Railroads need attention as well

All of us as consumers face challenging times ahead as prices are rising for just about everything. We have heard lots of reasons for the high price of gasoline and food, but there are also a lot of hidden costs that add to the final price of things.

We know that the cost of gasoline increases the price of food and other things because it increases the cost of transporting products to where we are. However, there are transportation costs that are hidden and unnecessary.

Auto dealerships, farmers and chemical companies are very dependent on the railroads for transporting their products. One thing that many people don't know is that the freight railroads are exempt from antitrust law, which basically means that they are allowed by the federal government to be monopolies and charge shippers whatever they feel they can get. The shippers have no place else to go because only one railroad controls the tracks in each region.

Congress deals with issues like this all of the time with most of us not even noticing. But this stuff is very important, seeing that any increase in transportation costs is passed down to us in the final price of a car, truck, loaf of bread, electricity (there are tons of coal shipped by railroads for power plants) or anything that contains chemicals.

Reps. Brian Higgins, Louise Slaughter and Tom Reynolds will be voting soon on the Railroad Competition and Service Improvement Act, which would help to increase competition between the railroads and lower railroad transportation costs. Hopefully, they will all support consumers and help get rid of hidden and unnecessary costs that lead to higher prices for consumers.
Ann Yen
Arielle Court
Williamsville