STB asks: “Does rail regulation need changes?”

The Surface Transportation Board announced Wednesday that it is reviewing its existing regulations “to evaluate their continued validity and determine whether they are crafted effectively to solve current problems facing shippers and railroads.” The review is in keeping with President Obama’s expressed commitment to ease unnecessarily burdensome federal regulation.

As part of the review, the DTB is seeking public comments on “whether any of its regulations may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, and how to modify, streamline, expand, or repeal them, as appropriate.”

The Board asks those filing comments to: “specifically identify which of its existing regulations or reporting requirements are outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, and explain why; propose which regulations should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed; and provide evidentiary support to help the board analyze the costs and benefits of any proposed changes.”

Comments are due by January 10, 2012.