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"Open Access" and regulation of railroad freight rates.
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[quote user="CSSHEGEWISCH"] <P>One issue that FM has conveniently dodged for a while has been how "open access" would be attained in this country since the rights-of-way are privately owned. He has previously posited that it could be accomplished by regulatory order, even though there is no legal basis for such an order. He has also suggested the use of anti-trust law, even though it would literally take an Act of Congress to make the necessary changes, quite unlikely even taking yesterday's election results into consideration.</P> <P>Assuming that said changes in anti-trust law were passed and stood Constitutional muster (unlikely considering the wording of the Fifth Amendment), dozens of lawsuits would have to be filed against the various operating railroads that owned their own right-of-way and it would probably be several years before any of these suits actually came to trial, followed by appeals, etc., etc., etc. Even in a scenario that avoids the Constitutional issue, it could be decades before "open access" came to pass.</P> <P>[/quote]</P> <P>I haven't dodge anything. I have stated in the past (and you have aknowledged in subsequent sentences <EM>right after</EM> you said I dodged) that antitrust is the logical way to go, but even that may not be necessary since the Staggers Act itself contains competitive caveats that up to this point in time <STRONG>have not been enforced.</STRONG> And yes, such caveats could be enforced by order if the STB folks ever grow some testicles.</P> <P>I will agree that litigation will be the rule of the day for a few decades if such orders are handed down. But we need to start sometime, and now is as good as ever.</P>
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