Shippers are looking for the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to streamline its rate review process and to approve a rule that would allow competing railroads to serve them, although initiatives to do so may be sidelined until the new administration is up and running. Freight transportation policy has not been a leading topic of discussion by the incoming administration, and it’s unknown who Trump might appoint to fill several vacancies on the STB board of directors. Those appointments could signal the likely direction of policy. Some of the shipper concerns were highlighted in a U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) study of rail freight rates,...