Justice Department probes rail coal rates

Railway Age, March, 2005

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating "the possibility of anticompetitive practices involving the transport of coal." What's at issue is the growing practice of publicly publishing rates for the movement of Powder River Basin coal vs. negotiating confidential, long-term rates. BNSF Railway and Union Pacific said independently that they are cooperating with the investigation.

BNSF Chairman and CEO Matt Rose commented, "It's a question of whether or not we have the right to display these prices or to change out a long-term contract. We have not been instructed to do anything differently. We don't believe that we will."