RATE BUREAUS AND THE RAILROAD REVITALIZATION AND REFORM ACT OF 1976 - TRUMAN REVISITED

Railroads grew up with collective ratemaking, practices using them before the passage of the Federal antitrust laws in 1890 and continuously thereafter. Court challenges never changed the practices basically; the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 for the first time alters the regulatory approach to reduce the scope of detailed regulatory intervention and increase the scope of flexible carrier pricing decisions. The Section 5a changes mean that many railroad rates must come to be made by competitive procedures under pain of antitrust liabilities with joint-line rates a particular problem. The pressure to curtail collective pricing and service decisions will continue and more far reaching changes in pricing practices are in prospect.