Reported by Marybeth Luczak for Railway Age.
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.
“Current ambiguity” around the common carrier obligation—“which under current law requires rail carriers to serve the wider shipping public ‘on reasonable request’”—has contributed to “insufficient rail services and exorbitant costs for American products to get to market,” the Senators said in announcements this month.
According to the Senators, the criteria the STB would be required to consider in its assessment under the legislation include:
- “(A) the impacts of reductions or changes in the frequency of transportation or service, and the availability and maintenance of reasonable local service schedules and delivery windows, on the provision of reasonable transportation service.
- “(B) the impacts of reductions in employment levels, including—(i) reductions in clerical, customer service, maintenance, dispatch and train and engine service employees; (ii) reductions or changes in train or yard crew availability; and ‘‘(iii) the consolidation or shifting of crews across or within service territories.
- “(C) the impacts of reductions in equipment and the availability of equipment, maintenance of equipment or railroad infrastructure, lines and yards, or shifting of equipment across or within service territories or customer and commodity groups.
- “(D) whether the service reasonably meets the local operational and service requirements of the person requesting transportation or service that are consistent with the person’s needs and requirements for the efficient and reliable receipt, transportation and delivery of property.
- “(E) the transportation needs or circumstances of the person requesting transportation or service based upon previous service experience and taking into account any physical or operational limitations or restrictions at a facility or location.
- “(F) the commitment of the person requesting transportation or service of equipment or other resources to support the transportation or service.
- “(G) whether any conditions imposed by the rail carrier as requirements for service are required to meet the local service requirements of the person requesting service or permit the rail carrier to recover its variable cost of providing the requested transportation or service.
- “(H) how the carrier is handling equipment owned by others.
- “(I) whether conditions imposed by the rail carrier as requirements for service, including demurrage, are reasonably reciprocated to meet the service requirements of the person requesting service.”
The Reliable Rail Service Act (S.2104) “gives the Board necessary statutory clarity along with significant discretion and flexibility to account for variations unique to local rail carrier and shipper circumstances, which will provide transparency for all stakeholders while improving STB’s oversight to help address our nation’s freight railroad supply chain challenges and lower costs for consumers,” according to the Senators. It would amend section 11101 of title 49, United States Code, “to ensure that rail carriers provide transportation or service in a manner that fulfills the shipper’s reasonable service requirements.”
According to Sens. Baldwin and Marshall, the Reliable Rail Service Act is endorsed by the Transportation Trades Department (TTD).
Read more here.