Competitive Rail Access Unlikely to Pass, UP Says

EL PASO, Texas -- Officials of the nation's largest railroad said they don't believe Congress will pass legislation to force carriers to permit their competitors to operate over their tracks.

"We're not going to have anything happen this year," predicted James Dolan, the Union Pacific Corp.'s vice president for law. But, he said, "The battle will continue next year."

Richard K. Davidson, Union Pacific's president, agreed that congressional action is unlikely. Both officials were interviewed during a recent inspection trip the railroad organized to showcase a new intermodal route it created between the Midwest and Southern California.

Some large rail shippers, hurt by the freight delivery meltdown caused by Union Pacific in late 1997 and much of last year, have urged Congress to force railroads to allow others to operate trains over their tracks. The shippers call this open access; the railroads call it re-regulation.

American Trucking Associations President Walter McCormick has warned that unless the railroads soften their opposition to changes in truck weight and length maximums, the trucking industry may support the shippers' drive for open access.

Dolan said such access would cost the railroads billions of dollars and dry up their sources of investment capital. "The plan would take $3 billion to $4 billion and give it to a select group of shippers," which he said would include manufacturers and oil companies.

That, in turn, would lead the railroads to shut down lines where they couldn't attract sufficient income, he said.

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