FreightWaves chatted with former STB Chairman Dan Elliott on the history of the board’s relationship with reciprocal switching and why the board should still review it today.
The panel on rail consolidations also addressed different approaches to creating competition on monopoly networks.
Canadian Pacific and CSX want to show federal regulators and the broader public that they have widespread support for their proposed acquisitions.
Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern submit a plan to regulators detailing how they will merge their operations.
The two eastern U.S. railroads want the Surface Transportation Board to maintain its identity as an independent arbitrator as it decides whether to permit Amtrak to restore Gulf Coast service between Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans.
Several rail shippers had asked the Surface Transportation Board to temporarily suspend a proceeding on a voluntary arbitration program for small rate disputes, but the board denied that request.
The end of 2021 brings the confirmation of a Surface Transportation Board member and approvals of short line requests.
The eastern U.S. railroad is aggressively courting new employees as well as seeking to retain current ones to improve traffic flow and reduce delays.
Economist Steve Pociask opines on why he thinks the Surface Transportation Board should tread carefully when deciding how to proceed with the issue of reciprocal switching.
The Surface Transportation Board has adopted a final rule that addresses temporary trackage rights in situations in which one rail carrier needs access to another carrier’s track due to an emergency.
Surface Transportation Board Chairman Marty Oberman is asking Norfolk Southern why service has deteriorated, according to shippers — and what the railroad plans to do about it.
Two agencies in Mexico have given their approval of the proposed merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.
The STB is allowing the merger application of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern to proceed as is, rejecting Union Pacific’s concerns over the application’s completeness.
The railroad says CP’s and KCS’ traffic diversion analysis is incomplete, and so the board should compel CP and KCS to revise its merger application.
The Surface Transportation Board is advancing two rulemakings on small rate disputes concurrently to determine how best to address such disputes. The railroads prefer one rulemaking while shippers prefer another.
The board has said it plans to seek input on the environmental impacts of the CP-KCS merger; CSX’s planned acquisition of Pan Am Railways; Amtrak’s plan to restore its Gulf Coast service; and reciprocal switching.
CSX defended its service record and its responsiveness to customer concerns to the Surface Transportation Board, which had sent CSX a letter in October saying that the board received complaints over the railroad’s recent performance.
CSX and Norfolk Southern are asking the Surface Transportation Board to deny Amtrak’s request to restore U.S. Gulf Coast service between Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans unless the passenger railroad agrees to pay for capital improvements to facilitate rail moves.
STB has allowed agri-food shipper Sanimax to proceed in its complaint against Union Pacific over service issues.
The proposed schedule will provide room for rebuttals and responses, STB said.
