The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has adopted for fourth-quarter 2022 the rail cost adjustment factor (RCAF), defined as “an index formulated to represent changes in railroad costs incurred by the nation’s largest railroads over a specified period of time.”
The railroad industry is in crisis. Many people outside and inside the industry are quick to blame its current state on Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) and Wall Street. However, several instances of
In response to a request from “affected communities,” the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) issued on Sept. 6 a notice extending the deadline for public comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed acquisition of Kansas City Southern (KCS) by Canadian Pacific (CP) to Oct. 14.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has found five U.S. Class I railroads to be revenue adequate for 2021: BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Soo Line (the U.S. affiliate of Canadian Pacific) and Union Pacific. Railway Age Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner weighs in.
The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a confirmation hearing Sept. 7 on President Biden’s nomination of Democrat Robert E. Primus to a second term on the Surface Transportation Board (STB). This is a preliminary step, requiring a subsequent vote among committee members whether to send the nomination forward to the entire Senate for consideration. The latter could be problematic, as will be explained.
All parties in the Gulf Coast case are in agreement—on the extension of mediation. Amtrak on one side and CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS), and the Alabama State Port Authority and its Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks division (collectively, the Port) on the other are jointly calling on the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to order a 30-day extension.
When Congress partially deregulated railroad rates and practices in 1980 (Staggers Rail Act), it instructed regulators to consider revenue adequacy in determining the reasonableness of rail rates charged captive shippers—those lacking effective transportation alternatives to rail. More than four decades later, neither the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) nor its Surface Transportation Board (STB) successor have promulgated the intended regulatory rules.
The Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) “inadequate” assessments of the Uinta Basin Railway project’s climate, public health and safety impacts undermine its approval of the project under the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act, according to a Colorado County and environmental groups, Law360 reports.
Janie Sheng has been elevated to Director of the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Office of Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs and Compliance (OPAGAC), following service as Acting Director since August 2021.
“To date, steps by Class I railroads to boost hiring and other measures have not translated into meaningful service improvements,” the American Chemistry Council (ACC) told the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in an update earlier this month on rail challenges and their impact on U.S. chemical producers.