Opinion

KANDRACH: Congress Ponders Big Changes To Rail That Would Hurt Consumers, Undermine Safety

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Matthew Kandrach President, CASE
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Despite a slowdown in consumer spending in March, consumption remains at the heart of the U.S. economy, accounting for nearly 70 percent of GDP. While a mixed bag, most economists agree that consumers must continue to spend in the face of lingering inflation if we are to avoid a recession.

Unfortunately, it seems that many Americans, including some policymakers responsible for overseeing the economy, are growing more disconnected from the realities that fuel domestic prosperity. From their plastic phones, digital warriors post online about the need to ban plastics, while haughty electric vehicle proponents ignore the fuels required to charge their batteries. They fail to recognize that the food arriving at someone’s doorstep is the result of an integrated distribution network and hardworking farmers, and not the sole byproduct of a tech platform in Silicon Valley.

While COVID made more Americans aware of the supply chain that makes life possible, ignorance — or willful disdain of facts — persists. Perhaps nowhere has this been more evident than in the frenzy surrounding the freight rail industry, which moves about a third of domestic freight, following a terrible derailment in Ohio in February.

Politicians have used the crisis to their own political gain while sowing unjustified fear about the overall movement of goods on rail. The data show big time accidents are down over time, with the number of derailments sharply declining since 2000, even if small one, even if small ones in handling facilities episodically occur.

The result is a sweeping piece of legislation inaccurately called the Rail Safety Act that would do little to improve safety but would hurt businesses and consumers by slowing down the movement of goods. “It incorporates policy recommendations from Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg that are not germane to the East Palestine accident, grants the secretary’s office broad new powers to regulate the rail sector, and includes sops to organized labor,” says the National Review editorial board.

Ironically, and as pointed out by experts, it could make transportation overall less safe and more expensive. More freight would move by trucks, which are less safe, while railroads would  lump trains with hazardous materials together, where now they are dispersed over more trains to mitigate the impact of a possible derailment, creating the potential for more catastrophic events.

Consumers lose while lawmakers gain an empty “win” on the back of a crisis. Sensible lawmakers should raise their hand and stop this train before it goes too far.

Specifically, there are three main reasons why Congress should not approve the measure.

First, and as noted by the Wall Street Journal editorial board and echoed by organizations like our own and FreedomWorks, Congress should not use an accident involving three employees to mandate that railroads operate forever with two people in the cab of a locomotive.

As the WSJ says, “there’s no evidence that two-man crews are safer.”

“The consulting firm Oliver Wyman studied rail safety in 2015 and again in 2021, including small and large carriers in the U.S. and Europe, and it found no effect from doubling the crews,” it adds. “The FRA’s studies have also shown no benefit from larger crews.” The Federal Rail Administration is the government’s rail safety oversight agency,

A closely divided Congress should be able to reject blatant featherbedding.

Second, the legislation speaks to the disconnect of supply chain realities by broadly regulating any train that is carrying potentially hazardous materials, including speed, length and weight limits. While this may sound acceptable at first blush, it would negatively impact a plethora of non-hazardous materials that move at the same time. Why should UPS packages moving out of a port be subject to the identical regulations as chemicals?

But perhaps most troubling is the proposal to give more power to unelected bureaucrats at the U.S. Department of Transportation, which is failing the nation in so many ways.

While no mode of transportation will ever be perfect, it is mystifying to see such a laser focus on an overall safe railroad industry while more than 40,000 people die each year on the roads. By overreacting and overreaching, policymakers will hinder the movement of goods consumers rely on. That is the wrong path and should be rejected.

Matthew Kandrach is president of Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, a free-market oriented consumer advocacy organization.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.