STB shifts gears on rate review rule

Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chairman Patrick Fuchs late last week announced the board has ended litigation on its final offer rate review (FORR) rule.   

Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a decision that vacated the rule. 

In December 2022, the STB issued the FORR, which created a new procedure for shippers to challenge railroad rates. Fuchs — at the time an STB member — and fellow board member Michelle Schultz dissented from the final rule.

The Association of American Railroads and Union Pacific Railroad issued an appeal of the FORR. They claimed the STB lacked statutory authority to implement the FORR and that the final rule was “unconstitutionally vague, arbitrary and capricious,” according to their appeal. 

In August 2024, the eighth circuit issued a decision finding the STB lacked statutory authority to prescribe rates through the FORR and that the final rule wasn’t consistent with Administrative Procedure Act hearing requirements. 

Fuchs plans to offer a draft action regarding the FORR docket for consideration by the full board next month, pursuant to the federal court’s decision. 

“In fulfilling its overall mission, the board must eliminate unsound and unduly burdensome regulations while facilitating access to markets on reasonable terms, including streamlined processes,” Fuchs said in a press release.  “I look forward to working collaboratively with shippers, carriers and the broader public to improve the board’s adjudications, uphold the law and make the agency more effective and efficient.”