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Nationalization and Deregulation: The Creation of Conrail and the Demise of the ICC, 1973-1980

Hiner, Matthew
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1150310691

Abstract Details

2006, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, History.
The American railroad industry reached a crossroads in the 1970s. Years of mis-management, increasing labor and materials costs, and questionable regulatory practices pushed many railroads to the brink of bankruptcy. The economic downturn of the decade greatly affected railroads in regions where competition was stiffest, particularly in the Northeast and the Midwest. As more railroads failed, criticism of government regulation increased. This criticism became more intensive after 1971, when the government nationalized American rail passenger service through Amtrak. Further government involvement in the rail industry occurred in1973 when America’s largest freight railroad, Penn Central, came dangerously close to a complete shutdown. Concerned with the economic consequences of a shutdown, Congress created America’s first, and still only, quasi-public freight railroad, Conrail. Now that the government had a billion dollar stake in the future of the railroad industry, deregulation became a top priority for both Congress and the White House. The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) had regulated railroads since 1887, and abolishing this government bureaucracy overnight proved impossible. Although regulatory policies had not always benefitted the railroads, the ICC did bring a certain level of stability to the railroads, shippers, consumers, and other competing transportation modes. Yet a series of questionable ICC decisions during the 1970s gave the railroad industry a new ally against the ICC in the form of an increasingly anti-regulatory Congress eager to protect Conrail. Railroad deregulation came to America through two sweeping legislative milestones, the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 and the Staggers Act of 1980. Congress took careful steps in the rail deregulation issue to protect their Conrail investment that they did not need to take in other types of transportation deregulation. As a result, railroad deregulation generally had positive effects not just on the industry, but shippers and consumers as well. Multiple studies completed since the Staggers Act have examined the impact of railroad deregulation and in general found positive results. This dissertation makes an important contribution to historical literature by linking the story of rail deregulation in America to the Congressional creation of Conrail.
Gregory Wilson (Advisor)
439 p.
Railroads, Regulation; Railroads, Deregulation; Conrail; Government Policy, Transportation; Jimmy Carter; Gerald Ford; Interstate Commerce Commission

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hiner, M. (2006). Nationalization and Deregulation: The Creation of Conrail and the Demise of the ICC, 1973-1980 [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1150310691

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hiner, Matthew. Nationalization and Deregulation: The Creation of Conrail and the Demise of the ICC, 1973-1980. 2006. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1150310691.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hiner, Matthew. "Nationalization and Deregulation: The Creation of Conrail and the Demise of the ICC, 1973-1980." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1150310691

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2006, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.