WATCHING WASHINGTON, RAILWAY AGE FEBRUARY 2025 ISSUE: If you’re unaware that President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29 at age 100, was instrumental in preserving private-sector railroading, blame it on your youth,
The prosperity and growth from which the railroad industry has benefitted for the past 45 years is largely due to two people, both Democrats: New Jersey Congressman and Governor James J. Florio
James J. Florio, the former Governor of New Jersey and eight-term congressman who was the principal author of the 1980 Staggers Rail Act that partially deregulated the industry, died Sept. 25. He was 85.
Forty years ago today (Oct. 14, 1980), President Jimmy Carter signed the Staggers Rail Act into law. The landmark legislation partially deregulated the U.S. rail industry, and created “today’s nimble, resilient rail network … built upon a rock-solid foundation,” noted Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ian Jefferies. It enabled railroads to enter into contracts with shippers and set rates without Interstate Commerce Commission approval.
Periodically, pundits who are not active participants in Surface Transportation Board (STB) proceedings offer for publication in a variety of newspapers—presumably aimed at members of Congress and other public policy opinion leaders—guest opinion columns containing warnings of dire results should railroads be “re-regulated.”
Have others noticed that aside from those few souls conscripted to promote the interests of railroads on Capitol Hill, the term “Staggers Rail Act” has lost its intended meaning?
