Drawn from our 2025 Rail Insights conference, this edition of Railway Age’s podcast series features Surface Transportation Board Chair Patrick Fuchs in conversation with Editor-in Chief William C. Vantuono. Now in his
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on June 30 denied both a request from BNSF to issue an order clarifying that it has the right to serve a Texas-based shipper and a petition for enforcement for BNSF to serve an Arkansas-based shipper—pursuant to conditions imposed by the Board as part of the Union Pacific-Southern Pacific merger approval.
The Surface Transportation Board, under the direction of Chairman Patrick Fuchs, continues to clear its docket of case backlogs. The initiative, STB said, is among the agency’s efforts “to promote transparency and
The Surface Transportation Board (STB), short one member at four and evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, on June 25 issued a somewhat nebulous decision on Docket No. Ex Parte 768, “Petition
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has published the annual deflator factor and inflation-adjusted railroad revenue thresholds for 2024.
It is eminently logical that if one relocates to a community zoned for heavy industry, they shouldn’t be surprised that a 24/7 distribution hub is constructed near them, bringing with it additional noise and increased highway traffic. It follows that if one relocates to a community with main line railroad track, they shouldn’t be surprised with the arrival of additional train traffic.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has adopted for third-quarter 2025 the rail cost adjustment factor (RCAF), which is defined as “an index formulated to represent changes in railroad costs incurred by the nation’s largest railroads over a specified period of time.”
U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kans.) on June 18 reintroduced the Reliable Rail Service Act to clarify the railroads’ common carrier obligation and to establish specific criteria for the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to consider when evaluating whether that obligation is being met. They said it would “give shippers much-needed certainty that is currently lacking.” The Association of American Railroads (AAR) weighs in.
We hosted a call with former Surface Transportation Board Chair Daniel R. Elliott III to discuss rail M&A. An East-West consolidation remains an uphill battle—he gave it a 20%-25% chance—and would likely
The Surface Transportation Board has published and is providing the public an opportunity to comment on the 2024 weighted average state tax rates for each U.S. Class I railroad, as calculated by