Staggers Act

What Is the Staggers Act?

The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 is a federal law that fundamentally deregulated the railroad industry in the United States. The act energized greater dependence on competition to set rates and permitted railways to set their own rates in view of market powers. The Act was passed to replace the profoundly regulated structure of the U.S. rail delivering system which had existed since the adoption of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which regulated practically each of the rates that rail lines could charge transporters.

The Act was named after Congressman Harley O. Staggers, who was the chair of the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee.

Understanding the Staggers Act

The Staggers Act replaced a regulatory infrastructure for rail lines that had been in place since adoption of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887. This Act placed rail lines under the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which laid out a system for setting transporting rates that couldn't rival advances in technology in post-World War II America.

The rise of the personal automobile, transport travel, and shipping businesses — starting during the 1930s and reaching out through the post-war period — drove most railways to end passenger service and numerous to altogether leave business.

The Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act

The Staggers Act followed the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform (4R) Act of 1976, which tried to slacken regulatory limitations on rail lines to permit them greater independence in setting rates for contracts and services, and greater freedom to enter or exit different rail markets. As rail lines got away from collective rate-production, they required legislation that would support greater flexibility for rail transporters to bargain with transporters.

Changes to the Rail System under the Staggers Act

The Staggers Act accommodated the accompanying primary changes to the rail industry in the U.S.:

• It permitted rail transporters to charge any given rate they decided for services except if the ICC decided no competition for such services existed
• It eliminated expansive rate changes
• It directed that access must be given by one railroad to one more's rails in the case where a single railroad had bottleneck control of the rail traffic
• It permitted rail transporters to lay out contracts free of ICC audit except if the ICC confirmed that said contract would slow down the transporter's ability to offer common support
• It insisted the destroying of collective rate-production infrastructure among railways

Following the Act, the studies found that the industry had both brought down costs and prices for services, inclining toward what's to come possibilities of both the rail industry and its customers.

Features

• The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 deregulated railroad rates in the U.S.
• The Act supported the setting of rates in view of market competition. Up to that point, rates were set by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
• Studies propose that deregulation prompted lower rail transportation costs.