Carriers petition for agriculture filing exemption

   Norfolk Southern and CSX have petitioned the Surface Transportation Board to exempt the carriers from a 2010 rule requiring them to submit to the board summaries of contracts regarding agricultural products transportation.
   CSX and Norfolk Southern argue that filing these contract summaries is a significant burden that “outweighs any potential benefit,” according to the filing.
   Norfolk Southern officials, in the filing, also pointed out that the contract information is rarely used. According to the carrier, in the past three years, these summaries, which are published on the STB’s website, “are not accessed or used very much.” On top of the public not viewing the summaries, the railroads argued that the data hasn’t been used by the board in any substantive ruling.
   “Given the few times that these contract summaries have ever been accessed by anyone and the lack of reliance on them by the board or any party in any regulatory matter, they are clearly not necessary to carry out the transportation policy nor are they needed or used to protect shippers from an abuse of market power,” the carriers wrote.
   Norfolk Southern said it filed 348 contract summaries in 2010, submitting 362 in 2011. The petitioners wrote that CSX filed more than 3,000 summaries between 2010 and 2012. For Norfolk Southern, the filing work involved takes up six hours per week. The carriers said they have implemented “unique electronic processes” to handle the workload.
   “Maintaining such processes requires ongoing information technology support,” they wrote. “Overall, this expenditure of time and resources is substantial — especially compared to the lack of access and use of the contract summaries.”