary Committee today.  The Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 (S. 146) was approved by a unanimous voice vote.

“I applaud these Senators for their efforts to put an end to this broad and unwarranted exemption from antitrust law,” said Glenn English, Chairman of Consumers United for Rail Equity (CURE) and CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “The railroads have used this exemption to consolidate the country’s rail shipping down to four regional monopolies, giving these corporate behemoths tremendous monopoly pricing power that results in record profits at the expense of captive shippers.”

The Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009, authored by Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), would:

• Repeal the railroads’ exemption form antitrust law;
• Permit the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to review mergers under antitrust law;
• Ensure that STB rulings and regulations conform to the nation’s antitrust laws; and
• Allow state attorneys general and private parties to sue for treble damages and pursue court orders to halt anticompetitive conduct, both of which are not currently allowed under federal law.

A companion House bill (H.R. 233) authored by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is currently pending in the House Judiciary Committee. The legislation passed the committee in the last Congress by a bipartisan voice vote.