Summary: The railroad retirement program, established in 1937, is among the older retirement programs for private sector employees in the country. In 1997, the program had 254,000 active participants and provided pension benefits to 742,000 retirees, spouses, and survivor and disability annuitants. During the past 30 years, the railroad industry has experienced extensive downsizing. Also, about 60 percent of railroad workers leave the industry with less service than they need to qualify for a pension under the program. Consequently, there has been discussion of possible legislation to enhance the portability of railroad retirement benefits. This report discusses (1) which, if any, railroad retirement benefits are portable; (2) what changes could be made to the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) that might enhance the portability of railroad retirement benefits into FERS for former railroad employees who secure federal jobs and the cost and administrative implications of those changes for FERS and whether such chances could be made cost-neutral to FERS; and (3) what changes could be made to railroad retirement that might enhance the overall portability of its retirement benefits and what are the cost and administrative implications of these changes for railroad retirement.
