The American Consumer Institute (ACI) president Steve Pociask today joined hundreds of other public policy experts in a letter to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Staggers Rail Act. The letter, addressed to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and Congress states:

“[The] Staggers Act established a visionary approach to regulation that sparked a freight rail renaissance and continues to provide measurable benefits to businesses, consumers, taxpayers and our economy.”

ACI issued research on rail regulation in February 2020, noting that rail deregulation, via the Staggers Act, produced a 44% reduction in transportation prices and yields $10 billion of annual consumer benefits. Our research paper noted that “industry productivity has more than doubled, investment has surged, and inflation-adjusted rail rates have decreased.”

“The Staggers Rail Act remedied decades of failed, anti-consumer policies and to this day creates savings for consumers,” said Pociask, who recently addressed the anniversary in an op-ed in The Hill. “It is as important now as ever for railroads, shippers and customers alike that policymakers defer to the market as much as possible to avoid heavy handed regulation that nearly cost the U.S. a viable freight rail industry.”

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