STB allows UP to keep some service reporting info confidential

In its ongoing monitoring of Union Pacific Railroad's service issues, the Surface Transportation Board on Monday granted the company's request to keep certain documents and/or data confidential.

UP's request to keep some information from public view arose last year around the time board held a two-day hearing in December on the railroad's use of embargoes to reduce rail traffic congestion on its network. That hearing was called after shippers complained about supply-chain problems as a result of railroad embargoes hampering their operations.

Although UP was not the only railroad to use embargoes to reduce traffic congestion, most of the complaints received by the STB involved UP operations. UP's embargo use had climbed from five issued in 2017 to more than 1,000 in 2022.

Following the hearing, the STB required UP to submit information on its use of embargoes, including specifics on the company's decision-making over when and how to issue one. That included information on UP's Customer Inventory Management System (CIMS) and Private Car Pipeline Management (PCPM) program. UP then expressed concerns that some of information the STB wanted is "confidential commercial information" and should not be available for public view under the Freedom of Information Act.

The STB ruled that UP could not use a blanket "confidential commercial information" designation for all the information. UP then revised its request, proposing different categories for how the information would be withheld from public view. The board's May 15 decision granted UP's request to keep some information confidential but under certain conditions.

The board determined the information that UP must submit (unless privileged) includes documents related to its CIMS and PCPM systems in effect from Jan. 1, 2017, through the present; three-year hiring plans since 2015; monthly employment numbers by job category since 2015; a monthly count of train, engine and yard employees in active service allocated to industrial switching jobs since 2017; details on congestion embargoes issued since 2017; and actions taken to reduce embargo use over the past five years.

Meanwhile, since the December 2022 hearing, UP has taken steps to address embargo-related concerns raised by the board and shippers, the STB noted in its decision.

On Dec. 16, 2022, UP told the board that it would pause the use of additional embargoes. Then on April 27, UP informed the STB that it has ceased its PCPM program and made enhancements to its inventory management system.

"According to UP, implementation of these enhancements has reduced customer embargoes by 65% when comparing January through April year-over-year data from 2022 and 2023," the STB's decision states.

To read the board's full decision, click here.