The 2024 presidential election results will reshape the leadership of many federal agencies, and the entities that oversee the nation’s railroads are no exception. This includes the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
As the Washington transitions to Republican control in 2025, it faces a pivotal moment to reorient its priorities toward market-driven principles and away from the central planning tendencies and labor pandering that have defined the agenda under Democratic leadership.
While the STB is limited to regulating the economics of the freight rail industry, the DOT and FRA focus on safety and operations. All have a chance to better consider the pressing challenges of technological advancement and infrastructure modernization. The STB, must refocus on its statutory mandate to promote profitability and stability in the freight rail industry—objectives enshrined by partial economic deregulation more than 40 years ago.
Under Democratic leadership, the STB has leaned toward a central planning approach, prioritizing arbitrary metrics and a view that the sector should resemble that of a public utility instead of a private enterprise. This misalignment of goals continues to challenge the rail industry’s financial stability, affecting long-term investment and innovation.
Rail deregulation was designed to revitalize a struggling rail industry by liberalizing many aspects of its operations, allowing market forces to drive growth. The law emphasizes adequate returns, recognizing that railroads can only thrive if they are financially sustainable. However, recent STB actions, as well as rhetoric, have often disregarded this principle, instead pursuing policies that risk creating unprofitable obligations and increased regulatory burdens.
For example, the Board’s focus on growth for its own sake risks diverting attention from critical issues like infrastructure maintenance and operational efficiency. Such policies undermine the industry’s ability to adapt to changing market conditions and could ultimately harm the very stakeholders the Board seeks to protect – namely the thousands of businesses reliant on rail transportation.
While the STB’s primary focus should remain on ensuring the freight rail industry’s financial stability, the DOT and FRA have a crucial role to play in fostering innovation across the broader transportation sector. These agencies are well-positioned to address the challenges of modernizing infrastructure, integrating emerging technologies, and improving safety standards
Under the Biden administration, however, the agency has been captured by labor unions and acted in ways that undermine its central mission – improving safety. This was abundantly clear when it continued to ignore waiver requests, including for proven track inspection technology, as well as its forcing a rule to freeze current staffing models in place for the future. Known as a “crew size” rule, the Biden administration is preempting any change or room for automation in rail and doing so without any safety data to justify its actions.
Conservatives have long warned against such actions, and the record of those on the right opposing this approach is endless. “The new rule shows how Democrats continue to rule by executive fiat when it suits their political purposes,” the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote earlier this year. “All of this reduces the chances that investments in efficiency will reduce the cost of shipping. A bad policy is being willed into force by a combination of labor interests and political opportunism.”
All of this came into focus of course after the 2023 derailment in Ohio that catapulted Vice President elect J.D. Vance into the spotlight. Yet bad policy is bad policy, whether on Capitol Hill or in the agencies. The Trump team has the perfect opportunity to shift course and embrace the future.
At the same time, the STB has an opportunity to recalibrate its approach and return to the market-driven principles outlined in the Staggers Rail Act. The Surface Transportation Board (STB) should prioritize profitability over volume metrics, ensuring regulations do not hinder the financial viability of railroads. Profitability enables reinvestment in infrastructure and technology, fostering long-term sustainability. Additionally, regulatory stability is critical for attracting investment, requiring the STB to avoid overreach and provide clear, consistent guidelines for the industry. Active engagement with stakeholders—including rail carriers, shippers, and labor organizations—is also essential to crafting policies that reflect marketplace realities. Finally, the STB should reevaluate past decisions, such as its reinterpretation of the common-carrier obligation, which has introduced uncertainty, disrupted private contracts, and created operational challenges.
The STB’s role is critical, but its scope is limited. It must resist the temptation to wade into broader transportation policy issues better addressed by the DOT and FRA. Innovation and infrastructure modernization require a holistic approach, with the DOT and FRA taking the lead in driving technological advancements and fostering collaboration across the transportation sector.
The results of the 2024 presidential election mark a turning point for rail policy and the broader transportation sector. There is a clear mandate to prioritize profitability, stability, and market-driven principles over the central planning tendencies that have defined recent years.
By avoiding the pitfalls of central planning or the temptations to pander to labor union leaders while aligning its actions with the realities of the marketplace, incoming leaders in Washington can help secure a brighter future for the rail industry and the nation.
Andrew Langer is Director of the Center for Regulatory Freedom at the CPAC Foundation
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