United States Department of Transportation
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Abstract:This study, which is posted online, was undertaken at the request of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), specifically the Office of the Associate Administrator for Policy and Program Development. The FRA Policy Office asked for a review of some of the key questions surrounding the issue of railroad access prices. Access price is to be understood here as the price asked by a railroad that owns a particular segment of track for access to, and use of, that segment of track by some other railroad. The background for this work is public discussion of possible changes in the Staggers Rail Act of 1980. Much of this discussion focuses on the question of access to so- called bottlenecks. Some facilities that either originate or receive rail traffic are served by a single railroad, although another railroad is able to carry that traffic for part of its through movement. It is argued that, if that other railroad could obtain access to such a facility, the railroad customer in question would
obtain the benefits of enhanced competition: lower prices and/or better service. In order to address the issue of access it is necessary to address the price of access. Access pricing raises issues distinct from those regarding the rates railroads charge their usual customers. When one railroad sells access to its tracks to another railroad, it is not just selling the use of its facilities to a firm that wants to provide rail service. It is selling the use of its
facilities to a competitor. (42 p.)
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