The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has submitted comments to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on reciprocal switching, in advance of STB’s March 15-16 hearing on the subject that has divided freight railroads and many of their major customers.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has issued a procedural schedule for Amtrak and CN to submit further evidence and arguments in their dispute over establishing reasonable terms and compensation for Amtrak to use the Class I railroad’s facilities and services.
Danielle Gosselin has been appointed Director of the Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA), following service in an acting capacity since January 2021.
BNSF is asking the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to impose conditions that preserve competition, particularly at the U.S.-Mexico border, if the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger is approved.
A Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern combination without conditions “would likely cause a significant loss of competition, especially for traffic moving via the Laredo Gateway,” Union Pacific (UP) told the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in comments filed Feb. 28.
How remarkable that the customarily staid Association of American Railroads (AAR) is following a Marx Brothers comedy script to derail a Surface Transportation Board (STB) proposed rulemaking intended to assure railroad competition. One scene violates first-year law school advice not to irritate judges hearing your case; another vandalizes economic science by comparing a highly competitive soft drink market with rail service monopolies.
CN has officially asked the Surface Transportation Board (STB) “to condition any approval of a Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger on the divestiture of the KCS line from Kansas City, Missouri to Springfield and East St. Louis, Illinois (the Kansas City Speedway) to CN, pursuant to the STB’s statutory authority to order ‘the divestiture of parallel tracks’ as a merger condition.”
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Feb. 24 clarified its previous decision regarding Sanimax USA LLC’s common carrier obligation and unreasonable practices complaint against Union Pacific (UP).
Editor’s Note: The following is the conclusion to a respectful exchange of ideas between former Surface Transportation Board Director and Chief Economist Dr. William Huneke and Jay Roman, President of Escalation Consultants, Inc. about the
The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Economics (OE) has published the Annual Rail Rate Index Study: 1985-2020, summarizing trends in freight railroad rates.