Railroad Industry Worried About Biden Executive Order An executive order signed by President Joe Biden that could force railroads to allow other operators to use their tracks could reduce competition and increase costs, according to industry experts. Biden’s order last week in part called on the independent Surface Transportation Board to consider what the Association of American Railroads calls “forced switching” rule. Currently, railroad companies quote prices to their customers based on what they may have to pay competitors to get certain cars onto tracks they do not own in order to get them to their final destination. “Competition is alive and well in the rapidly changing freight transportation market, with nearly three-quarters of all U.S. freight shipments moving by a mode of transportation besides rail,” according to a statement by Ian Jeff Jefferies, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads. “With the logistics chain already challenged by the recovery from COVID, this executive order throws an unnecessary wrench into freight rail’s critical role in providing the service that American families and businesses rely on every day.”