The U.S. rail sector has welcomed the passage of new federal legislation targeting organised retail and cargo crime, while urging stronger enforcement action from the Department of Justice to combat rising 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), a bipartisan bill aimed at dismantling criminal networks targeting supply chains.
The legislation (H.R. 2853) passed with strong cross-party support, securing a 348–60 vote. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.AAR described the vote as an important step toward improving supply chain security across the United States.
“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,” the group said, urging the Senate to advance the bill without delay.
The Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) also backed the legislation, highlighting its importance in addressing increasingly sophisticated cargo theft and freight fraud across intermodal supply chains.
IANA president and CEO Anne Reinke said the bill would provide critical federal enforcement tools and intelligence coordination.
“CORCA is critical to supply chain security, providing much needed federal enforcement and intelligence support to address cargo theft and freight fraud,” she said, adding that industry members are already experiencing the real-world impact of these crimes.
She thanked lawmakers including Representatives Dave Joyce, Dina Titus, David Valadao and Susie Lee for supporting the bill, which has attracted 206 co-sponsors.
AAR president and CEO Ian Jefferies warned that organised cargo theft is driving up costs across the entire logistics chain, from rail operators and trucking firms to retailers and manufacturers, and ultimately consumers.
He also stressed that frontline transport workers are increasingly exposed to more sophisticated criminal activity.
“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,” he said.
According to AAR, major U.S. railroads recorded around 75,000 theft incidents in 2025, resulting in losses exceeding $200m a rise of more than 50% compared with the previous year.
The group said much of this activity is driven by transnational criminal networks exploiting enforcement gaps across jurisdictions. Despite significant investment in security systems, only around one in ten theft attempts leads to an arrest, it added.
The CORCA legislation aims to strengthen federal enforcement capabilities by establishing a national coordination centre within Homeland Security Investigations and providing additional grants and training for frontline agencies.
Alongside its support for the bill, AAR as part of a broader industry coalition has also called on the Department of Justice to better utilise existing federal tools to investigate and prosecute organised cargo theft networks operating across the U.S. supply chain.
