"...need to be protected against price gouging by rail providers."

That's another way of saying that the farmers continue to demand the taxpayers subsidize their transportation costs on the Columbia and Snake rivers because they're producing an otherwise non-competitive product.

Reminds me of when the Corps of Engineers suggested a small diesel fuel tax on barge fuel (which pays no highway taxes, of course) to pay for part of the overhaul needed on the Mississippi. Needless to say Senator Harkin in Iowa had that killed.

In reality we have no idea of the true cost of transporting anything in the US because there isn't a mode out there that doesn't receive some form of subsidy. Rail probably comes closest to the least subsidy, although its set to grow greatly on the future.