§ 801. Declaration of policy
(a)
Purpose
It is the purpose of the Congress in this Act to provide the means to rehabilitate and maintain the physical facilities, improve the operations and structure, and restore the financial stability of the railway system of the United States, and to promote the revitalization of such railway system, so that this mode of transportation will remain viable in the private sector of the economy and will be able to provide energy-efficient, ecologically compatible transportation services with greater efficiency, effectiveness, and economy, through—
(2)
the encouragement of efforts to restructure the system on a more economically justified basis, including planning authority in the Secretary of Transportation, an expedited procedure for determining whether merger and consolidation applications are in the public interest, and continuing reorganization authority;
(3)
financing mechanisms that will assure adequate rehabilitation and improvement of facilities and equipment, implementation of the final system plan, and implementation of the Northeast Corridor project;
(4)
transitional continuation of service on light-density rail lines that are necessary to continued employment and community well-being throughout the United States;
(b)
Policy
It is declared to be the policy of the Congress in this Act to—
(2)
foster competition among all carriers by railroad and other modes of transportation, to promote more adequate and efficient transportation services, and to increase the attractiveness of investing in railroads and rail-service-related enterprises;
(3)
permit railroads greater freedom to raise or lower rates for rail services in competitive markets;