Reliable Rail Service Act of 2025

This bill aims to make freight rail service more reliable for customers. It says railroads must meet a shipper’s reasonable service needs, like keeping dependable schedules and delivery windows. When deciding if a railroad failed to provide reasonable service, the Board must look at things like how often trains run, whether local schedules and delivery windows are kept, cuts to staffing and crews, the amount and upkeep of equipment and tracks, whether service fits the shipper’s local needs, what the shipper can provide to help, how the railroad handles other owners’ railcars, and whether extra charges like demurrage are fair and balanced.

Shippers can ask for clear service terms, including reasonable transit or cycle times and other service standards. If a railroad violates the rules, the Board can set those times and standards. Complaints about violations must be finished within 180 days, and requests to set service terms must be finished within 45 days.

Key points:

• Who is affected: Freight railroads and the shippers who use them.
• What changes: Clear factors the Board must consider about service quality; shippers can request specific service standards; the Board can order transit times and standards.
• Timelines: Violation cases completed in 180 days; service-term requests completed in 45 days.