Christensen Associates Study of Competition in the Railroad Industry

Study Overview

Analysis of Competition, Capacity, and Service Quality
A key question from the GAO study: Is the recent increase in rates the result of capacity constraints or the exercise of market power?
To answer this question, we will:

Assess current state of competition and captivity

Nationwide, by industry, by commodity

Assess current and near-future capacity constraints
Examine investment incentives
Examine service quality issues and their causes

Analysis of Policy Reforms and Likely Effects
We will perform an economic analysis of legislative proposals such as:

Reciprocal switching, bottleneck rates, elimination of paper barriers
Repeal of industry antitrust exemptions

We Want Your Input

An important aspect of the project is to obtain input from industry stakeholders so that the study’s research questions are properly framed.
To do this we will get opinions on a variety of topics from selected representative stakeholders, including:

Railroads
Shippers
Industry analysts
Policy makers and regulators
Other interested parties

In addition to selecting stakeholders to interview, we are soliciting input from anyone who wants to express their views.

We have established the electronic forum for parties to express their opinions