Amends Federal transportation law to revise criteria used by the Interstate Commerce Commission in making determinations with respect to applications for abandonment or discontinuance of railroad lines and rail transportation in rural and agricultural areas, especially if abandonment or discontinuance will have a serious adverse effect on development.

Requires rail carriers listing a railroad line for abandonment or discontinuance to make specified records and justifications available to government agencies or local governments. Grants lessees of property or facilities owned by a rail carrier proposing an abandonment or discontinuance elsewhere the right of first refusal to buy a facility served by the line to be abandoned or discontinued.

Declares that the Commission shall not adopt any regulation which prohibits shippers: (1) from operating their own rail cars for the transportation of dry bulk commodities; (2) from determining the points at which such cars can be loaded; or (3) which interferes with such shipped prerogatives.