STB to review rate, service exemptions
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefThe Surface Transportation Board will hold a public hearing on Dec. 9 to review “existing exemptions from railroad-transportation regulations for certain commodities, boxcar and intermodal freight.”
“Beginning in 1979,” the agency noted, “STB’s predecessor agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission, removed the federal protections requiring reasonable service and rates from certain classes of freight, including certain commodities, boxcar movements, and intermodal services.”
“At the time, most of those shippers supported the exemptions,” said STB Chairman Daniel R. Elliott III. “But some of those same shippers now say that these exemptions have outlived their usefulness. This hearing is a good way to explore whether those exemptions still make good policy sense.”
These and other rail regulatory “freedoms” are the focus of a barrage of criticism from shipper interest groups.
As a result, changes to the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, which partially de-regulated the railroads and is held largely responsible for what is frequently called the “railroad renaissance,” are the target of shipper-backed legislation now before Congress. At a recent hearing on this legislation, STB’s chairman suggested that the board might be able to handle some of the issues bothering railroad customers.
(For additional perspective on the STB’s upcoming hearing, see Contributing Editor Larry Kaufman’s commentary in the Blogs section of this website. CLICK HERE.)
