The Senate Commerce Committee today unanimously approved a bill to reauthorize the Surface Transportation Board that includes several changes requested by consumer advocates, including Consumers United for Rail Equity (CURE) and the Consumer Federation of America.

“This is historic legislation,” said Glenn English, Chairman of CURE and CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “It is the first bill since 1980 to move out of the Senate Commerce Committee with customer-advocated improvements in the freight rail regulatory program,” English said. 

English cautioned, however, that “[t]here is still much work to be done to see the consumer-oriented reforms included in this bill, as well as others advocated by freight rail shippers, enacted into law and implemented. But this bill is an important step forward in the long effort to increase fairness and competition in the nation’s freight rail system.”

For more information, visit CURE.