Surface Transportation Board Proposes New Investigation Rules
The Surface Transportation Board proposed a procedure for using its newfound power to investigate rail service and delay issues, including a three-step process for advancing those reviews.
The agency, which was granted the power to begin investigations through the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2015, previously could only intervene in rail service matters in response to a received complaint that could be subject to extended internal review. Power to begin the investigations will be limited to matters of “national or regional significance,” the agency’s statement about the proposed rulemaking said.
Step one is a private, internal review of potential issues within the agency, followed by an order of investigation that is sent to a railroad. If the board decides to proceed after receiving a response from the targeted railroad, a formal proceeding would begin. The entire process can’t take longer than a year, under the terms of the STB Reauthorization Act.
“The Reauthorization Act provided the board with important new authority to investigate issues of national or regional significance. The rules proposed today will put procedures in place for using that authority,” STB Chairman Daniel Elliott said.
Congress approved the new approach for STB reviews of service and delay issues after a series of complaints from grain, auto and other shippers, who cited persistent delays late in 2014. Because the board didn’t have investigative power, it couldn’t act to review and possibly address the situation.
Since the board was created in 1996, there has been only one case in which the agency directed a railroad to allow another carrier to use its tracks to alleviate systemwide delays.
That situation occurred in 1997 at Union Pacific Railroad, whose delays prompted the agency to allow smaller carrier Kansas City Southern to use some Texas track owned by larger railroad.
