(NewsDakota.com/NAFB) – Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate Thursday reduced the Reliable Rail Service Act.

The legislation seeks to help address the unreliable service and high costs of rail shipping for American businesses. Supported by members of the agriculture industry, labor organizations, energy producers, and manufacturers, the bill ensures the largest freight railroads provide American businesses reliable services at reasonable rates. Rail shippers, including farmers, continue to face poor service, significant service disruptions, and sky-high prices that are impacting communities, and consumers, all while the nation’s largest railroads’ profits are at record highs.

Senators Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, and Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, reintroduced the legislation. Marshall says, “Service failures hurt our shippers who use the rail to deliver their products to key export facilities.” The bill establishes specific criteria for the Surface Transportation Board to consider when evaluating whether carriers are meeting their common carrier obligation to give shippers much-needed certainty that is currently lacking.