advertisement

---

On April 23, CSX Transportation will convert all public freight rates to a new fuel surcharge based on rail miles to comply with a Surface Transportation Board (STB) rule.

In January, the board issued a final rule prohibiting railroads from assessing fuel surcharges on regulated public freight rates after April 25 that are based on a percentage of freight charges. The STB responded to shippers who wanted fuel surcharges to be based on mileage rather than freight rates.

CSXT’s new mileage-based fuel surcharge will be indexed to the U.S Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration’s published monthly average price of U.S. No. 2 diesel retail sales. Beginning at $2 per gallon, and for each incremental 4 cents per gallon, CSXT will charge a one-cent-per-mile fuel surcharge one way from origin to destination.

Under the mileage-based formula, the railroad’s fuel surcharge for April will be 13 cents per mile, CSXT said.

Meanwhile, BNSF Railway Co. plans to extend its mileage-based fuel surcharge program April 25 to comply with the STB rule. The railroad’s “all other carload” mileage-based surcharge table will apply to regulated, public, non-contract and non-box-car shipments for which the STB hasn’t prescribed rates. BNSF launched a mileage-based fuel surcharge program in January 2006.

The Class I also plans to work with other carriers to apply a mileage-based fuel surcharge to interline moves.