Railroads cheer crime bill passage, want DoJ to gear up supply chain theft fight

House passage of a bill to fight retail crime is a good start, says a rail trade group, who called on the Justice Department to do more to fight supply chain theft. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) said it applauds the U. S. House of Representatives for passing the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) Tuesday.

The bipartisan legislation (H. R. 2853), which takes aim at criminal networks targeting American supply chains, passed by a vote of 348-60. “Today’s House passage of CORCA is a win for every business, worker, and consumer who depends on the reliable and affordable movement of goods across America,” AAR said in a statement.

It called on the Senate to pass the bill as well. “CORCA is critical to supply chain security, providing much-needed federal enforcement and intelligence support to address cargo theft and freight fraud,” said Intermodal Association of North America President and Chief Executive Anne Reinke.

“IANA has been at the forefront of efforts to advance this legislation because our members are seeing the real-world impact of these crimes across the intermodal supply chain. We thank the lawmakers who helped move CORCA forward in the House, and we now urge the Senate to act quickly and get H. R. 2853 across the finish line.” The group commended Reps.

Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), Dina Titus (D-Nev.) , David Valadao (R-Calif.) and Susie Lee (D-Nev.) for backing the legislation, which attracted 206 co-sponsors.

“Organized cargo theft raises costs across the supply chain – from railroads and trucking companies to retailers, manufacturers, and ultimately consumers – while also putting transportation employees and frontline workers at greater risk from increasingly sophisticated criminal activity,” said Ian Jefferies, president and chief executive of AAR.

“Today’s House action brings Congress one step closer to delivering the federal response Americans deserve.” AAR said 75,000 incidents of theft from major U. S. railroads caused losses of more than $200 million in 2025, an increase of more than 50% year-on-year.

Much of it was carried out by transnational networks that exploit enforcement gaps across jurisdictions. “Despite substantial industry investments in security, only about one in 10 theft attempts lead to an arrest,” the group said.

The legislation strengthens federal law enforcement tools, establishes a national coordination center within Homeland Security Investigations, and provides grants and training to frontline agencies.

The rail group as part of a coalition has called on the Department of Justice to deploy existing federal resources to combat organized supply chain theft, to investigate and prosecute criminal networks. Subscribe to FreightWaves’ Rail e-newsletter and get the latest insights on rail freight right in your inbox.

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