AAR CEO responds to STB chair's concerns over rail cost data reports

The Association of American Railroads' processes for submitting railroad cost data to the Surface Transportation Board are "robust" and have required only a few "immaterial" adjustments over the past decade, AAR President and CEO Ian Jefferies said in a Dec. 2 letter to the board's chairman. 

Jefferies was responding to STB Chairman Robert Primus' Nov. 26 letter in which he questioned the quality of the association's data submissions related to the rail cost adjustment factor (RCAF), an index published by the board that is formulated to represent changes in railroad costs over time. 

In recent years, the AAR has had to refile four quarterly RCAF filings due to errors or the need for modifications of the data, STB officials said last month in a press release.

In his response, Jefferies said he was surprised to learn of the STB chair's concerns and that his letter overstates the implications of "minor procedural adjustments" to the AAR's RCAF filings.

"Your characterization of a 'troubling trend' in AAR’s RCAF filings is simply not borne out by the facts," Jefferies' letter states. "Over the past decade, AAR has submitted 40 RCAF filings, of which only four required minor adjustments. These adjustments were entirely procedural or textual, reflecting clarifications or evolving inputs, and were promptly identified by AAR and addressed — typically within days." Jefferies noted that, contrary to the implications in Primus' letter, none of the AAR's re-filings altered the board's final approvals or decisions.

To read Jefferies' letter in its entirety, click here.

Accurate RCAF reports are integral to the STB processes and also are relied on by many other industry stakeholders, Primus wrote in his letter, which can be downloaded here.