Surface Transportation Reauthorization: Passenger and Freight Rail Issues

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P.L. 117-58) contained, among other provisions, a five-year reauthorization of federal surface transportation (highway, public transportation, and rail) programs set to expire on September 30, 2026. Funding for Amtrak or for discretionary grant programs, rail safety, and the rail industry are all issues addressed in the IIJA or prior reauthorizations that could be considered in future rail reauthorization bills. Funding Issues The overall funding level for Amtrak is typically an issue in surface transportation reauthorization debate. Amtrak’s expenses have exceeded its revenues each year; therefore, its ability to operate and undertake infrastructure improvement projects has depended on funding from Congress. Apart from funding Amtrak, the IIJA provided authorizations from the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury and advance multiyear appropriations for several discretionary competitive grant programs. Unlike some highway and transit programs, rail programs do not receive contract authority from the Highway Trust Fund and therefore rely on the annual appropriations process to make funding available for grants. Congress could choose to increase, decrease, or hold steady the funding levels established in the IIJA and continue to provide multiyear advance appropriations, or it could continue to rely on annual appropriations bills to fund rail programs. Safety Issues Several rail safety bills were introduced in the 118th and 119th Congresses. Congress could include some elements of these past proposals in potential surface reauthorization bills; it could also choose to address rail safety separately or leave existing railroad safety laws in place. Many state, local, and federal officials have received complaints about road traffic blocked by slow-moving or stopped trains at highway-rail crossings (also called grade crossings). To assess the scale of the issue, the Federal Railroad Administration launched a website in 2019 to collect blocked crossing information submitted voluntarily by the public. Congress could consider new blocked crossing data collection or enforcement requirements, which might place an additional data collection burden on railroad carriers while potentially yielding actionable data about where safety investments should be prioritized (related bills include H.R. 6790). Other safety issues include the establishment of a two-person minimum for freight train crews such as proposed in H.R. 928 and H.R. 971. Industry Issues Congress created the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in 1995 to be the economic regulator of interstate land and water transportation providers. STB has the authority to approve railroad mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations, including the acquisition of a company’s railroad line(s). If Congress were to reauthorize STB, Congress could transfer the approval authority for railroad mergers from STB to one or more antitrust agencies, such as the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, as recommended by a study conducted by the Department of Transportation and the National Academies at Congress’s direction. Congress also could direct regulators to abandon STB’s existing standards, which apply only to the rail industry, in favor of customary antitrust principles. Congress may consider other rail industry issues, including the rate of compensation when one railroad company transports freight cars owned by another railroad company and the possible creation of a process that would allow customers to seek damages or other relief from railroads providing substandard service. In addition, Congress could use its oversight powers to monitor how STB responds to freight service complaints in order to evaluate the need for future action.